Lake Bunyonyi

A post with little in the way of excitement, but I wanted to post some pictures from our latest stop in Uganda; beautiful, tranquil Lake Bunyonyi. The place is so serene and spectacular that it is not surprising it is one of the country’s premier destinations.

What is surprising though is how little has been done to make it more accessible. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, once you are off the main road, signage is non-existent and the roads are all but impassable. I guess they want to keep it pristine, and that’s all right with us.

The small town of Kabale

As you drive the small back roads, you come upon many places like this, where locals, only with the use of a hammer and perhaps a chisel, have for decades chipped away at the landscape to obtain rocks for many purposes, and dirt to make bricks.

Driving the back roads of East Africa (From the car, the windshield is obviously dirty.

So, after struggling with directions and wheel-deep potholes and crevices on muddy roads, we finally reached our lodge, the Bunyonyi Rock Resort. Once again, as has often been the case, we were the only guests, and the staff were happy to have something to do. We basically were waited on hand and foot and welcomed with wide smiles. Late that evening though, another party arrived, a family of three from Sweden.

The Bunyonyi Rock Resort

At the reception

Our bed with lots of wonderful welcoming flowers

On our balcony

The vast majority of the travelers here either hire drivers or are on tours; less than a handful of tourists we met are doing so on their own. It is more difficult, for sure, but you feel more the heartbeat of the place, especially when you are lost on roads to nowhere and come upon minute villages where naked children play in the mud and everyone around you can’t fathom what the heck you are doing there.

This is a very common scene. People of all ages carrying heavy weights, climbing on very steep paths to reach their home or their plot.

We had a good laugh with these two women working their land

Lake Bunyonyi is a small lake, but amazingly it is more than one kilometer deep. For this reason, it is not a place preferred by wildlife, as animals need shallow shorelines for feeding and bathing. The birdlife though is incredible. All the different songs are so heartwarming!

A serene view of lake life

Another Crested Crane!!!

The biggest disappointment is the weather. There has been no sun the past couple of days, and the grey skies make it a bit gloomy and, surprisingly, rather cool when you consider we are basically at the Equator. The altitude, however, must be taken into consideration. So, if you see us wearing sweatshirts you now know why.

Our vacation is nearing its end. Tomorrow we’ll cross the border back into Rwanda, where we’ll overnight in Kigali and catch a late plane to Brussels the following day. I plan to make one more post, then close with a recap. Truly, for as chilly as we have been here occasionally we are certainly not looking forward to the two feet of snow that await us on our return.