Kalanga Boy Adventures on Lake Victoria

Lake Victoria pictured here is the largest in East Africa

If the 13^th of January 2018 should be a day to be refrigerated in my memory because it is the first day I ever flew in my life, then 18 January 2018 is also one crucial day I shall forever cherish just because it is the day I went on a tour to Jinja, the second largest city of Uganda, The Pearl of Africa.

Amongst the welcome experiences in the Pearl of Africa was a two hour long voyage on Lake Victoria. I must emphasize that the experience was amazing and fabulous because never before had I been on such vast waters with just the base of a small canoe separating me and death by drowning. The last time I had sailed on a canoe was in July 2012 at Masiye Camp, a resort back home in Zimbabwe’s Matopo District in Matebeleland South Province. But that was just on a small dam, about 150 metres wide.

Of course I could also reflect on my experiences of sailing up and down the Zambezi River back home in Zimbabwe in July 2011 when the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) had taken us for a four day conference in Victoria Falls during the first year of my degree course. But both experiences were less as compared to this one on Lake Victoria.

In this photo, the small canoe which we used as transport can be 

seen. In the forefront is a colleague, Neil Tendai Sinbanda and

in the background is Joe, our tour gide

At around 2 p.m., we were readied for the voyage and a 7 by 2 metre canoe was chosen as our transport. My eyes went wide when I looked at the canoe versus the vast waters of the lake. Coming from the south and not having had the experience, I couldn’t believe that the canoe had the guts to face up the pressure from the lake. We then strapped our life jackets on and the canoe operator started the engines and off we went. We first wound our way towards the south before we finally turned north towards the Source of the Nile River, our final destination.

I should confess that out of fear and absence of knowledge, I was annoyed by one of our colleagues who kept her hand in the lake, totally oblivious, at least according to me, of the dangers that lay beneath those vast waters.

As a result of her behavior, that minute I even reflected on the story of Lingiwe (not real name) from Kezi, who a friend had told me about in December 2017 when we were in Francistown in Botswana. This friend told me that he and Lingiwe, back then in 1999, were illegally crossing to South Africa with ten others. He said that upon their arrival at Beitbridge, the Zimbabwean border town to South Africa they got into the thicket to meet with those who assisted border jumpers to cross the crocodile infested Limpopo River into South Africa. After careful searching by those assistants – the Bouncers – as they are so called in border jumper language, they had been arranged in a neat line with the bouncer in the middle to command the operation and Lingi being seventh from the front and holding hands with her friend who told me the story. As they were in the middle of the river, in waters which were waist high, Lingi had let out a loud and painful wail which went like “Mayee!!!” Upon looking around they had seen a trail of blood in the water which prompted the Bouncer to shout, “Mekeleni!” meaning let go of her. They indeed complied and both who were holding her let Lingi go and subsequently she was mauled by crocodiles, saving the rest of the group from the same predicament. Now, reflecting on this story I knew that if similar disaster would strike, the same procedure would have to be done to save the 12 of us who were on board because having tasted blood, the crocodiles would obviously have overturned the canoe, rendering all of us victims. But thank God, no crocodiles were near.

Now, sailing up Lake Victoria we met several canoes some with white people and others with black people, or a mixture of both. For the first time, I marveled at how people cheated death by a whisker because sailing on a canoe on such intimidating waters was risky. In Genesis 1 verse 26 the Bible says:

“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (English Standard Version) My friend, that verse is true. Man has conquered almost everything except those things that only God has power over.

We sailed on towards The Source of the Nile which was a kilometre away from our entry point. My friend, 1 kilometre in open sea is a vast and frightening distance for first timers and I can confess that at that moment, I created a hotline that connected me and God, just to re-establish the assurance because anything could have happened.

We passed by the Fish Farms (I will come back to this in blogs that are to follow, be on the lookout) and on we went. One more bend we sighted The Source of the Nile River. I just wanted to land there…

to be continued…..