Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Lake Bunyonyi photos

Still feeling the relaxation of our weekend a few days later... we stayed at an eco-tourism camp on Bushara Island, in the middle of Lake Bunyonyi, near the Rwanda border (though we didn't actually cross, yet!). Lake Bunyonyi is known for its birds, the checklist we were given had over 200 species... we probably saw about only 40-50 in our 3 days there. It was amazing.

So, enjoy some of our pictures!


Lake Bunyonyi from the surrounding hills - there are dozens of islands out there, waiting to be explored (by us)!

Lake Bunyonyi at sunset.

Early morning mist over the valley

One of the 7 volcanoes near the Uganda/Rwanda/DRC border (this one I think sits exactly on the Uganda/DRC border)

A malachite kingfisher... the first and probably most beautiful bird we saw, even before we boarded our boat to the island!

Our campsite (great view!)

Meg, on a trail on Bushara Is.

Meg relaxing (it was nice to be able to just *walk* w/o people looking at us like we were crazy!)

The surrounding hills, with terraces and hedges. Notice the dugout canoe in the corner!

The saturday local market at the lake - we tried some sorghum porridge there - tastes a bit like sour 7-up!

Pygmy men carry these 70kg (>150lbs!) sacks of sorghum over 5km (~3mi) to their village on market days. This was the most impressive thing I saw all weekend.

Cold volcanic gases being emitted from the swamp on the Uganda/Rwanda border.

Meg trying to "hold up" Rwanda (the hills on the other side of the swamp)

The pygmy dance - even though they are traditionally forest people, they have been forced to make permanent villages due to encroachment in the forest and government policy. They are some of the poorest people in the world - and now depend on tourism to survive.

some of the pygmy children rushing to greet us - their greeting sounded something like "WIIWIIWIIWII!"

A pair of cinnamon-chested bee eaters... probably at least the second prettiest bird(s) we saw!

Meg shopping in the fair-trade shop that our camp ran... 15-year-old Ella, watch out!

Eric attempting to carry his purchases traditionally.

Meg and Eric in the canoe.

Homemade macaroni and cheese! (Yes, this place was founded by Canadians! We enjoyed a lot of food from home with a Ugandan twist... like popcorn, banana pancakes, lemon scones, pasta primavera, and tuna sandwiches!)

Meg in the dugout canoe.

4 comments:

Les said...

WOW! What an exiting trip. The pictures are great, especially the one of the two of you!

Love ya

Dad

Jenn said...

Wish we could have experienced this vacation with you! :) It looks like you had a lovely time!
Love & Miss You!

Jenn

Jenn said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
daniloandjaclyn said...

The lake is beautiful!!! Seems really peaceful. It is great you guys are getting to see the lives of all of the different people around there too...