Need a getaway? Butiama Cultural tourism is here to help you enjoy the most rewarding cultural experience of your life in Tanzania
Butiama Cultural Tourism Enterprise (BCTE)
The Butiama Cultural Tourism Enterprise (BCTE) is a community-based organization that is tasked with promoting the village of Butiama as a visitor destination offering both a cultural and historical mix of attractions. Butiama is the birthplace of Tanzania’s founding president, Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere (1922 – 1999) who was buried in this village on 23rd October 1999.
BCTE is part of a network of cultural tourism enterprises, supervised by the Tanzania Tourism Board, and working within the guidelines of the Cultural Tourism Programme of Tanzania’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism.
Area of Operations
Butiama is located at the following coordinates 1°46′S 33°58′E in Tanzania’s Mara region which shares a border with Kenya. The driving distance from Butiama to the Kenyan border post of Isebania (Sirari on the Tanzanian side) is approximately 115 kilometres (about 1 hour 30 minutes), a route that is also taken by tourists traveling from Kenya to Tanzania. The Ndabaka entrance to the Serengeti National Park is less than one hour’s drive from Butiama, while the Ikoma Gate entrance to the Serengeti National Park is 2 hours’ drive away.
The regional administrative centre, Musoma, is one hour’s drive from Musoma while the principal urban centre of Mwanza is about three hours drive from Butiama at a distance of 190 kilometres. Mwanza is served by regular flight connections by Air Tanzania and PrecisionAir to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s commercial capital and to the Kilimanjaro International Airport. Dar es Salaam has daily onward departures to most major cities in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
Geographical Coverage of BCTE under the Cultural Tourism Programme
As part of the Cultural Tourism Programme code of operations, BCTE
offers visitor itineraries not only within Butiama but also to the neighbouring
villages of Nyamuswa, Buhemba, and Mariwanda.
Extended Geographic Coverage
The western Serengeti National Park’s Ndabaka Gate entrance is only 80 kilometres from Butiama, making Butiama an ideal stopover for visitors travelling to and from the Serengeti.
In addition to its strategic location close to Tanzania’s famous national parks, BCTE’s location near Lake Victoria provides visitors with the opportunity to experience some of northern Tanzania’s less-travelled tourist destinations including the Iramba Islands on Lake Victoria, which are rich in bird species.
Partners and Collaborators
BCTE operates as a coordinating agency and engages various service providers that are available locally to provide the required services to visitors. The current shortlisted service providers include guides, interpreters, food and accommodation providers, and transportation owners.
