Livingstone Stanley Monument at Mugere

The Livingstone-Stanley Monument at Mugere, also known as “La Pierre de Livingstone et Stanley” is a location that marks a meeting point of two explorers, a missionary Dr David Livingstone and a journalist Henry Morton Stanley. Both Missionaries spent two nights at this point, from 25^th – 27^th  November in 1871.

The Livingstone-Stanley monument is situated just 12km south of Bujumbura, overlooking Lake Tanganyika. It is afamous meeting point, that is highly believed by Burundians to be the very first place where Livingstone and Stanley first met, at which the latter spoke the famous words “Dr Livinstone, I presume?”.

Yet the statement from Stanley’s book “How I Found Livingstone” clearly stated that the meeting actually took place on the 10^th November 1871 in Ujiji I Tanzania. David Livingstone’s journal also confirms Ujiji as the location, with an entry the day before the meeting reading “At dawn, off and go to Ujiji”, a town he knew well. Livingstone then details meetings with several Arab residents of Ujiji including one who was supposed to be keeping his goods from his previous visit, before recording Stanley’s arrival.

The visit to Mugere appears to be the one on the 25^th-27^th November which Livingstone and Stanley clearly describe from their writings as “ being one of the most hospitable they enjoyed” The 25^th day is seen scratched on the rock. Both missionaries rested for 6 days in Ujiji, after which they set off by canoe up the north-east shore of the lake to explore rivers which might flow out of the Lake Tanganyika. They found the village of Chief Mukropeans at the Mugere river, when they visited. Their visit to Mugere was so memorable which might have caused the confusion in the minds of some Burundians that Mugere was the first meeting place for the two explorers as well as other websites.