Life with MK: Lake Bunyonyi Canoe Trek

This morning when I woke up I thought I had an extra hour of sleep to go, but quickly realized that my iPad was still on Kigali time and it was actually time to get up and get ready for the canoe trek that we planned for today. We ordered breakfast before getting ready since we had heard that it would take a while and then went to pack up for the day. After eating and making sure everything was together we set off with our guide for the day, Andy to the canoe waiting for us at the bottom of the hill.

We began the day by canoeing back across the lake to the area right across from where we caught the canoe to the hotel yesterday. We then hiked up the hill (a quite large and steep hill) to a small village where we tried the local sorghum brew. It was pretty sour and not that great and looked like watery mud. Appetizing, yeah? We also came across some children along the way who followed us a bit and met some locals as well.

After that village stop we hiked to the top of the hill where we met and learned from a traditional African healer named Jeremiah. It was kind of neat to learn about traditional medicine from him and see the herbs he uses to treat the various ailments of the area. The herbs could be used to cure everything from mental disorders to diarrhea to malaria. It was great and he was a cool man, though all interactions was via our guides translations. After meeting Jeremiah we headed back down the hill a very short distance to this small lodge in progress called African Village. The view from there was awesome and we had an amazing fruit salad of pineapple, banana, and tomato fruit. Tomato fruit has nothing to do with tomatoes and is quite interesting and good.

After our snack we hiked again to a craft makers home. Her name was Anna and she made us a wonderful traditional lunch. She was even able to make it seem different than the usual traditional lunches we eat by mixing dodo greens into the g nut sauce and have two kinds of potatoes and different beans and whatnot. After lunch she showed us her crafts and taught us how to start an African basket. We were not that great at basket making yet, but it was fun. We bought a few things from her and then continued on our way back down the hill.

On the way down the hill we saw some more wonderful views and heard the story of upside down island. Apparently an old woman asked the men on the island for something to drink and they refused many times thinking she was the beggar that usually came although she was not. She eventually asked to be taken back to the mainland and a boy took her across the water. When the boy turned to go back the island had flipped upside down and all the men had drowned. Only the boy and a rooster survived. Our guide fully believed in this story (which I'm sure I explained poorly) and said that is the reason people cannot ever refuse to give a drink to those who ask. Anyways, as we continued down the hill a little girl took my hand and walked the whole way down with me. There was another girl who wanted to walk with Sarah and it was really cute. I love the kids in Africa.

Once we got to the bottom we said goodbye to the kids and got back into the canoe. This time we canoed to Punishment Island, which is an island where they used to drop unmarried pregnant women to die. If a man could not afford to pay a bride price he could find a woman on the island and take her and her baby as his, but this was not usually the end fate for these women. This finally ended I think in the 80's but sounds horrible for those women, especially since the man who got them pregnant was hardly reprimanded at all. After canoeing around Punishment Island we went to see a medical clinic run my five Slovenian doctors, but it was closed. We looked in the windows and it looked nice inside. Seems like a cool pace to work. We spent about ten minutes there and then hopped back in the canoe to go the short distance to the island next door that had a rope swing. We played on the swing into the water and swam a bit which was quite nice and then hopped back in the canoe to go to dinner.

Dinner was at Nature's Prime island and was quite delicious. The resort there was also quite nice and I think would be lovely to stay at someday. We ate crayfish, chicken, beef, vegetables, rice, and potatoes and talked and enjoyed the almost end of our canoe trek. After dinner we got back into the canoe for the last time and made the somewhat lengthy journey back to our island where we are staying.

Once back I out my stuff away and went up to the restaurant/bar area and got some banana and pineapple fritters for dessert. We sat and chatted and met a Brit and a German and a guy from Danville, CA (super random) and had a nice time. Now I am ready to sleep after a very long day. Tomorrow will nice and relaxing and I can't wait to chill out a bit! Can't believe I leave Uganda two weeks from today. This has been a great last trip within the country though for sure.