Ukerewe

This weekend, our last on the island, we toured Ukerewe. The Ukerewe District (Tanzanian Districts are equivalents of our states) is composed of 32 islands in Lake Victoria that are home to about 250,000 people. Ukerewe is the largest island and Nansio, where we are staying, is the district's largest city of about 50,000. Accompanied by two Danes and an Aussie we've befriended we hired two cars and a guide and were off. The guide doesn't drive so me and the Aussie are each behind the wheel, which by the way is on the wrong side of the car just as the car is on the wrong side of the road. I'd done this before but it still would have been daunting except for the fact that "side of the road" is a very relative expression and the "side" of the "road" that we drove on was the one with the least threatening ruts and potholes. In fact the various combinations of washed-out dirt, two-track, pedestirans, cyclists and livestock we traversed in our beat-down Toyota sedan was only referred to as "the road" for about the first five kilometers of our trip. Encounters with oncoming car traffic were horn-blaring games of chicken to win the smoother side of what was really only a one-lane rut to begin with. Oncoming truck traffic was avoided by all means necesary...they seemed to speed up when passing as if to reinforce the idea that it was preferable to put your car in the ditch rather than fulfill their ambition of a head-on collision.

Our first stop on the far western reach of the island was Rubya Forest Reserve. Essentially a plantation of Caribbean Pine trees harvested for lumber, driving through the forest felt very much like being in Oregon. Except for the monkeys; entertaining displays by several bands of Vervet monkeys complete with a flourish of their rumored bright-colored genitalia that had been the source of much speculation in our house before arriving here. We passed the afternoon enjoying a swim and picnic lunch at Rubya Point.

After lunch a short drive to the overlook and remains of the Olwego Museum near Halwego. Excellent views of Ukerewe and surrounding islands from the top of this transformed natural rock formation, the island's highest point.

From there, driving past dark on dwindling two-track, we arrived at the small village of Buzegwe, our overnight destination on the island's northeastern shore. We are greeted with traditional dancers and in short time the drums, or, rumor of mzungu, have drawn the entire village. All very entertaining.

Sunday, after one of the most elaborate open-fire breakfast displays I've ever witnessed, we're off to Irondo Point for a hike over the rocks and another swim. The kids lending a hand to some fishermen pulling in their nets.  Then it's back toward Nansio with a brief visit at what is best described as ruins of the last chief's palace near Bukindo. The palace's current inhabitants are room-fulls of bats, making the stop quite worth it.