Ugandan New Years

For the end of the year we headed to Uganda for a visa run and to enjoy some time outside of Kigali. It was a real treat! Things in Uganda are so much cheaper, maybe even half price. It really reminded us of how much things cost in Rwanda. Being a land-locked country, 2 times removed from the sea and without a manufacturing industry Rwanda is in a though spot. They have however recently joined the East Africa Community and the trade agreements and lowering of barriers should help. Since we have been here we have noticed an increase of products and goods on the market.

So anyway, we hopped on a International Bus headed to Kampala. The boarder crossing was much more simple and easy going than the first time around. They stamped us out on the Rwandan side, we crossed a bridge over a dried out stream, we paid our $50 and were welcomed back into Uganda. We hopped back onto the bus where the driver switched from driving on the right side to driving on the left and we were off! As the bus flew down the road we tried not to look at the cars passing to our right. About 20 minutes later we were at our "stop" in Kabale. The bus slowed down long enough for us to jump off at the 3 way intersection. From there we hired a car to take us the remaining 15 km to lake Bunyoni. As we wandered down the hillside the lake revealed itself and stress of the journey evaporated. The deep lake is surrounded by green hills and dotted with small resorts.

Ours was the Lake Bunyoni Overland Resort. We had rented a Safari tent for 5 nights. Each tent was covered by a steal roof and sat upon stilted platforms. The view from our tent was of the lake. From the restaurant, when the sky was clear, we were able to see on of the volcanoes of Rwanda. The home of the Mountain Gorillas.



We spent our days enjoying the view and we treated ourselves to a few beers (which actually aren't the much cheaper but perhaps twice as tasty). One of the nights we were actually able to watch the Vikings play the Eagles on the dish. Neither of us knew the outcome, so it was a delight to watch Webb run over the Eagles.
On our second full day we rented a dugout canoe.
The dugouts are made from huge eucalyptus trees, which are not native to the region. (The eucalyptus and pine trees were brought to Africa by colonizers for "re"forestation purposes and have since taken over the natural flora and fauna of the region.) Being that neither of us are proficient paddlers we decided to hire a man to help us with the journey. After 45 minutes of paddling around island and past bays we arrived on the Bushara Island Camp. This is a lovely peaceful island filled with birds and wild flowers.

The Irish housemate and her sister arrived in Bunyoni just in-time for New Years. We ventured down the road to the newly opened Bird's Nest and enjoyed a New Year's feast. After dinner we enjoyed a huge bonfire with the sounds of drumming floating over the lake. On walk back to our resort the village was filled with excitement and children ran up to us to wish a Happy New Year.


Back in our resort we brought in the New Year with a bit of Ugandan rum and whiskey. Some of us were in the view that it wasn't as bad as expected, while others thought it was better than expected. I guess there really is only one way for you to find out.