Things to Do in Bujumbura in March

March evenings gift the year's clearest skies over Lake Tanganyika. The water lies so flat you can read the silhouettes of fishing boats in its mirror. The sun sinks squarely behind the Congolese mountains, painting the lake copper for a precise 12 minutes before night falls. At 6pm local fishermen haul ndagala (tiny sardines) straight to the dock, the fish still twitching in their buckets.

Papyrus shoots up to 4 meters (13 feet) after the rains, forming tunnels where hippos rise 2 meters (6.5 feet) from your walking group. March is prime time for crocodile sunbathing on Rusizi River banks, you can tally 15-20 in one morning versus 3-4 in the dry spell. Grass stays green through April, so wildlife sticks around.

The Royal Drummers of Gitega rehearse more often in March before Easter crowds roll in, drum rolls echo across hills from 5km (3.1 miles) away. The drumming school welcomes drop-ins for impromptu lessons; you'll master the 7 traditional rhythms on hollowed mahogany logs that thump against your ribs.

March pineapples are so fragrant you can smell their floral sweetness from 5 meters (16 feet) away. Upstairs in the central market, women who have been churning ikivuguto (fermented milk) for 30 years sell cups that fizz like liquid yogurt. Mornings bring butchers slicing goat meat so fresh the muscle still jerks, while banana-beer brewers stir 200-liter drums that smell of warm bread.