… And Then Gods Finally Smiled

The Gods weren’t just against us — they were sitting up there with popcorn, taking bets on what could go wrong next.

In October, when we tried to test our new Bunyonyi Batwa activity, the weather unleashed its fury, forcing us to ferry our partners to the other side of the lake instead. Eating Mama Bena’s food and watching “Pygmies” dance at Edirisa isn’t the worst consolation prize — but let’s face it, it wasn’t the magic we’d planned!

Then came the cruelest plot twist, when we lost our community coordinator, Jack Barinawe, the cornerstone of these trips … Sickness took him away so very abruptly!

By November and December, we were desperately scouting for any brave soul willing to test our waters (literally and figuratively). Enter Zunia, the South African manager of Arcadia Lodges, who gamely agreed to be our guinea pig. Thankfully we also had our Slovenian visitor, Alenka, ready to jump into the fray.

By then, the mischievous deities must have decided we’d suffered enough. On our chosen day right at the tail end of 2024, the weather turned out so perfect, it was almost suspicious. Like when your teenager suddenly starts being nice — you know they either broke something or want money.

Our Batwa buddies were worrisomely late to the Kyevu market, so we gave our ladies an impromptu village tour — the kind where you’re pretending everything is fine while internally reciting every prayer you can remember. But what began as a potential disaster turned into a happy accident.

When our friends eventually showed up and started singing, the boat ride transformed from “are we there yet?” to “can we go around one more time?” And just like that, we arrived at Mama Bena’s home, ready to see what fate had in store …

The hut locals had built in our absence gave us a bit of pause — reconstructing tradition far away from modern quality control could be a bit of a gamble — but to our relief, it turned out pretty amazing!

Mama Bena’s cooking, on the other hand, was never in question. The feast she conjured left us all stuffed …

Want to taste this heavenly intervention yourself? Sorry, but sending thoughts and prayers won’t cut it — you’ll need to contact us.

featured photo by Miha Logar; other photos by Alenka Seher