About a week ago, I had an opportunity to travel to Bunyaruguru, Western Uganda with the Mountain Slayers and boy oh boy I wasn’t mentally prepared for the beauty.
Leaving the hustle and bustle of Kampala city behind, we embarked on a 365km journey to Rubirizi district which is also known as Bunyaruguru by several people. The journey was everything I could have hoped for. We sang along to Kirk Franklin, Sound of Music and Ginuwine songs among others.
At one point my neighbor couldn’t contain her laughter as I sang along to stomp. In my head, I felt like the lead singer of a band but my voice had other ideas.
Bunyaruguru
I knew little about Bunyaruguru before the journey, but I was about to find out why it was called “Bunyaru-Heaven.” This place is home to 52 craters and out of those 32 of them are crater lakes.
Our guides took us to a hilltop and showed us two crater lakes which were so close to each other but to everyone’s surprise, they told us one lake is female and the other is male. Stories are told that there is an octopus in the male one and on rare occasions to crosses over to the female lake.
Being the curious one, I decided to engage one of the guides just to find out why the octopus crosses over and all he said was “the octopus has needs.” (insert cricket sound)
Hiking through the valleys to the hilltops was no easy feat, I fell 3 times and this was mostly due to my poor selection of shoes and the wet surface. But when I made it to the top, I did the famous Rocky celebration and then took in the immense beauty that was before my eyes.
There is something so stunning about water bodies that are hidden off in valleys. Their beauty is like oxygen, it’s never too much and with every breath that I took, the more I got lost in it.
The Source
Dave Caves is a place strategically located at the edge of a crater lake and through it flows a stream called Kamwiru. The story behind this stream is so mighty and definitely one I couldn’t have dreamt of in my wildest day.
Apparently, Kamwiru is the source of many water bodies in Uganda. Whether it’s Lake Victoria, Lake Edward, Lake Albert or the Nile, you name it, it has a connection to this little stream.
We sat in the cave as the guide went on and on with his fictional story about the stream. And honestly, he deserves an Oscar because he really tried to fry our brains with all the different concepts.
When it was all said and done, we went back to the camp where we were treated to a traditional dance. Those who still had energy, danced along while I took a seat next to the campfire and counted my blessings.
Still to come: A Love Story of two Lakes
Shots by Tim Latim, Anita Komukama and Myself.
