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Watsup world it’s me, the one and only ENYAAAAAAAA with my third Enya’s Blog post. I just finished school so that means I’m spending my summer in the GORILLA HIGHLANDS. Let me get you through why I am at Lake Bunyonyi this time of the year…
My bother Maani and I usually go to SLOVENIA (where my dad is from) for one or two months. We stay with our grandparents, swim, eat a lot of ice cream, ride horses and meet my relatives (duh!). However my aunt Klara got sick some months ago so my grandma had to take care of my baby cousin ARNE. Thats is why we changed plans and went to Kabale.
The day before departure I had a crazy night. My BFF ASTER came for a sleepover and my friend Antonia also came. What happened that night is classified, only our mums know. I can only tell you that we slept at 1am in the morning, even though Maani and me had to wake up very early to catch the bus.
We set off to the bus station in a cab where Jane, my dad’s assistant, was waiting for us at 9am. The trip was so long but I slept most of the time, so it actually wasn’t so long for me. We reached Kabale Town at around 4pm, then went to Bunyonyi in a car.

There we finally saw the TREEHOUSE our dad built because I asked for it. The treehouse immediately became our crafts area.

We made a target out of a big perfume box with four different animals on each side. There was a buffalo man, leopard, zombi elephant and a creepy warthog (that was really meant to be an antelope but then my brother destroyed my wonderful masterpiece).

The reason why we built the target was because we were going to the Batwa Pygmies next day. We were going to practise shooting arrows at the animals on the target and take lots of pictures and videos. The person who was going to take the pictures is called Marcus and he was one of the very many people coming with us.
My dad said that we were going to camp on top of the hill were the Batwa Pygmies village is. I had to pack 1 jeans, 1 sweatpants (for the night), 3 tops, 1 pyjamas, 1 scarf and all my sweaters. I didn’t know why I had to carry so many sweater, even my rain coat had to be brought!!!

It took a long time to reach RWAMAHANO village. I was super bored, I even read a book with Batwa folk tales three times. When we finally stopped, I was so relieved because I thought we had reached. But it was only a short stop at a restaurant near the lake where MARCUS took pictures of Owen reading from the book for us. After that Marcus, Maani, KANUSU (who is a Batwa guide) and I went to the village. On arrival the Batwa gave Maani and I bows and arrows and then we went to a forest called ECHUYA. Amos was helping carry the target around.

We had to walk a short distance but it seemed we were walking for ages because Marcus took a lot of pictures, mostly of us shooting at the target. We stopped at the stone where Batwa sharpen their arrows. It was weird to do it because the arrow tips were not metal but wood.

When we reached the area of the forest where Batwa used to slaughter and share meat, we had a small picnic with fruit, sandwiches and juice.

We then went back out of the forest and up the hill, to the Batwa school where my dad and Jane were putting up the tents. It was terribly cold, like we had climbed a mountain. That’s when I knew why I brought so many sweaters. I wore them immediately with my raincoat and scarf over them.

After most of the tents were put up, our friends from different lodges and tour companies joined. They had been to an Echuya nature walk, just like us but without arrows and bows (WARNING: shooting is for kids only). The Batwa greeted them with dancing and singing. Owen, their translator, told them to sit next to the campfire were Kanusu introduced everybody.

Then we all tried to dance like the Batwa (I had gone to get a snack so I didn’t know what happened before that). We all had a blast and ate a satisfying diner of Irish potatoes with groundnuts, rice and cabbage.

Nobody showered that day. We all just wore our pyjamas and went to bed. It was extremely cold that night, lots of wind was blowing towards me and I felt like I was going to freeze. In other words, I didn’t sleep well at all.

The next day I was rudely woken up by Jane, Maani and the wind. After our friends said goodbye, we had a limbo dance competition. There were around 11 rounds and my bother won.

Thereafter a meeting with the Batwa was called upon. Dad and Jane advised them on what to do and what not to do when visitors come (they do a wonderful job greeting visitors) and how to manage the money they earn. My dad proposed that maybe they could make crafts to sell to their visitors. They responded that they didn’t have materials but he reminded them they had just made a lot of money that they could use to buy supplies. I hope they make wonderful crafts. I also talked at the meeting, I suggested they use money to buy stationery for the school because they only have four desks and no pens, pencils or books.

Finally, my dad took Maani and me back into the forest, to record video of what Marcus already photographed with us.
On the way back to our beloved Bunyonyi, we visited my favourite LIBRARY in Kabale. Maani and me both got new library cards and borrowed lots of books. The plan was that we would stay at the lake for a long while, do many fun activities and watch movies but also read as KNOWLEDGE IS THE KEY TO EVERYTHING!

text: Enya Kanyunyuzi Logar