This pleasant, sleepy town on the shores of the lake is the main town in the Western Highlands and the third biggest town in the country. In 1901 it became the administration centre of the area with the completion of the railway line from Mombasa. For decades it was the hub of transport activity between the coast and Uganda and Western Tanganyika, but the splintering of the East African Community in 1977 cost it much of its business and the town seems to have been slumbering ever since.