After another few intensive few days of photographing, videographing and editing, it was time for some rest and recovery (R&R). We chose Lake Bunyonyi as our R&R spot. This is a beautiful lake in the south of Uganda, with many small islands. Several islands are inhabited, or have campsites or lodges on them.
We chose a lovely lodge on one of the biggest islands. Byoona Amagara. The lodge can only be reached by boat, so we had to leave our car at the 'harbor'. It is always fun to see the faces of people who want to help us with our bagage, when we pull all the bags we need out of our car. A bag for clothes each, a bag for shoes, a bag for toiletries, bags for dirty clothes, our car is packed for camping and not so much for lodges. Anyway, it all fitted in the boat and we were off to the camp.
We booked a geodome, but had no idea what that means. It turned out to be a semi-dome with an open arch instead of a door. Since this is an island without monkeys, there is no need to close a door, so we can always see the beautiful lake from our home.
The food is nice, the geodome is lovely and we can even have our breakfast on the verandah in front of our dome with the birds all around us. We like this place so much, that we decide to extend our stay with an extra night. The goal is to relax, but we are still terrible at doing nothing. We are editing our videos, photos and go for a walk on the island.
The next day we want to do something active and we decide to go for a canoe ride. The last time we did this was 3 years ago and it resulted in a going in a lot of circles, shouting at each other and getting frustrated. We agree to do it differently this time. Across our camp is the biggest island and we decide to canoe around that island.
Once we got back to the camp, we realised how 'funny' it was that the canoe ride represented relationships (in general). The more we were shouting at each other, the more we went in circles and the more frustrated we got. It was when we were far away from our own island, midway across the other island, that Jeroen decided that he would do it himself. So Emma stopped doing anything. He quickly realised that this didn't work either and we definitely needed to work together.
We start out okay, but before we reach the island we have made our first unintentional circle. As we keep going, we keep making more circles and grow frustrated again.
Once we came to that conclusion together, apologised for our behaviour and blaming each other for going the wrong way, we communicated better and agreed on a plan forward. Whether it was the wind, the sun or our improved communication, we picked up the pace and did not have any unintentional spins anymore and we raced back to our own island. We know the best thing is to always communicate in a positive and constructive way, but this was a good reminder.
After the canoe ride, we prepared ourselves for the next adventure, going for a new country.
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