Kampala to Lake Bunyoni - July 29th - 30th

July 29th - 30th, 2008:

Short: Begin the drive to Kampala, Stop in Masaka and learn that Jaccie was born there, Arrive at Lake Bunyoni, Juggle room assignments, Wait a long time for dinner, Relax

Long: Even with an additional three people we managed to load the car and get on the road by about 9 am. Before leaving, we managed to use Jaccie’ s mobile phone to text message the hotel in Lake Bunyoni, informing them that we would need two dorm beds. We crossed our fingers that there would be availability, and began the drive. The road out of Kampala was well tarred and we made good time to our first stop. We stopped in Masaka, a small town about 100 km’s southwest of Kampala, and upon stopping, Jaccie informed us, quite randomly, that she had been born in Masaka. Apparently her parents, U.K. residents, lived in the town decades ago, but fled the country after 5 years when President (Dictator) Amin began acting up.

We continued south throughout the afternoon, stopping only briefly in the town of Mbarabara for lunch. We received our first glimpse of Lake Bunyoni in the afternoon, and had soon parked Betsy in the hotel’s secure parking grounds, and were then transferred to the hotel via boat.

The hotel, Byoona Amagara, is a non-profit venture located on an island in Lake Bunyoni. When we arrived we were told they had received our text message in the morning and that we had been booked in a dorm. However, after being taken to the dorm we found that there were actually no beds left. We were moved to a “Geo-dome” instead. The Geo-dome turned out to be a little open-air hut with two beds and a wonderful view of the lake, although it was a few dollars more expensive.

After finalizing the beds, we all met on the hotels main terrace and had a beer. The beer was unfortunately warm. We learned that the entire hotel is powered by solar, and apparently a refrigerator uses too much power. This also meant that meat was not on the menu, as it is too difficult to keep cool. Further, the island rented videos and had a projector, but there was never enough electricity in the evening to watch them. After waiting more than an hour for dinner, we also realized that the number of workers in the kitchen was limited. However, despite the slow service, the food at the hotel was excellent. I was even able to enjoy another few rounds of guacamole, something I had only been able to find in Nairobi. While at dinner we were also introduced to Nick and Jess, two Americans that were on our boat to the island earlier, as well as Jason and Ellen, an Australian couple. All nine of us ended up hanging out for the next two evenings.

The next day we did absolutely nothing but eat, read, and update the blog. It was great. While it wasn’t particularly sunny, it was a perfect temperature. The temperature of the lake was another story. In the afternoon, Jaccie, Jess, and Sandy bravely ventured into the lake for a swim, and all admitted it was extremely cold. In the evening we enjoyed dinner, and quite a few drinks. Jess and Nick had purchased two bottles of Vodka a few days before, while Jaccie, Ingrid and Sandy still had some Amarula left. They kindly let the group empty all of it. We even managed to play a game of “This is how I bounce my stick,” something we hadn’t played since Botswana. We left the next morning around noon having each paid only $45 for two nights, six multiple course meals, and multiple beers at a beautiful lakeside hotel with great company.