For someone like me who has lived in only one city for most of my life, the mention of Kisumu was synonymous with fish.
A childhood trip to Kisumu on our way to the village sold me that idealistic view. As a true tourist to this town, my parents thought of a change of route through Kisumu using the water bus would make our annual trips to the village more exciting and it was.
One of the first stops we made as we waited for the five O’clock bus was to the fish market , that invited us with the products’ distinct smell and fish was readily available in plenty and variety, fresh from the lake and relatively affordable.
Moving here as an adult was however quite a different experience. Life in a new city can be strange, but one thing it does is force you to know it intimately, to interact with its people, to understand your community and environment, something a day’s trip, or google maps may not be as accurate in.
In one of my many interactions, I wanted to find out where I could get the best fish . So after running an errand in town, I engaged my local Boda and he promised to take me to the best mama fish he knows.
Just to build my confidence, he told me how at her shop, locals are always lining up making orders, and at a certain time if you’re late , you will not be as lucky to get any fish left. He said I was lucky it was still early in the afternoon so I might still get.
He told me how her rates are the best in Kisumu and that after her I would not look for fish anywhere else. I struggle to make his words through the blowing wind as we are riding through beautiful landscapes. Vast mountains in front of us , some deep green others grey from the distance , the baby blue sky in this unforgiving heat and the lake behind us.
By the time we get to her makeshift wood kiosk by the roadside and she greets me with the warmest smile I am sold. She was attending to a client and I let her finish before asking for the rates in my broken dholuo, attempting to blend in with the locals. Somehow, it never really dawns on you how little you can speak a language until you actually have to have a conversation with someone. Words that seemed simple seem to vanish or you realize you actually don’t know that word or many words really
She says the rates are from three hundred and I find that surprising. In the city of fish and after all that hype from my Boda my expectations were quite far from reality.
In Nairobi , I would get a decent sized fish at around two hundred and fifty to three hundred, so coming here I expected that it would be halved, are they not in plenty ?
My shock shows as I follow that with asking how many for that price and she confirms that it is just the one. Although it was above my budget I pick two fish and head home, wondering if I was defrauded or my expectations were misplaced.
I soon find out however that indeed fish rates are quite high in Kisumu which explains why it is not found in most locales, especially being a highly perishable product. Omena, the small dried or fryed versions are more readily available.
Locals say a lot of the fish in circulation is also from China, shipped in frozen crates whose taste they swear they can tell the difference like we distinguish Kuku-pono from kienyeji.
Fishing farming happens at scale in cages that float along Lake Victoria shorelines. But tales are often of loss as the business is filled with fraud, outright theft and unpredictable mass fish deaths due to pollution.
small boat fishermen
Those who are resilient, are the small fishermen rowing wooden boats casting nets they have sewn and patched together; rowing a boat in the dark of night, sometimes coming out empty only to sell fish at a hundred bob.
We first learned about these old school fishermen from a relative who has lived here for years. He gave us a hack for getting affordable fish, which in my one month here has proved to be the most useful.
Every morning at Dunga beach, fishermen landing their catch sell the product at affordable rates, from as low as one hundred bob. They sell to locals, or traders.
When I went to see for myself for the first time I was slightly late. The fishermen had already sold their products with only a few left on shore clearing their nets. The beach was full of traders, mostly women scaling and cleaning the fish bought from the fishermen earlier . White bird as surrounded them also getting their meals of the day.
Even though I was late, I got a great bargain from the men and women who were selling what they got from the fishermen and decided to get my weekly produce there, with a lovely excuse to also make a weekly visit to the beach with my family.
After all the best place to get real fish in Kisumu is at the source, the mention of Kisumu is ideally the city by the Great Lake , Nam Lolwe, as it was known before our colonizers ‘discovered’ it, and the mouthwatering fish it lays before our tables are the first things that come to mind.
Discover more from Oral East Africa
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.