A charitable and fun experience at Kyaninga

By Caroline Ariba

AN amazing experience lies faintly over 300km from Kampala City in the chilly Kabarole district, in a little village called Kyaninga.

Kyaninga, is a rutoro word curved out of kuninga, which means to spoil and pamper. This place is home to a gorgeous lake called, Lake Kyaninga. 

Only last year, Sunday Vision visited Kyaninga and told of a beauty that lay still in waters so blue and calm. This time round, it is a tale of how this beauty was used to light a teenager’s rather misty world, in a triathlon that was a lot of fun.

A triathlon is a three-race competition of swimming, riding and running, but the Kyaninga triathlon, thanks to a location so breathtaking and relaxing, offers much more.

SWIMMING

When the participants in the triathlon dived into the 220-metre deep blue waters, it was like watching magic unfold. The lake swayed sweetly.

There was a bit of drama when some of the swimmers realised they were swimming in the wrong direction. Lucky for them, Kyaninga Lodge manager, Matt Cooper, sat still in a boat to make sure all was well. This was the first stage in the Kyaninga triathlon.

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Nyama choma: Kyaninga chefs share a joke over mouth-watering pork

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BIKING

Then came the bicycle ride around this crater’s curvy hills, followed by a run around the lake. Many were really just walking. In their defence, they were tired. The lake looked even more dazzling from the top, so instead of running, many took a stroll while taking it all in. It felt like you could hear the Kyaninga forest laugh.

No, not the trees, but the wildlife, the vervet monkeys, lone red-tailed Colobus monkey and the civet cats.

Back at the lodge, there was a massage waiting for those who wanted it. I took to the poolside for a quieter view of the lake. Everything was at peace here.

Soon, Chef Robert and his team delivered a whole roasted pig for the guests to enjoy, alongside a buffet.

Later that evening, we sat with some of the guests, friends and employees of the lodge on the balcony sipping our drinks while chatting away.

A CAUSE

The money raised from the triathlon was for the benefit of a 17-year-old girl named Maria. She was born blind. Fortunately, her mother had been a nanny in the family of Rupert Barthop and they had offered help to the single mother over the years.

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However there was hardly enough money for the two operations she needed to gain sight.

“One of the UK’s leading eye surgeons amazingly agreed to perform the required intervention — a Surgical Capsulotomy — at a significantly reduced rate,” Bathorp says, adding that the money was still short, so a fundraiser was needed.

WHY KYANINGA?

Barthop was visiting Kyaninga and loved it. “I fell in love with everything and knew right then that I wanted to come back,” Barthorp says.

It was then that the idea of having the triathlon here crossed his mind; Lake Kyaninga could share its beauty and change a teenager’s life while at it.

“He told me about the little girl and asked if we could do a triathlon to raise some money for the operation,” Kyaninga Lodge’s director Steve Williams says.

There will be another triathlon at Kyaninga to fundraise for other children like Maria. And what a fun way and a fun place to achieve a noble cause.