Uganda - Kabale/Lake Bunyoni

Scrabble - t minus one hour and counting before Becs's paddy
see all photos »

After a weeks holiday the blog is back! We left Kigali and headed for Kabale just over the Rwandan-Ugandan border (Southwestern Uganda). The journey was short and uneventful apart from the heavy right boot employed by the Gaso bus driver to the strains of Tupac and 50 Cent.

Arriving in Kabale we opted to leave the frontier town immediately and head for picturesque Lake Bunyoni. Several islands are on the Lake and it was a perfect place for rest and relaxation. The weather ranged from hot sunshine to pouring rain but we enjoyed stunning views by day and a roaring fire in the evening to warm our bones. We spent two nights in a cottage at Bunyoni Safari's before moving to a furnished tree house at Bunyoni Overlanders Camp. This was fantastic with picture postcard views directly over the Lake.

More scrabble - t minus 4 minutes and counting before paddy
see all photos »

Unfortunately, our well earned rest after an afternoon's canoing on the Lake (figure of 8 formation) was rudely interrupted at 2am by a large grunting animal arriving from the Lake. Being such brave and intrepid travellers we froze in bed and Becs opted to pee in a bottle. As by our third night we were the only ones at the camp following the departure of God's bus (American Christian School) we deduced that the large grunting aquatic land hybrid would come straight for us. Amid the large splashes in the water, gnashing of teeth and the frantic tweeting of the birds - the small grey speckled otter retreated to its lakeside burrow....oh the power of the imagination.

Boat on the way back from market
see all photos »

Whist relaxing by the Lake we decided to head for Fortal Portal and try to hire bicycles to visit the crater lakes. This would involve staying in post-apocalyptic Kabale for 1 night as the Horizon coach service left at 4:30am in the morning for an 8 hour journey to Fort Portal. We stayed at the African Pearl Hotel, superb accomodation at 2.50gbp a night!

However, it was quite tough in Kabale as there were a group of homeless kids making their home out of a concrete rubbish skip in the town centre, desperately trying to light a fire and scavenge for food in anticipation of another cold night and unsure of their destiny. Images such as these and kids addicted to glue with the bottles permanently fixed to their faces our timely reminders of the lack of a social safety net in Africa and how fortunate we are. Sometimes this trip of a lifetime is a truly testing experience but always one which we can learn from.