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Up at 5.15 this morning - aided by the local mosque calling people to prayer. Following the usual clear-up operation after breakfast, we were away by 7am. This was to be another long day, thrust upon us by the change caused by Saturday's wet weather. Our journey took us through the lush landscape of Uganda. It was a murky start, with the rain-forest holding on to the early-morning mist. As we progressed into the more open land, it was amazing to see the extent of the cultivation. Hardly a field remained untouched. Neat plots of land extended up the terraced hillsides. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Crops included cabbage, cauliflower,
tomatoes, sweet potato, mango, melon, bananas, more bananas and
yet more bananas. There were numerous roadside stalls with people selling their produce. Everywhere, there were people, in trucks, on bicycle, and on foot transporting produce from place to place. And everywhere, there were the children - running from their houses or huts, waving and shouting - in that now familiar endless crescendo of "How are you? How are you? How are you ..." Even small children became a regular site carrying huge water containers or sacks of produce - |
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and yet - they were always smiling. Given the fine weather since the brief, but heavy downpour on Saturday, things were looking promising for Lake Bunyoni. As we continued, we crossed the equator again. This time it was suitably marked, and we all stopped off for the unmissable photograph, and visited a nearby visitor centre, where we had a very refreshing "fruit smoothie" and a local muffin (banana naturally) We did however miss the demonstration of how a blade of grass, in a draining funnel of water rotates clockwise in the north, anti-clockwise in the south - | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| or is it the other way round ??) Later that afternoon we arrived at Lake Bunyoni. The camp site, as Marcell had promised, was something special. Nestling amongst the trees, there were superb views across the still waters of the lake. Our time at Lake Bunyoni was to be quite a relaxed period, with opportunities to explore the area. This was a very popular campsite, with a total of four overland trucks by the end of the following day. The area was very spacious, with lakeside tracks to follow, a small jetty, complete with a diving board - and a warning that this is the deepest lake in Uganda - at 6,500 feet !! I understand that there is some dispute over the exact |
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depth - but certainly - this was deep water !! Several artistic wildlife sculptures were dotted around - gorilla, crocodile, etc. In fact, the crocodile looks almost real in a photograph. The following morning, after a welcome lie-in, and leisurely breakfast (8 o'clock indeed) we took a stroll along the lakeside. We saw numerous birds once again, and stopped a while to watch a pair of spotted-neck otters swimming in a small bay, popping to the surface eating fish. We met two local girls, sisters 17 and 19, and got chatting. They were on school holiday, and were on their way to the fields with their | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| hoes over their shoulders. They explained that they were expected to help during the school breaks. Like many African children, they had high hopes - one wanted to be a judge, hoping to study law, whilst her younger sister wanted to be a nurse. We returned for a cold coke, before walking the lakeside in the opposite direction. That afternoon we went for a trip on a motorised canoe, around the numerous islands that populated the lake. One in particular, Punishment Island - in historic times I hasten to add - was used as an island of exile for young mothers, who had children |
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out of wedlock. They were left to perish, on
what is a very small island with no apparent means of survival.
Many were said to have perished in the lake whilst trying to
escape. We sighted more otter on the return trip, fishing around
the lake shore, and within a short time of landing, we were
subject to another heavy downpour, which we watched from the
comfort of the lodge. After a dinner of soup, vegetable pasta
and garlic bread - deliciously prepared by Dennis once again, it
was - yes - another early night - for the 5.15 reveille. |
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Other Photographs of The Day |
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