Lake Albert photos
on Postcard from Uganda (Uganda), 18/Apr/2009 16:19, 34 days ago
I've had two trips to Lake Albert recently - I visited Butiaba, a fishing village on the shores of the lake at Easter with some VSO friends. It's about an hour and a half's drive from Masindi and an interesting place to visit - it's usually incredibly hot and dry there but fortunately it wasn't too hot when we went. Not surprisingly the majortiy of the people who live there make a living from fishing tilapia or Nile perch. The area seemed incredibly poor with most of the people living in small mud huts. The local kids got very excited when they saw my camera and wanted to be in every photo. Ernest Heminway is known to have stopped in Butiaba to recover after a plane crash close by. another claim to fame for the village is that the movie The African Queen was filmed nearby in the 1930's.Lake Albert is situated on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.Fishermen repairing nets on the shores of Lake AlbertYoung girl with tiny baby on her back!A Maribou stork, (centre), two ibis (left) and some white herons (right)Over the Bank Holiday weekend at the beginning of May, myself and two VSOer's from Masindi stayed at the Lake Albert Safari Lodge for 2 nights - it's further down the lake from Butiaba, about a 3 hour drive from Masindi. The lodge is situated in the Kabwoya wildlife reserve and is perched on the side of a cliff looking down onto the lake - it has fantastic views of the Blue Mountains on the other side. There were lots of babaoons, wart hogs and small antelopes around the lodge - I had a wake up call early one morning from one of the baboon, it was banging against and trying to open the sliding doors of the banda I was staying in, fortunately he didn't mange to open it!Blue Mountains of the Democratic Republic of Congo in the background