We travelled from Bukoba to Masaka, Uganda where Luke and I parted ways with Henri and then decided to stay the night there as we were in no rush. We were told by Henri about a good cheap place to stay here so we asked some bikes to take us there (they said they knew were they were going). We need to learn a way to make sure they actually know where they are going! It will save so much hastle and havoc. They took us about 20 mins out of town to Mariana gardens when we had asked for Mariana guesthouse... After some explaining to them about where it was (we knew the name of the street but they don't seem to use street names out here) they set off and took us to a completely random guesthouse but it had a door that locked so we were fine. Here, I crashed a bit from a bad cold. This meant that we didn't get to explore the town at all but I think this was a good thing as we were both so exhausted from travelling. Luke managed to find a take away close by so we had a nice and cheap meal that evening.

The next day was mostly travelling to Kabale. We managed to find a bus that left a little bit later than the usual 6 in the morning and got on it just outside of Masaka. This trip was uneventful as we were still both supprisingly tired. For lunch there were people offering food through the windows of the coaches. Luke and i decided on some chapatis and some unidentifiable carcas on a stick. we managed to find the backpackers where we were going to stay very easily and found out that we were the only people staying there! We then decided to have a look around the town finding out how cheap alcohol is here and were the post office is. Kabale is a pretty small town but has a few supermarkets in and all the major banks. One of the staff in the backpackers managed to persuade us to go on a walking safari to llake bunyoni via some waterfalls and caves, then to see some Batwa Pigmies.

We got up fairly early again this morning to go on the walking safari. We started off the walk going to try some local porridge which I found disgusting but Luke liked it. We then went to a very dissapointing waterfall coming down from the hills. This was because it wasn't the rainy season so the full amount of water wasn't cascading over the rocks in such a glorious manner. The next stop was the caves. This is a system of caves up a very, very steep hill. The local tribe used them to hide in when they were attacked by another tribe. The caves seemed to be endless but also very small so some local boys showed off fitting though tiny gaps while laughing at me and Luke strugglling to fit through some of the larger gaps.

When we got to the top of the hill we managed to see all of the lake. It's spectacular! Sadly it was cloudy when we got to the top but it was still magnificent with the hilly islands and irregular shape. As we walked down to it we could see the reflections of the islands in the smooth water but this was disrupted as a storm was coming over. We hurried down to a campsite where we stopped for lunch and waited for the storm to pass over.

When it had finally passe we travelled by boat to see the Batwa Pygmies. These people were displaced from Bwindi National park by the govornment. They weren't given any compensation as they didn't have any deeds to the land. A missionary had bought them some land to live on by the lake but as they were used to living in the forest, still haven't adusted to farming the land. This was so shocking to see. They lived in such poverty! We managed to buy a 25kg sack of maise for them (this was instead of a money donation as the chairman might spend it on drink instead of bettering the tribe) and this gave them such happiness, it was lovely to see. They all lived in very primative huts made of waste around them. The water was free to flow into their huts and the campfires inside would regularly light the structures on fire. The member of staff from the backpackers with us was trying to better their situation by starting them off ecologically farming by first renting land then buying them goats and chickens to provide manure. It was such a privalage to see how they lived and sad to see them live in such a way. I'd like to go back some day to see how they have progressed and maybe help them more in some way.