Celebrating Sabrina’s birthday
on Sabrina and Geoff Slide in Kamwenge (Uganda), 31/May/2009 10:53, 34 days ago
Into the life of every VSO volunteer must occasionally drop a little luxury– and we had ours last weekend at the Ndali Lodge. We went there, one of Uganda’s ‘most stunning retreats’, to celebrate Sabrina’s 40th birthday. Well that’s what the owner kept saying and he should know! The history of the lodge is fascinating. It was originally bought by the present owner’s grandfather, who was kicked out of Uganda by Amin. When the present government said that such owners could get their land back if they produced title deeds, the current owner’s father came back with his title deeds and reclaimed it.We arrived just in time for a lunch of macaroni cheese bake with home grown salad from theirgarden. Then round the pool to cool down, take in the wonderful view and generally relax until dinner. There were 10 guests staying and we were an eclectic bunch. A gay couple who had just seen the gorillas and worked in finance in Canary Wharf, a couple on their honeymoon, which had lasted for 6 months and was about to end with a trip to see the gorillas, 2 New York singleton women who were in fashion and the law and lived up to stereotype by never stopping, a young couple who managed an upmarket lodge in the south of Uganda and a Dutch/American couple who worked for NGOs in Kampala and had diplomatic immunity as the female partner was attached to the US embassy on bed net distribution. Oh and us! The owner and his fiancée were also at dinner which was great fun with brilliant and wide-ranging conversation as well as the first alcohol since the plane. The 4 course meal was very tasty with some great conversation.In the morning we got up late, had breakfast and then went down a very steep hill to take outthe boat. By the jetty there were 3 local teenagers who were fishing from reed canoes that they had made themselves and which looked exceedingly hard to balance on, yet they were able to catch fish and paddle around without looking unstable at any time. One even spread his hands wide apart to indicate how the big the fish he caught were, but we only saw him catch tiddlers– fishermen are the same the world over. We just paddled around and let the wind push us about, then moored and slowly walked back up the steep sides of the crater lake.We lunched overlooking the lake, were presented with a date cake for Sabrina’s birthday, then set off back to Kamwenge. The weather was lovely and the roads were full of Ugandans in their Sunday best strolling along in family groups or sitting in groups just chatting. It was lovely to watch and see their happy, smiling faces. In Kibale Forest we saw 3 family groups of baboonsenjoying the evening sun and stopped right next to them. There was also a blockage caused by a road grader improving the road through the forest which necessitated some delicate vehicle manoeuvring across a pile of loose earth at a 45º angle with 4 wheel drive engaged.Overall a wonderful weekend and a great way to celebrate Sabrina’s birthday.