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Lake Bunyonyi
Twenty-nine islands in deep, cold, quiet water at nearly two thousand metres. Ninety minutes from the Ruhija trailhead, and the place we are from.
Almost every gorilla itinerary in Uganda ends somewhere. Ours ends here, and not out of sentiment: after a day in the forest at altitude, the useful thing is two nights somewhere still, warm enough, with nothing scheduled.
Swimming, and the thing everyone asks
Bunyonyi is one of very few large lakes in the region where swimming is normal. There are no crocodiles and no hippos, and bilharzia is not established in it. People swim, and so do we. We would still tell you to ask at the lodge on the day rather than treat a website as a guarantee.
The islands
Each of the twenty-nine has a story. Some are pleasant — the one with the birds, the one you can paddle to. One is not: Akampene, called Punishment Island, where unmarried pregnant girls were once left. Local guides tell that history plainly and it is worth hearing plainly.
A boat out among them takes an afternoon. You can also take a dugout canoe, which takes considerably longer and is more fun than it sounds.
Getting here, and onward
| Kabale town | About 20 minutes |
|---|---|
| Bwindi — Ruhija sector | About 1½ hours |
| Bwindi — Rushaga or Nkuringo | 2–3 hours |
| Kigali, Rwanda | Often the closer and cheaper flight — ask us |
Driving times are ours, on the roads as they are now; we will tell you if that changes in the rains.
And the other thing that is here
The children's home and the school that this company funds are on this lake. They are not a stop on the itinerary and they never will be — but if you want to understand why a safari company exists at all, this is the page that leads to it. Our impact →