The Crater Lakes

5th May 2010

We have been away for a few days to the West of Uganda. First we went to Fort Portal for a night, and had dinner with another VSOer who we met on a preparation course last May in the UK. As usual, it was great to catch up and compare notes. We had another woman from the same course, who is now in a rural part of Rwanda, staying with us in Kampala for a few days with her boyfriend just before we left. It seemed strange to think back to all the exercises we all did  together using participatory approaches and pretending we were subsistence farmers learning about micro-finance schemes!

Fort Portal is around 300 km west of Kampala and the journey should take about 4 hours. We set off at 7.30 am last Friday. We had heard that the road is good (not like the Kampala/Mbarara road) so at 10 am we were a little disappointed, after taking the usual hour to get to the other side of Kampala, to find ourselves 70 km from Kampala. 

The road from Kampala to Mityana is almost continuous road works with frequent fierce speed bumps  The road beyond Mityana improves dramatically until you think you’re back in Scotland and maybe in the Borders with rolling hills and green lush countryside. 


 
The journey took us 6 hours. Fort Portal is a contrast to other parts of Uganda that we know. It is a very neat and tidy town with lots of signposts and road markings, rare for Uganda. The backdrop is the grand Rwenzori mountains aka the Mountains of the Moon. Its two highest peaks are the third and fourth highest in Africa.

After our night in Fort Portal we went south to the Crater Lakes (about 45 minutes) and stayed in Ndali Lodge which is perched on a cliff top overlooking one of the lakes. The staff were excellent.

The main building has the dining room and a comfortable bar each with spectacular views on both sides. 

We stayed in one of the 8 cottages with a view of the Rwenzori mountains to the west and the distant Lake Edward to the south. 

As we have come to expect the bird life was amazing. 

Here are three Cinnamon-Chested Bee-Eaters perched in a bush not 10 feet from our cottage.





 



On Saturday we had a tour of the nearby vanilla farm and factory. 

We saw the pods growing in the fields and the preparation and packing in the factory.

 

Some appear to be dispatched to Newcastle and subsequently turn up on the shelves at Waitrose (Ndali brand). Go and have a look and tell us that you have seen them. 

On Sunday we had a good tour of the lakes with a guide. 

The drive between two of the lakes was quite exciting as we travelled over the hills on a poor track in the rain. The 4x4 was essential – never really used it before. There were some anxious moments as we descended some steep slippery slopes and other sections where I feared grounding and getting stuck. But looking back it was good fun. 



Later we did some walking on our own – well almost. 

There were four very friendly dogs at the lodge who insisted on keeping us company. 

One of the dogs slept outside our cottage every night in the base of the coffee table.

The journey back to  Kampala didn’t seem as bad as the journey out probably because the last section of road works was expected. Now we are back in the chaos and traffic jams of Kampala. 

 

At work we have two grandmothers and a  member of staff going off to a conference in Swaziland – the conference is devoted to grandmothers and their role in caring for orphans. It is a major problem as older people in Africa expect to be cared for by their children and these women not only lose their children from HIV/AIDS but become totally responsible for caring for their grandchildren, with no financial support. Reach Out helps them with school fees and sometimes with food, but have started a piggery for grannies to make their own living. They are given piglets, a sty and a month’s supply of pig food, and it seems to work very well. They are then obliged to give a set of piglets away every so often to help others get started. A lot of time has been spent helping them get their presentation together and well practiced before they fly off tomorrow. The photo is of Granny Rita practicing her part, like many older women she wears a gomezi every day as well as for special occasions. There are always jokes about not being allowed on the plane in their traditional dress, but it is just great to see them going off for a few days, the first time out of Uganda and on a plane.

Over the next few weeks we are looking forward to receiving a number of visitors from the UK ending with our son, David arriving in June. We are always pleased to hear from readers of our blog so drop us an email or leave a comment if we haven’t been in touch for some time.