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Published: July 15th 2008
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My family has spent every Fourth of July since I was a young child on a lake somewhere in the Midwest United States. This year Darren, Ben and I tried a lake in Uganda. There weren’t the fireworks that typically accompany this holiday, there was certainly no Miller Lite, and the nearest bratwurst is probably half a hemisphere away in Germany, but the scenery made up for these shortcomings and Nile Beer with fried chicken provided an excellent substitute. Lake Bunyonyi is a beautiful lake with many inlets and coves and islands dotting the interior. The hills surrounding the lake are a brilliant lush green and criss-crossed with trails through innumerable farm terraces. Agriculture is an enormous part of the economy in that area, so there are plenty of locals in the hills keeping you company as you walk (more on that in a second). However, the hills have also suffered a great deal of deforestation. You can tell that it used to be a lush forest; currently it is nothing but farm terraces from the lakeshore to the top of the hills. We frequently encountered locals slashing and burning forests. It was a little sad to see as they likely
Lake Bunyonyi
A view of the lake have little idea of the harm they are doing to their surroundings.
The tourist industry in the area has only recently taken off, meaning the local kids, and many of the adults, are still not used to seeing white people walking around the area. You constantly hear shouts of “Mazungu!” which is the term for a white person and “How are you?” (More like “How are yoooooooou?") Not many people seem to expect a response to this, or more particularly, the children are taught to ask this phrase but without really understanding what it means. So, they shout it from across fields without pause. When you respond it does nothing to stop them from asking it several more times. Combine it with spastic hand waving that looks as though their arm is going to fly off any second and it is rather humorous. Sadly though, the third most commonly heard phrase is “Give me money.” It isn’t just from kids, but from pretty much any type of person of any age. It isn’t a question or a demand, and it isn’t like they are begging, but more of a shot in the dark. Why not ask and see if
Local Kids
These two little guys followed us up the hill for over a half hour. I had to carry the smallest one cause he couldn't keep up but wouldn't give up. you get anything? I don’t know if people actually respond positively and give them money, but as someone pointed out, people keep buying lottery tickets even if the chances of winning are small on the hope that maybe, someday, lightening will strike. However, the people are incredibly friendly all throughout Uganda. Our time here has been fantastic and their excellent demeanor definitely added to the experience. A small example: we had an early morning bus the other day. When we finally found the driver I walked up to him and immediately asked if he could open up the storage underneath so we could throw our bags in. His first response though was to just say “Hello,” something I had rudely forgotten in my haste. He then proceeded to ask how my morning was and after I responded, he said we could just keep them with us on the bus without a problem. Small things, but their jovial attitude and appreciation of casual interactions is fantastic.
As I mentioned, we spent quite a bit of time hiking around the hills but also took a day on the lake canoeing. The canoes are just hollowed out logs without a keel; the
Local kids dancing
These guys followed us down the hill one afternoon asking for me to take their photos. front of the canoe is perpendicular to the sides. Ben described it as trying to steer a hollowed-out Lincoln Log around a pond. Needless to say, we ended up doing what the locals call the Mazungu Corkscrew around the lake quite a bit. Darren and Ben eventually got the hang of it and were able to check out a few islands (Ben’s edit: It wasn’t so much Darren as it was me). I shared a boat with another traveler we met while at the lake. We weren’t as successful as the other two and hardly made it out of our bay.
One evening sitting in the restaurant the haze that normally covers the horizon cleared and we saw an enormous, prehistoric looking volcano in the distance. We felt an incredibly strong urge to run off and climb it. However, after another day at the lake we were sucked in stronger than before. It is a very hard place to leave. We never made it to the volcano. We just did a few more hikes in the area, spending time on the docks reading, sitting in the restaurant enjoying Nile Beers playing cards (we have played an incredibly amount of
Local Abode and the Lake
One of the local kid's houses we passed with a view of the lake behind it. Rummy), and all around relaxing. The restaurants make great fried chicken, red beans and rice, use local avocados, and amazing crayfish from the lake (not to mention the copious amounts of French fries you can’t seem to avoid at every meal). I have to say it is a fantastic place to spend some time. It is very relaxed and extremely beautiful. While going on safaris and visiting the national parks in Uganda are amazing, they lack a lot of the local flavor. Jumping on the postal service bus, hiking around the small villages, going to the local market, and doing some more genuine independent traveling in southern Uganda has definitely given me a better sense of exactly where I am. I no longer feel like I’m seeing the Discovery Channel in person as much as experiencing Uganda.
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Clark and deming
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awesome