QENP to Lake Bunyonyi

This will be a fairly short post as my cell connection is poor this morning and wifi is even worse and we’re rolling out in about 10minutes… It may also be the last post for a couple of days as we leave Uganda today and my data plan won’t work in Rwanda so we’re at the mercy of our guest house’s wifi connection. Hopefully we can find a good wifi connection so that we can check in for our flights and pick decent seats for the long flight home…

We left QENP on Sunday morning and made the couple of hours drive to Lake Bunyonyi where we have been since. The trip here was pretty uneventful although it was clear that our driver – Patrick – was really not feeling well (turns out he had malaria). The scenery as we approached Bunyonyi was quite spectacular – mountainous and very green with lots of terraced farms and forested areas. Other than that, it was a very similar drive to the others – hot, dusty and bumpy. Every single town in Uganda (at least the ones we have driven through) uses speed bumps, speed humps and speed mountains to slow traffic through the towns… depending on the speed we meet them at the kids in the back either lose fillings, bounce off their seats or get launched into low earth orbits.. sometimes it’s all three at once…

Once at Bunyonyi, we have been enjoying a kind of summer camp atmosphere and have gone for a short hike, swam in the lake (perhaps the only one in Uganda where you can swim without fear of bilharzia or other creepy crawlies. We’ve also paddled dugout canoes (some of us even managed to go in a straight line for a while) and lounged around. It’s been very relaxing and a nice change of pace from the heat and dust of the previous destinations… it actually gets cold enough in the evenings that we’ve all been pulling sweaters and hoodies on at night. It’s hard to believe that we’re in the same country when you compare this place (which wouldn’t be out of place in BC in terms of scenery, etc.) to Kampala… none of us had this in mind when we pictured Africa or Uganda.

Today we’re off to Rwanda and the last leg of our trip which will be much more emotionally charged as we delve into the genocide and subsequent attempts at reconciliation and rebuilding…