Two weekends ago we, the LGH Uganda Staff, took a trip to the Ssese Islands in Lake Victoria. (Lake Victoria is Africa's largest Lake and is bordered by Uganda, Kenya & Tanzania.) We went to Banda Island which is owned by an eccentric white Kenyan. With help from his friends and others, he built lake side cottages for guests and a castle for himself. It’s a very Lost-esque setting; beachfront, winding paths through the bush & bamboo groves. We spent most of the time eating, laying on the beach and swimming.

Getting to the island is the tricky part. It involves taking a matatu (taxi-van) from Jinja to Kampala, stopping at the grocery store (you're asked to help with the food shopping), packing the groceries in boxes, carrying them down to the taxi park, across the muddy taxi park and onto a Kasenyi-bound matatu. Kasenyi is a lake port where many large and small boats, carrying goods and people, launch out to the various islands. From where the matatu drops off, you walk through a fruit and vegetable market to the shoreline. Bustling with activity, porters launch full crates of soda and beer into the water, carry huge bags of charcoal and even furniture, motorbikes, and other boats to be loaded onto larger boats. The most interesting part of the experience is watching the porters carry people onto the boats. These boats are huge with 20 foot drafts and pointed bottoms. They have to stay floating or they'd fall over. So the boats park about 30 feet off shore and porters carry the passengers onto the boats. Men are carried "chicken-fight" style on shoulders and women are scooped up like babies. The women were lined up on shore dressed in their Easter finest. Some carried bags and babies. The porters scooped them up, luggage, babies and all to carry them out to the boats. When they reached the boat, they lifted the women up so their feet touched the low deck next to the outboard engine and a crewmember would grab them by their arm or shoulders and tipped them up on the boat. High and dry.