Things to Do in Bujumbura in August

August's dry season means glass-calm water for spotting the lake's 350 fish species, including the endemic Tanganyika sardine. The sun drops directly behind the Congo mountains, painting the sky in copper streaks that reflect off water warm enough for a pre-sunset swim. Harmattan dust creates dramatic photo opportunities you won't get in wet season.

The park's 5,000 hippos concentrate near the Rusizi River mouth in August when water levels drop. Morning walks start at 6:30am to beat the heat - you'll hear hippos grunting before you see them, and the reeds rustle with sitatunga antelope escaping the shrinking wetlands. The 3km (1.9 mile) loop takes 90 minutes through fever tree forests that smell faintly of wild sage.

August's dry trails make the 15km (9.3 mile) descent from 2,600m (8,530 ft) to 1,200m (3,937 ft) enjoyable instead of a mudslide. You'll coast past 80-year-old tea bushes planted by Belgian colonists, with Lake Tanganyika spreading below like beaten copper. The plantation workers' songs carry on wind that smells of eucalyptus and fresh-cut tea leaves.

The lake's August calm creates perfect conditions for paddling the 2km (1.2 mile) coral reef that's usually hidden under murky water. You'll drift over schools of cichlids in water so clear you can see 10m (33 ft) down. Local fishermen wave from dugout canoes as you round the point where the beach turns into black volcanic rock.

August is when the year's coffee harvest arrives at Marché Central - the air inside the 1950s concrete building turns thick with the smell of freshly roasted Burundian beans mixed with dried fish and cassava flour. You'll navigate 3-foot-wide alleys between stalls selling urwarwa banana wine and amateke maize beer, while vendors call out prices in Kirundi that somehow sound like music.