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labor day weekend, the quintessential end-of-summer last hurrah at the lake…normally fox lake (andersons) or lake superior (bowens), but this year lake victoria (anderson bowens). reeling from a week of nastily coinciding work and personal issues, i desperately needed a getaway just me and phil. with just 2+ days and not much money, we headed for ssese islands – a good combination of short drive, cheap camping, and the possibility of new birds.

we had the short drive (3 hours from kampala + 1 hour across the island), the cheap camping ($4 per person per night), and the new birds (little bee-eater, common greenshank, yellow billed duck, violet chested sunbird, tambourine dove). but, the story of the weekend? the ferry.

there’s two public ways to get to ssese islands: (1) the utilitarian ferry from bukakata jetty to luku operated by the ministry of works, (2) the EU-donated posh ferry from entebbe to kalangala operated by i-dunno. both ferries are free – the utilitarian ferry mostly is unless there’s no fuel in which case everyone has to chip in a proportionate amount to fill the tank; the second definitely isn’t, although i don’t know whose pockets the unsanctioned fares line – and both get you from mainland to islands. we were unaware of the entebbe-kalangala bourgeois ferry, so stuck with the populace and crossed from/to bukakata.

like all ugandan public transport, the ferry is packed to capacity+ and runs on a haphazard schedule loosely based on the rule: the ferry leaves when it’s full. as we learned during our return trip to the mainland, full is certainly subjective. the ferry can be full and leave all the way to the point that another last-minute lorry with a persuasive frontrunner races down the jetty and waves the ferry back to add yet another top-heavy, over-packed charcoal lorry to the mix. this time the engineer was swayed enough to return, but the technicians steadfastly concluded another lorry was out of the question (another of exact same description was already onboard) and we were eventually off for the other shore leaving the lorry and its contingent of advocates arguing their abandonment from the jetty. not all latecomers lost though as several bodas were able to sneak onto the ferry during its unexpected return to port.

we spent one night by a bonfire on a sandy beach of the lake. phil wondered aloud about the potential size of lake victoria waves considering his upbringing along the greatest lake and its capacity to overturn ore freighters. it was an innocuous enough question at the time considering the calmness of the night – no wind, no waves. but, the following day on our return journey across the lake, i wondered the same thing and didn’t feel so confident that lake vic couldn’t do the same. ok, so we weren’t in gale force hurricane winds by any stretch of the imagination, but i still wondered as we got out into the lake and the dark skies moved in with their cold winds and big waves.

…

scene i: paige and phil in the middle of lake victoria on an overloaded (probably) poorly maintained government ferry. paige and phil can swim, no one else can. the white-capped waves wash over the front of the ferry.

paige (to phil): are you worried?

phil: (shakes head)

the aforementioned top-heavy, over-packed charcoal lorry rocks violently with the waves, especially when the engineer has to turn broadside to the wind to make the jetty landing. the lorry heaves menacingly over an at-capacity matatu each time it rocks to the windward side.

phil (to paige): you gotta see this.

phil and paige move closer to the rocking lorry to gape at its ability to heave and ho without lifting its tires from the ferry floor. the matatu is still full of people. the crowd gathers to watch the drama unfold. then, the lorry rocks one degree too far and danger is imminent. matatu door screeches open and 20+ people pile out in rapid succession scattering every which way to avoid being crushed from a falling lorry and its cargo of dirty charcoal bags. the lorry rights itself before toppling. disaster averted.

paige: omigod. did you get a picture of that?

phil: no, i was too busy watching.

the matatu driver and conductor push the matatu slightly back from the lorry and everyone climbs back in. no terror, just laughs. everyone is laughing, paige and phil included. adrenaline can do that.

later: paige and phil are safely on the uganda mainland. no toppled lorries, no sunken ferries. all is fine and the ferry docks at bukakata where it will pick up an even larger, even more unfathomable load of people, trucks, bodas, and cars to head back to ssese islands.