Lake Bunyonyi in Uganda.

We arrived at our campsite at Lake Bunyonyi but it was raining heavily and this time it was Marcus’s turn to get the dreaded tummy bug so we decided to take a room for a couple of nights. The next two days were a bit of a wipe out for Marcus but Pauline enjoyed the time reading, knitting for our granddaughter Serafina and taking in the magnificent views of the lake. We had looked forward to a boat trip on the lake but the way Marcus was that was out of the question so we hope to call in on our way back into Uganda from Rwanda and do the boat ride then.

Lake Bunyonyi boasts 29 islands, but of these ‘Punishment Island’ stands out the most. Before the 1940s, getting pregnant before marriage was a taboo thing in the local culture. Unfortunately, girls who did fall pregnant before marriage would be canoed to this very small island where they would either starve to death or die while trying to swim ashore. However a man without cows to pay the bride price could go to the island and pick up a girl for free, thereby saving her.😳

We did however manage a walk around the local village on market day with Obed who is the cook where we were staying. Interestingly on our walk around the market we came upon a small tip truck and in the back it was full of small coffee seedlings. They were provided by the government to anyone who wanted them so that they could plant them and within one year be selling coffee beans to a cooperative. They were very popular and what a great way to help families get ahead.

On the way out from Lake Bunyonyi there were a lot of people perched on the side of the mountain breaking of chunks of rock which would be then rolled to the bottom of the mountain were men, women and children all broke the chunks down to pieces the size of a walnut and stacked up in piles to be sold for roads and paths.

Next we were off to Rwanda.