Highland paradise

Bushara Island Camp, Lake Bunyonyi (Uganda). We are sitting enjoying the moderate climate of Lake Bunyonyi in south-western Uganda, close to the border with Rwanda. We were both a bit socked when we first arrived at the camp, as it looked pretty basic (especially when compared to Nile Camp!). But it has been a great experience. The lake is high up in the mountains (6450 feet above sea level) and so enjoys a cool climate. Plus because there isn't much human activity on the island, it is very
quiet and peaceful. After a long canoe cruise in the morning, and a tasty lunch both Debby and I followed the local custom and took a refreshing siesta.

This is one of the bigger islands in the lake (out of a total of 29, with 9 inhabited). There is a trail all around the periphery (the eucalyptus trail) which is only 1.8kms. Which should give you an idea of the size of other islands. One, called Punishment Island (to which pregnant women where sent as punishment) is only about 10 meters across and has a single tree--which happened to be full of cormorants when we went by. The lake is home to millions of birds of hundreds of species. Debby had lots of fun sighting them throughout our tour. They even gave us a short (with about 100 entries) bird checklist with some of the species that life on the lake.

The largest island (Bwama) was home to a leper colony during the first half of the 20th century. A British doctor (Dr. Sharp) and his wife settled in on of the islands and built a hospital and developed the colony on Bwama. In it's heyday it held over 2000 patients! The colony was closed in 1962, and the island was converted to a school. Today it is owned by the came non-profit corporation that owns the camp we stayed
at. It rents the land to the neighboring community and uses the proceeds to help the local economy.

The camp where we stayed was developed in 1994 in cooperation with a Canadian organization (I think it's called ACTS or ATCS) in partnership with the local diocese. The camp is a non-profit organization that aims to benefit the local community through employment and some technology transfer. They have brought new farming techniques, education, and training (at least). The region of Lake Bunyonyi suffers from overpopulation, which had let to over-farming, soil erosion, decreased crop production, and reduced learning. In the past 10 - 15 years this
area has received various forms of aid and technology transfers to try and help the communities.

Dr. Sharp build several windmills on the islands, which were used to generate electricity, pump water, and so on. The windmills were kept operational after the colony closed, but eventually broke down and were abandoned. To this day water gets pumped by hand! I found it so surprising that a community would abandoned technology (windmills) and revert to a more labor intensive way. I really wanted to find out more about why this happened but nobody seemed to know much.

Interestingly, several of the islands had a modest amount of solar
panels (Bushara Camp had the most). It was installed by and outfit called Solar Energy for Africa (http://www.solarenergyforafrica.com).

Currently they plant corn and beans (not sure what type) together and then followed by sorghum. They have two dry seasons and two rainy seasons, so they can harvest twice in a year (for most crops). They also plant Irish potatoes and sweet potatoes. We were told the beans were introduced recently by an NGO to try and improve yields. I'll write a separate entry on Ugandan food and cuisine.

The camp also has medium-sized nursery. We got to learn about the various plants and trees, what they get used for, and they help the soil, and so on. One that stuck in my head was callindra (sp?), which helps fix nitrogen, and also is fed to cattle to increase milk production.

R