After our night out on the town in Kampala we left very early the next morning for Lake Bunyonyi. Clare and I decided to try the comfort of a bus instead of a mutatu (mini-buses which are surprisingly comfortable despite being squashed in with way too many people than there are seats). However the bus is a lot more stressful, right down to the people, from the moment we told the bus conductor where we wanted to go, we were in our seats in 5 minutes flat after a lot of shouting by him, not to us but to everyone else! we found it very funny, especially when I informed the bus conductor after we sat down I had actually wanted to purchase some bananas before we set off, and within seconds he had set off on a mission for our bananas shouting at everyone along the way. Within two minutes he was back with an entire bunch and we were on our way!
10 hours later, tired and hungry we arrived at night at the town. We were taken across the lake to our island destination, in the pitch black with no light on our motorised canoe apart from the light of the stars. We were both blown away by the beauty of sailing across the calm lake, past islands, watching the moonlight reflect off the ripples in the water and gazing at the stars, listening to nothing but the sounds of the water.
The Island Byoona Amagara is a not-for-profit project – all proceeds go to local education programs and the like, which also puts all the eco-tourism principles in to practice. No electricity - at night everything was done by candlelight, pit toilets and no running water. Showers were a bucket of cold water under the stars by candlelight! which was actually a really special experience!
The next three days we spend canoeing from Island to Island (Clare and I got really good at the paddling, steering combination!), swimming and walking in the near-by hills with new found Danish and French friends. One evening as the sun set over the mountains, Clare, our Danish friend and I swam from our Island to the next and back. Swimming across the still lake whilst watching the brilliant oranges, reds and pinks of the sun setting over the mountains was so beautiful! “oh yiraah” – our French friend.
After three beautiful days we decided to leave our paradise for our next destination Sipi Falls.
Sipi Falls: the biggest waterfalls in Uganda. Two nights.
One early evening Clare and I had a random chocolate craving so we jumped on the back of a truck going to the nearby town. Sitting on the back of the truck with 5 other local people we wound our way through the mountains as the sun was setting watching the stunning mountain scenery! Every time the truck would stop we would gather a group of 15 curious children who was fascinated by the mzungus (white people) sitting on the back of the truck. An experience to relish, although the town had no chocolate so we had to settle for chocolate biscuits! But we got to meet some lovely local people. Our truck driver had his heart set on me becoming a Ugandan citizen.( “you apply for citizenship, you become a Ugandan!)
We went for a day hike through the mountains to all three waterfalls. Very heavy going hike up the side of mountains but so worth it for the stunning waterfalls. Clare stacked twice much to the amusement of our guide: we arrive back happy but a little scarred. (Especially when Clare had to get a local snake out our room!)
After our time in Sipi with heavy hearts we left our beautiful Uganda for the next country on our list: Kenya.
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