It's great to be a tourist

For the last 2 weeks we have been tourists. With Becky and Gordon we have travelled around some of Uganda’s beautiful tourist spots. This is the first time Maggie and I have had a chance to see other parts of Uganda. It was great to see it from a tourist point of view, stay in nice places and try and forget about all the difficult issues here.
We picked Gordon up from Entebbe and spent the first night in Kampala. Early the next morning we headed south to Lake Bunyoni. This is about 8 hours from Kampala and the last few hours were on typical Ugandan marram roads, pot holed and very rough. It was a long journey but there was beautiful country side to see, very mountainous and green unlike Masindi. We arrived at the lake and transferred all our luggage on to a boat for the 15 minute trip to Bushara Island. This is a small island run by a community development organization. There are camping facilities, pre erected tents and a couple of cottages. We were in a cottage overlooking the lake surrounded by trees. The whole island is a bird watchers paradise with hundreds of birds all around you. We managed to tick off a number of new species on Maggies now quite impressive list. From our balcony we could watch the traffic on the lake. Every morning the children paddled there dug outs to the local school on the mainland. They start to learn to paddle from the age of 2 years. There was a volunteer on the island from Germany who has been teaching the children to swim. Many local people can not swim inspite of spending much of their time in canoes. Storms can blow up quickly on the lake and drownings are not unusual. The restaurant served a mix of Ugandan and other food but the speciality was crayfish. They are common in the lake and the locals catch them in papyrus traps which are found all over the place. Evidently the crayfish are not native species but were introduced by Idi Amin from Tanzania as he had developed a taste for them.

The weather was mixed but there was a lot to see. One day we had a trip to other islands by dug out canoe. These are the traditional canoes still made from a single tree trunk by local villagers. We travelled to Sharp Island named after a British missionary doctor who had worked in the area for many years. He had set up a leper colony on an adjacent island which at one time attracted patients from all over central Africa. His house on the island has recently been turned in to a guest house by the local diocese but seems to have very few visitors. The next island still had the old leprosy hospital buildings which are now used by a secondary school. It was strange to think how many people had lived their lives on the island slowly dying from leprosy. The last patients finally left the island in the 60’s. Sharp is still held in high regard by local people for what he achieved. The journey we had made to the island had been difficult but so easy compared to those original missionaries who travelled on foot before any of the roads were built.
We left Bushara Island and then travelled to Fort Portal and the crater lakes. This was another long bumpy drive but Sulaiman our driver managed it with no problem. He is a great driver who works for Sallie at Court View and is very experienced and seems to know someone wherever you are in Uganda. He is also able to answer our questions on any thing from politics to local wild life.
Lake Nyianabulitwa is one of three small crater lakes out side Fort Portal. Our accommodation was in two bandas overlooking the lake. The setting was fantastic and it was easy to sit on the balcony and just watch the lake and the wild life. We had been told that there was one hippo left in the lake so we spent 2 days trying to spot it. The first day we took a boat across the lake and then climbed up to the next lake. There were huge hippo foot prints on the track but we did not spot it. The climb to the next lake was strenuous but worth it for the view. Later we called on Mike and Barbara two volunteers who had come out to Uganda at the same time as us. They had been on a one year placement and were returning to the UK the next day. It was good to see them and arrange to meet up in Berwick next year.
The next day we had a longer walk to the "top of the world" a local viewing point which gives you a fantastic panoramic view of lakes and mountains. We walked down to Lake Nkurumba to have lunch at their café. The walk through the forest and round to the lake allowed us to spot lots of new birds and three types of monkey. It was a long walk but the views and the wildlife were spectacular.
Another long drive along some of the worse roads we had used this trip took us back to Masindi. Apart from a puncture the journey was uneventful but we were again thankful Suliaman was our driver.
After a few days in Masindi for laundry and rest we headed off to Murchison falls for our last few days. We had stayed at Nile Safari lodge when Dan had been with us and it is a wonderful relaxing place. The bandas have superb views over the Nile and you are surrounded by wild life. There were even frogs in the bandas!. Frogs and hippos make a great noise at night and you really feel you are in Africa but are protected from the reality of life there by power and room service!
The downside of Nile Safari is getting up at 5.30 am for a game drive. We dragged ourselves up and were at the ferry to cross the Nile by 6.45 only to find that the ferry had broken down. This meant that you could not get across the river to the animals. Suliaman managed to get us seats on the river boat for a cruise down to the Falls which is the other thing every one does at Murchison. We had a good cruise seeing lots of crocodiles, hippos and birds. In the evening we hired a boat from Nile Safari and had a trip in the other direction towards Lake Albert. As this was a smaller boat and we were the only ones on it the boatman Frances could take a more leisurely pace and get close to the animals. Becky thought he got a bit too close to some of the hippos but we managed to get some great pictures. This trip is my favourite at Nile Safari.

The next day we went for the early morning game drive and this time the ferry was working. Suliaman had arranged for us to have George as our guide one of the most experienced rangers. We had a good drive and managed to see all the animals we wanted apart from the elusive leopard.
All things considered this has been a great break and a good way to finish our first year in Uganda. It reminded us what a beautiful country Uganda is and what a lot it has to offer. It has been great to share it with Becky and Gordon and see the country through tourist’s eyes. We can really recommend Uganda as a tourist destination.

Back in Masindi Becky and Gordon are planning the next part of their journey to India and we are thinking of getting back to work. The last 12 months has gone quickly. We have learnt a lot and are still not sure of what we have achieved. May be in the next 12 months we can consolidate some things we have started and