An Island for Lepers, Uganda / by Ana Zamorano Ruiz

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I knew my pass to climb the ultimate gorilla trek in Uganda was the 17th of August so I took a 15h bus from the north part of the country to arrive in Kabale with enough time to discover how to get to the jungle without an agency. I remember I met a couple of backpackers on the bus and told me they wanted to go to one of the islands in Lake Bunyoyi so I started to think about it too.


I bargained the price to go there by boda-boda (a motorbike taxi) and reached at the lake one hour after. As always in Africa I had to discuss the price for this boat. I wanted to go to an eco place with, apparently, an amazing views but it was late and started getting a bit dark so I quickly jumped on the small boat.


But when we were far enough from the mainland, I discovered the captain - this child- couldn’t speak English and didn’t know a clue about the place I wanted to go. Damn! A storm was also coming and it was already completely dark. So I told him to park by a random island, and jumped off the boat with my backpack with the excuse of I wanted to go to the bathroom. After this, I discovered it was a house nearby so I went there and knocked the door but nobody was there. I started walking to the top of the island where I saw there were some houses but some plants bite me and the rain started. I quickly run back to the white house when suddenly I heard some people coming back from the water. They were a couple from Poland who are doctors and were helping the people from that island, because the island I landed at was an island for lepers.