Uganda

I traveled to Ha'Buharo Island Lodge on Lake Bunyonyi in Uganda this weekend, with five friends from work. We left in the early evening on Friday (traveled 2 hours, just over the border) and made it to a dirt road leading to the lake just after dark. At the border I realized I had not brought any US dollars or purchased a Visa from the embassy. This is surprising given the planner that I usually am! I guess I was thinking of this spontaneous trip to Uganda like travelling between states in the US. I was lucky- because I was travelling with friends with diplomatic passports I was able to pass without a Visa. Also, I was lucky to be travelling with people who had extra money and were willing to "cover me" in exchange for Rwandan francs! After we arrived at the lake we hiked down to a boat landing, and took a dugout canoe ride (25 minutes) to one of the 29 islands on the lake. It was so dark out, and it was raining at that point; quite an adventure. We stayed in the only four tents on the island (they were not too rustic- we had beds and bathrooms with running water). After midnight they turn off the electricity. I had no idea how dark it is with no light (it was cloudy so not even any moonlight). On Saturday we awoke to over 200 different kinds of birds chirping on the island. We took a motor boat ride around the lake and hiked around the island. I took hundreds of photos of the flowers and scenery! It was a relaxing weekend, we played games, ate mostly crayfish from the lake, and had a great time. For my brief excursion over the border I noticed Uganda has more import/exporting than Rwanda (the supermarket had things like Vanilla for baking, and more variety of diet soda, etc.- and we stopped for gas at a Shell station) and most people spoke English (Uganda was colonized by the British).

Here is a link to more photos of the flowers and scenery in Uganda.