More different meals, Byoona Amagara, Lake Bunyonyi, Uganda

I was last man standing so stumbled back to the big dorm room trying to make as little noise as possible, which I think I did a good job as no-one tried to shush or tut at me. The sleep wasn’t the greatest, but it had been a long day with an even worse sleep the night before. The guy on the bunk above me couldn’t keep still and was quite noisy with it. I wasn’t the only to notice it. On the plus side my snoring wasn’t too bad apparently.

A grey crowned crane, the national bird of Uganda

As plenty of people were pottering about / packing up fairly early in the morning, there wasn’t much to it, but to freshen up at the cold showers and head up the mountain for some leisurely breakfast. I opted for a sweet breakfast for a change, the Muzungu Mukiga, which was a chocolate and banana crepe. It was OK, the crepe was fine but not very warm which meant that the shredded (grated?) chocolate was still solid. Still it’s difficult to go very wrong with banana, chocolate and pancakes. 2 out of 5.

View from the trail

From there I hardly moved all day, basically just chilling out in the lodge, reading my book, watching the birds and having the odd snooze. It was absolute bliss. A number of people rented a canoe and went to a nearby island that has a rope swing over the water. My arms were really sore by this point so I opted to do nothing instead. There was even talk of visiting Punishment Island, but this didn’t happen.

Looking towards Rwanda and DRC

Punishment Island is a very small island in the lake with a single small tree on it. It got its name apparently from its use of dumping local women who had become pregnant out of wedlock on. They either starved, tried to swim and probably drowned or the last chance for them would be for an unmarried male who couldn’t afford a dowry could come to the island and pick them up and they’d get married (and live happily ever after despite the obvious stigma?). I don’t think this practice ended all that long ago unfortunately, mid- 20^th century at the latest.

Some dugouts

There’s another island with a daft tale about it. Apparently a bunch of about 20 guys were on the island and having a great time with some home brew when an old woman came along and asked for some beer. They mistook her for some beggar and refused to giver her any. She then asked to be taken to the mainland and in order to get rid of her sent the youngest guy to take her to the mainland. After she’d been dropped off and the young guy was on his way back the island flipped upside down and drowned all the men. A chicken somehow managed to fly away and was the sole survivor of Upside Down Island. I’ve no idea what it was called before this incident.

Looking back at Byoona Amagara

Last bit of tourist information, and this will be disappointing to some readers, but in the area there is a tribe of pygmies, the Batwa. Like many traditional ethnic groups they are generally looked down upon, and don’t have the same opportunities as other groups. Their traditional nomadic way of life is sadly not compatible with modern progress. If you want you can visit the villages, but I’m not keen on these types of human zoos. Freak shows obviously are a different matter.

A view of the mainland

Back to the food and sadly my notes are lacking as I can’t work out what I had for lunch. I have a note for the annual Royal Ascot Goat Races, which take place in south Kampala every September instead. Might have to give it a go. 

So straight on to dinner and I had a bowl of fried cauliflower and boiled potatoes in a tomato based sauce. It was pretty good especially with a splash of hot sauce. I also had a chapatti to help mop up the sauce. It wasn’t too salty for a change and I’m actually starting to enjoy boiled potatoes. I think I’ve had more boiled potatoes in the last almost three months in Uganda than in the last 15 years. Anyway a solid 3 out of 5 for the fried cauliflower.

My favourite pun

After a few more beers in the dark, it was back to the dorm again. On the way back on both nights it’s great gazing out at the stars. As you’d expect there’s close to no light pollution so you can see so many stars and the Milky Way. Thankfully the human dynamo had left and so I had a bit more pleasant night’s sleep. If I can manage to get down here again, I’ll book well in advance to get one of the cool looking geo domes.

A geo-dome roof and the lake

Next morning, I got up relatively early as I was hoping to get the 12pm bus back to Kampala. When I arrived in Kabale, the first thing I did was head into the bus office to try and book a ticket for the return journey. I was told not to worry, just to phone up and it’d be fine. I phoned up and it wasn’t fine, it was full. I ended up going for the next bus at 4pm instead. After a complete lack of acknowledgement I was told if I got to the bus office by 3pm it would be fine.

One of the deluxe geo-domes, the side facing the lake is open

Since the bureaucracy had been sorted it was time for brekkie. I went for Spanish Fly, which in this case is not the aphrodisiac, but an omelette with tomatoes, peppers and onions accompanied by another doorstop of good brown bread and some pineapple. Pretty good, but it didn’t break the house. 2.5 out of 5.

The boat dock

I spent the rest of the morning doing diddly squat again and decided to have a spot of lunch before settling the bill and heading down to the jetty to get on the motor boat. For my last meal ay Byoona Amagara I went for Vegetable and Bean Chilli with some more doorstop bread. It was pretty good chilli, a good amount of heat and hints of other spices, would definitely eat it again if they deliver to Kampala. 3 out of 5.

Another view from the many trails on the island

At ten to two we were informed that the motor boat was already booked for a departure at quarter to two. Since the people that had booked it were still waiting for their food we were lucky enough to end up sharing the boat with them. On top of that one guy was heading into Kabale and so we shared his taxi as well. We ended up at one end of Kabale at about 2.45pm. 

Since I had plenty of time I left my bag in a nice hostel intent on returning and having a leisurely drink after I’d bought my bus ticket. It took a good 15 minutes to seemingly walk the length of Kabale and upon entering the Jaguar bus office I was asked if I was the guy who phoned earlier. Even if I wasn’t I would have responded in the affirmative. I was then told that the bus was due at 3.30pm not 4pm, so I had to leg back to the other end of town, grab my bag and hop on a boda back to the office. The bus turned up an hour later right on schedule at 4pm and we set off 10 minutes after that.

One of the fancier establishments at Bunyonyi

Sadly there was no allocated seating on this one and it was already pretty full of people coming from Kigali. Being British I didn’t engage in the scrum as the bus arrived and so was one of the last ones on. This limited my seating options to either the middle seat stuck in between two others or an aisle seat of two. Both were on the next to back row over the rear axle. Things didn’t start well as the driver’s approach to speed bumps was clearly, well as long as I’m over it’s fine. This led to the back few rows of the bus regularly being launched 6 inches plus into the air as he sped over the bumps. My situation was made worse by the absence of a proper armrest again, just a nice section of hollow square steel tube. On the plus side I have a new ability to move in zero gravity as evidenced my successful dodging of the tube every time at that moment of weightlessness before crashing back in to my seat.

I wished I was still on this boat

To say the journey was uncomfortable would be an understatement, but I just stuck my headphones in, listened to some dodgy music (less dodgy than what the driver was playing) and stayed there for 7 hours before hopping on to the coldest boda journey ever back to the flat. Despite that it was well worth it and if you're ever in the area a couple of days properly chilling out at Bunyonyi is a great idea. Byoona Amagara is also recommended by me as long as you get a geo-dome. All in the weekend including transport from Kampala, taxis, bodas and boats plus two nights accommodation, all food and drink over the weekend cost me about 200,000 UGX (about £50).