They say when life gives you lemons, make lemonade; and the residents of Bulago island take this quite literally.
As one steps out of the boat on this side of Bulago, many lemon and lime trees greet the visitor, looking cute and calming with the lounge chairs placed strategically at the waterfront. The fact that many lemons lie rotting on the ground, gives the hint that this is not just your ordinary island littered with struggling fishermen and hustling locals.
This is a haven for Kampala’s growing wealthy class, and increasingly, a favoured getaway for those with well-lined wallets and adventurous hearts. Thanks to Henry Kabugo from Lake Victoria Islands Tours, I was finally on Bulago – I had always wanted to visit this 500-hectare island that is one of the 15 Koome islands in Mukono district.
Stepping into the lobby of One Minute South – a lakeside resort on the island – a hostess handed us glasses of lemonade and I later had my best meal in a long time, in the resort’s dining room. After that starter soup of spicy tomato and coconut, followed by a wholesome chicken pie, skewered meatballs and an assortment of salads, I was not sure I had room for the dessert pastries.
But I did; when a chef is as good as that John Bosco guy, one can’t help but taste everything he sets on the table… Just as well, for soon after the meal, we embarked on a tour of the island – on foot – and by the time we went over the first incline and descended a steep terrain to look at another resort further out on the island, the chicken pie was a distant memory to my stomach.
We made our way back uphill and by the time we emerged from the beautiful foliage and trees to burst upon the rich men and women’s playground, the meatballs were a distant thought too and the guilt of overindulging at lunch was long gone. One Minute South, owned by journalist Alison Portia, is named for its location south of the equator.
It is also Portia who owns the island, reportedly leased for 99 years from the Kabaka of Buganda. Starting at $40,000 for the smallest plot, a cross section of Ugandans and expatriates have bought themselves vast lakeside paradises they retreat to from time to time to escape Kampala’s stress and tear gas.
People such as retired Justice David Porter, Capt John Kassami, Sylvia Owori (she reportedly has sold her property to Sam Kutesa), Jonathan Wright, Kaaya Kavuma were some of the owners locals (caretakers, really; Bulago is a private property) pegged to the imposing villas.
Some houses are built English style, like Victorian cottages, others are grass-thatched ultra-modern huts, and many more are huge houses, such as Kassami’s, capable of hosting several people for days on end.
While many of them have constructed piers to access their holiday homes by water, the island also has an airstrip for light aircraft to pick and drop its sometime-residents.
BE A MARINER TOO
Ugandans enthusiastic about marine tourism, such as Kabugo, are trying to open more eyes to the possibility of enjoying our country beyond just its national parks and Kampala’s party life.
On Bulago, One Minute South, Jonathan Wright’s Pineapple Bay and a couple of others regularly take in vacationing parties willing to part with anything between $250 and $850 per night, depending on what one is looking for.
At One Minute South, for example, Portia only rents the lodge out to one group/family of 20 at a time. She does not allow individual walk-ins; for a group of 20, the luxurious accommodation goes for $850 the first night, minus meals. Pineapple Bay, on the other hand, charges at least $300 per head.
The island hardly has any cars and the main attraction is the refreshing trek around the hilly outcrop, the lakeside peace and quiet, as well as boat cruises. The resorts also come with swimming pools.
“Every tour itinerary should start with Lake Victoria,” Kabugo told the few representatives of tour and travel companies in the boat. He believes the lake has a lot of untapped tourism potential; a visitor gets the feel of the world’s second largest fresh water lake, while enjoying the view of fishing islands one cruises past, not to mention the lake’s vast offering for birders. And on an evening cruise, Lake Victoria has spectacular sunset views.
Kabugo’s marine tour had started off at Uganda Wildlife Education Centre (UWEC), which has a pier. In the morning rain, we headed out to Ngamba chimpanzee sanctuary, first, as Kabugo told stories about the lake and Koome islands, whose main island – also called Koome – was once a prison established by Kabaka Mwanga.
The story goes that the king, who was an ardent mariner, tasked his men to construct a lake that would connect his Mengo palace to Lake Victoria. Thus started the work on present-day Kabaka’s Lake in Ndeeba.
But the men in charge reportedly grew tired and boycotted the hard work, and as punishment were banished to Koome.
MORE TO NGAMBA THAN CHIMPS
Before we knew it, we were docking at Ngamba, home to 47 – 48, if one counts the newborn – rescued chimps. Everyone who goes to Ngamba talks about the chimpanzees, but I was more captivated by the bird sounds that overwhelm a visitor stepping off their boat.
Ngamba is also home to about 130 bird species, several shy, Nile monitor lizards and, according to the island’s marketing personnel Martha Nansamba, even a crocodile has been seen in the shallow waters before. I had asked her if overnighting guests could swim in the clear water over which the tented cabins sit.
The luxurious cabins cost between $380 and $540, transport and meals inclusive. Up to June, the chimp sanctuary is running a promotion for Ugandans at Shs 250,000 per head for a group of not less than four – all-inclusive.
As the excited chimpanzees called and screamed in the distance, the harmony injected by the weaverbirds and other bird species was spellbinding. Our visit on April 16 coincided with the island’s introduction of guests feeding the chimpanzees, and we gladly took off for the fenced-off forest to feed the primates, which, if they could talk, walk on twos and shed all that fur, would possibly be human beings.
Chimps share 98.7 per cent DNA with humans and watching them scramble for food, hoard their fruits and care for their adopted young ones, it is believable. We were also lucky to find a three-week-old baby chimp on the island, being cared for by an American volunteer.
All the female chimps on Ngamba are given a contraceptive injection in the arm (yes, the same that women get) to avoid procreation on the island. But accidents, just like with women on contraceptives, happen. The baby chimp we found is just the second to be born on the island in its 16 years of existence.
Seeing its tiny fingers peep from the protective pouch the volunteer carries it in, made me reflect on how all babies are cute!
Allan Mugerwa, our guide on Ngamba, said there are plans to return some of the rehabilitated chimps back to the wild, in Labongo forest in Murchison Falls national park.
“But some of them can never survive in the wild; they are too spoilt, so Ngamba will always be their home,” he admitted.
Who wouldn’t be spoilt, with a midmorning snack of tomatoes, jackfruit and oranges, and an evening meal of a cup of porridge and an egg, not to mention a night in those hammock-like nests set up in their cages/bedrooms after a day romping in the forest?
Life is better to these chimps than it is to some of their human cousins!
As the sun set directly ahead of us, we docked at UWEC, and blistered feet and all, I could not have spent my day-off any better.
FRENCH VERSION
PLUS DE FILIPPA QUE LES CHIMPANZÉS
