First Wedding Anniversary: Lake Bunyonyi (5th - 7th February 2010)

We spent a couple of days at Lake Bunyonyi to celebrate our first wedding anniversary last month - can't believe it's been a year since we were celebrating with all that snow outside. We stayed on Byoona Amagara island, so had to get a boat over. Peter, our taxi driver insisted on coming in the boat with us, but he was terrified because he can't swim.

We'd booked to stay in one of the Geodomes on the island, which are really unusual - it felt a bit like being in an upside down wicker basket! The dome is completely open at the front, and you get an amazing view of the lake from your bed.    

                                    

Our Geodome

Fantastic View of the Lake from our Private Terrace at the Geodome

We always enjoy going to Lake Bunyonyi, it's very tranquil there - the perfect place to relax. It's really nice to be able swim in the lake as, unlike most other Ugandan lakes, it is free of Bilharzia (some nasty disease you wouldn't want to catch!).

There's nothing better than watching the sun go down over the lake after a hard day of relaxation, and drinking a nice cold bottle of Ugandan beer (Club for me, and Nile Special for Jason).

Beautiful Sunset and Wonderful Beer!

Lake Bunyonyi: 18th - 20th December

We headed down to Lake Bunyonyi, which is a couple of hours from Mbarara. It is a flooded valley, and the views from our hotel, Arcadia Cottages, were absolutely stunning.

View from the Bar Terrace

View of Lake Bunyoni and some of the Islands

Sunset over the Lake (with a volcano in the background!)

The next day we woke up to the beautiful sight of the mist rising over the lake. We really were above the clouds, and you wouldn't necessarily have known there was a lake below us.

Rising Mist

We decided to do a community walk, which was arranged through the hotel. Our guide Monday (so-named because of the day he was born) took us on a walk right down to the lake, passing alongside fields and houses.

We took a boat trip on the lake to see the different islands, including Punishment Island. This was an island where unmarried pregnant girls were left to die by the Bakiga tribe, unless they could manage to swim to safety (pretty unlikely), as a punishment for what they had done. Any man could go to the island, and take the girl as his wife, without having to pay the usual bride price. A pretty gruesome practice, and it only ended in the first half of the 20th century.

Punishment Island

We stopped off at Bushara Island for a swim and some lunch, before heading back to the mainland to start the steep climb up the hill back to our hotel. We attracted an ever-growing crowd of children, who proceeded to follow us up the hill. Monday took us to a village near the hotel, and we had a walk around. We didn't go into people's houses, which I was very glad about, but we learnt a bit about how the villagers live, and what they grow in the fields etc. We were all extremely tired after the walk (it took about 2 hours to get back up the hill), so were glad to refresh ourselves with a cold Club (beer) when we got back to the hotel.