Lake Bunyonyi

Overview

Lake Bunyonyi lies at 1,962 metres among the steep terraced hills of Kigezi, and it is one of the most photographed places in Uganda for good reason: twenty-nine islands scattered across dark, still water, with hillsides cultivated in contour strips right down to the shoreline. Its name means place of many little birds. Unusually for an East African lake it has no bilharzia, no crocodiles and no hippos, so swimming is safe - which makes it the natural place to spend two or three days recovering after gorilla trekking in Bwindi or Mgahinga, an hour and a half away. The islands each have a story: Akampene, or Punishment Island, is where unmarried pregnant girls were once abandoned; Bwama housed a leprosy treatment centre founded by a Scottish missionary in the 1920s. Dugout canoe trips, island hopping, hillside walks to Kigezi villages and birdwatching are what people come for.