A dull Moment

Kampala is one of those strange places that despite being a green city, lacks green spaces demarcated for recreational purposes. It’s an oddity that bothers its

inhabitants, let alone the visitor that looks out of the plane window expecting to be met by green fields as she lands at Entebbe
international airport.

There seems to be no answer to this sad story until one discovers one of the world’s largest play fields; the majestic Lake Victoria itself!
This lake is one of the very few fresh water bodies in the world that are still lonely save for a lone canoe in the distance. Yet it provides a sports fishing experience that is hard to beat, seeing as its temperatures are friendly all year around.

And that is exactly why I and five friends couldn’t help but head out for a full-day sports-fishing excursion. On this particular trip, we went with Wild Frontiers, having been blown away by the positive reviews about it in different travel advisories. As I write this, it is over three days since we conquered the excursion. I couldn’t be Baits into lake Victoria 9 A Nile perch catch. Team Time to catch a fresh breath happier. Wild Frontiers’ two-men crew comprising a boat captain and guide made sure we were well taken care of from start to finish; but it was their reassuring confidence that gave us the nuts and bolts for our mission. Even better, the boat was well suited for deep lake trolling. It was a speed boat, roughly between 18 & 30 feet (6-10 metres), powered by twin outboard engines. The adventure started at Waterfront Beach in Entebbe with us being taken through a briefing, with an emphasis on safety and the DOs and DONTs of the adventure. It was drizzling outside but that was the least of our worries as the 12 seater-boat was sheltered with waterproof roofs. That aside, the captain raincoats for .

Seeing as was a full day's excursion, lunch was packed for us .

All through, the waves were calm. Seeing other boats bob up and then out of sight was awesome. To be honest, we didn’t expect to see much because it was coming to noon when we got to fishing, yet fish are mostly active in the morning hours .
 
 To our astonishment though, after riding into deeper parts of the lake for about one hour, our boat was surrounded by lots of shy and elusive aquatic creatures.
 Photo opportunities abounded and the guides always kept us informed of what we were seeing while instructing us on how to bait the biggest catch. They were
 really patient instructors. This makes the activity feasible even for first  timers. The artifcial lures were a delicacy designed to attract  giant Tilapias and Nile perch.
This heightened our chances of walking away victorious. However, it would take lots of minutes before landing on a good catch (2 gigantic Nile Perches weighing over 15 kilograms
 Over 15 Kilograms each). This victory was worth a huge celebration, like a lottery win! Luckily, there were lots of beers on board to cheer with. Did I say there was
 Coffee too yes ,there was. Just was what we needed to recharge our
batteries, and more.
It was so refreshing to listen to the waves as they gently rocked the boat. Truly relaxing to both the body and the mind. I had gone to fish, that I knew. But little did I know that by the end of the adventure, the lake would have fished out the stress from me too.David almost got sick mid-way the tour. Luckily, the guides had first aid skills that are a notch above the norm. Their tips on dealing with sea sickness actually
worked for him!!!
Beyond the fish, the activity was also an opportunity to see lots of major attractions I didn’t know of; the Island from which Entebbe got its name, one of the areas Buganda’s Kabaka routinely visits to appease his ancestors, and then there was the Equator; one of the few places in Africa where one can be at both the Northern and Southern hemispheres at the same time. How cool is that?