A day on the lake

Today (Monday) began very early at 6am in the dark. We began with a quick cup of coffee and a bite of a banana before climbing into the IISOH motor boat, with boatman Hilary at the helm. Our purpose of the early start was to get right down to the far end of one of the lake’s long tentacles as soon as possible after dawn. At every point along the lake where a river enters it large swamps develop of reeds and papyrus and these are famed sites for the many and varied birds for which the lake is famous. It’s name, after all, means ‘the lake of little birds’. I remember coming here three years ago as one of my trip highlights and so am delighted to be able to do this excursion again.

It is very cold in the boat as the light gradually starts to emerge but we were well informed and I have lots of layers on. For at least 40 minutes we seem to be the only living things up and about but then gradually we begin to hear people calling to each other in the houses up the lakeside slopes as well as music from a radio and the odd dug-out canoe appears with a fisherman. I have been amazed all week how easily and far sounds of conversations carry across the lake. Perhaps this is because there are no other sounds. I have not seen or heard a car for 6 days now and the tranquility is overwhelming. Lake Bunyonyi contains very few fish but these fishermen clearly know where to set their nets and are out checking them. At one point Hilary stops the engine and we glide along the edge of the swamp which is chattering with the sound of birds waking up.

Eventually after a journey of over an hour we arrive at the swamp at the very end of the lake. First of all we come across water lilies floating on the surface of the water – most are still closed, waiting for the sunshine to open them but they are still very beautiful and already it is clear there are many colours, pink, purple and white.

Then the front edge of the swamp is there with a mixture of reeds and large papyrus. I remember them so well from three years ago and absolutely love their large feathery crowns which sway gently as the pied kingfishers land and take off from them.

They are very numerous and extremely efficient at diving for the tiny silverfish in the waters of the lake close to the swamp. We saw lots of different birds including this time, some large ones, a snake eagle that feeds off snakes in the swamp but also off dead fish if he can’t find any snakes and very noisy haddeda ibis who are black and have a very loud and distinctive call. The grey herons are exceptionally graceful in flight and both they and the purple herons can sit stock-still for hours while hunting. Hilary boatman was very knowledgeable and also excellent at spotting all these species despite their effective camouflage. But for me it is still the papyrus which makes the cold early morning journey so worthwhile.

On the way back the lake looked at its finest, glassy smooth and able to produce pure reflections of the land around and the sky above.

Once we got back we had a late breakfast and a bit of recuperation but spurred on by our early morning jaunt we decided to take a dug-out out ourselves and paddle it. ‘ It couldn’t be that difficult’ we thought! How wrong we were – we proved to be fairly hopeless and simply went round and round in circles however hard we tried. I thought it was lack of co-ordination between us, Sal thought we were applying the wrong principles. Whatever was the truth we had to be taken in hand by Jasper, one of the staff. Once he came on board everything calmed down. We kept paddling but think our efforts were purely cosmetic even though it felt quite hard work. Still we managed, well Jasper managed, a circuit of the island. There are no pictures of this event – too much paddling to take them and too much hysterical laughter!

However here is the canoe – it’s the middle one.