A Lake By The Name Of Bunyonyi

This past weekend, my roommate Max and I took a trip to the lake to celebrate our birthdays early. We are both May babies and with both of our birthdays coming up, we are both going to be out of town for the 15^th and 20^th or more like I will be gone both of them - actually traveling on a bus both days now that I come to think of it. So we thought okay lets take a trip now and so we went south to Lake Bunyonyi. We rented a car and Max got to experience the world of Ugandan driving with his favorite front seat driver Katelyn who finally just closed her eyes to not have to freak out every time Max got close to a motorcycle or pedestrian. He is a good driver don’t get me wrong it was just both Max's and my controlfreakness had a hard time keeping its mouths shut. I do thank him for all the driving though!

DRIVING IN UGANDA!

We drove down on Friday morning and arrived in only about 6.5 hours  (would have been 10 to 12 hours by public) with a pit stop in Mbarara for lunch at Café Ark - YUM. Lake Bunyonyi is located between Kabale and Kisoro close to the Rwandan Boarder.

Canoeing Out To Our Island

We had to canoe to get to our little island which Max was excited for and I was at first but well I prefer to not have to work for shelter and about half way I wanted to just lie down and be lazy which I did of course. It took us about an hour to get to the little island via canoe. Our Island, Itambira Island is home to a small eco camp Byonna Amagara which works to be environmentally friendly and does a great job at it. There were very few people there at the camp which was nice and we chatted up all of them. We also had a whole dorm room to ourselves. Check out their website Byoona Amagara Island Retreat

Me Paddling In The Front

Our first evening was just relaxing and recovering from traveling. I had been under the weather for most of the week so it was really the first meal and rest I had all week. They served lots of American style of foods and also American sized portions which for me was way too much as living here I have been eating way less than I do in America. Max kept making the comment of how little I was eating but for me what I was eating was perfect!

Our First Evening On The Island

The sunset behind the hills and clouds of Lake Bunyoni was wonderful and Max and I chilled just enjoying for the first time in months a relaxing weekend. We also made up our minds that we would not talk about work until we got back home and we only talked about work two times that whole weekend which was great!

Which Way Should We Go?

Ugandan Cray Fish

The next morning dawned chilly and slightly grey. Our morning walk which took us about 30/40 minutes to walk around the island. We meet a young guy who was catching Ugandan cray fish. The island is connected to another half of the island which they are building more tourist sites. After our walk we set up shop in Byoona Amagara's library and began reading as the rain started to fall. I ended up spending most of the morning reading and then going and taking a nap until lunch time as it was perfect sleeping weather.

 

Hiking Around The Island

After a wonderful lunch we just chilled in their main area/dinning room and started talking with a young man from Switzerland who was working for Johnson & Johnson doing a trial run in Rwanda and had been all over the world in his 27-years. He had traveled to Uganda when he was 17 years old and was in Gulu during the LRA control in the north. He said that was something he never mentioned to his parents. Such an interesting guy with lots of information on traveling and adventure. But also super smart working on his PhD.

I spent the afternoon reading and watching all the different types of birds around the island. There are so many different kinds and it was hard to not get distracted with them flying around or coming up to you looking for food. Lake Bunyonyi actually means 'Place of many little birds' and there are lots of little birds there as well as large ones. There are 29 different islands in the lake and it is rumored to be anywhere between 144ft and 2,952ft deep in places. It runs 15.5 miles long and is 1.4 miles wide. It was formed when a lava flow blocked the water flow at one end of the lake creating a dam. People get around via canoe or motorboat. A couple of the islands actually have people living on them with houses, schools, health clinics. One of the islands has wildlife living on it. There is one island called the punishment island were they would bring the girls who got pregnant and leave them to die there... okay it does take two to tango so where was the island for the guys who got the girls pregnant? They say they do not use it anymore but I guess you can still meet girls who where put there who knows if it is actually true or not.

The May Birthday Babies!

Well after a great relaxing weekend we paddled our canoe back to the mainland and drove back in the rain but it was a really fun adventure with my dear roommate!