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Mbale’s Sisiyi Falls Resort, Uganda’s Garden of Eden
The beautiful Sisiyi Falls.
What you need to know:
Uganda is home to countless tourist resorts and Sisiyi holds its own among them, offering a perfect place to admire nature in its naked beauty, or free oneself from the city commotion, writes Eunice Rukundo.
I had woken up in the wee hours of the morning to what I thought was rainfall; a steady flow that at that hour of the day propels you deeper beneath the bed covers. “Oh, no, not this!” I remember thinking to myself, already wishing I had the liberty to stay in bed and savour the morning chill that makes sleep ever so sweet. Then it hit me; I was on my honeymoon and could actually sleep in. There was no work for me! I dug deeper into the covers, smiling to myself all the way. Many hours later, I was woken up by a timid, and I thought concerned, knock at the door. I wondered who it could be and how they could have made their way to our cabin as it was high up on the hill among the trees and the route here, all rocky and slippery, was no easy climb even on a dry day. When my husband opened the door, it was the elderly caretaker we’d secretly started to refer to as our Kuku (grandma) after she had received us like her long lost grandchildren the day before.
“Are you two alright?” I could now hear her anxiously asking and wondered why she’d imagine we weren’t fine. “You overslept and I thought I should check to make sure everything was alright.” Of course we had overslept. Save for it being our honeymoon (isn’t sleep the stuff honeymoons are literally made of?), where did she want us to go in this rain, I wondered, reaching for my phone to check the time. It was midday!
Hadn’t it rained like forever? My God, the ground out there must be soggy, I thought. Peeping outside however, it was dry! Hubby saw the shock on my face and asked what was wrong. “How come the ground is dry when it rained almost the whole night?”
Because it hadn’t rained even a drop; all the while, it had been the waterfall just behind our cottage that I had mistaken for rain! How naïve! And yes, you guessed right; my husband simply refuses to let me hear the last of my embarrassing incident that day.
Deciding to visit Sisiyi Falls
Partly from my desire to acquaint myself with where I’d be buried now that I was married and then also to honour my husband’s prompting, we agreed to spend some days of our honeymoon in his home area in Eastern Uganda. We would spend the first few days at Sisiyi Falls Resort, most recently nicknamed “Garden of Eden” by the locals.
I’d already heard so much about the falls from my in-laws and couldn’t wait to see them. Save for appreciating our elderly host however, I had been too tired to care much for anything when we had arrived the previous evening. I was even more annoyed by the endless ascent to our cottage uphill. I had loudly wondered why we couldn’t sleep on one of those nearer to the bottom of the rocky hill, but Kuku had insisted she wanted us to have the best. Oh, but the trek there! I hoped it would be worthwhile. And it was.
Uphill that evening, I began, even in my exhausted irritable state, to marvel at how much creativity had gone into stashing the cottages into the nature, as some were just besides high rocks, others within trees and others just a few metres from the waterfalls. The next day, all rested, refreshed and satisfied from Kuku’s hefty tasty meal of matooke, rice and chicken and relieved the grounds weren’t wet from the “overnight rains”, I couldn’t wait to get exploring.
Touching the waterfalls
Located in Sironko District, about 30 kilometres from Mbale town along the highway to Kapchorwa, I had seen the falls miles away on our way there the day before; a white streak against a green hilly background. At the resort, a rocky ascent through the rental cottages to the foot of the falls brought us closer to the falls. Sisiyi now magically roared about 100m down Sisiyi Cliff off the Crater Lake on the peak of Mt Elgon, letting off a steam-like splatter. Closer, you can touch the falls, yes, literally have the falls running through your fingers as they gently sprinkle your face. One of my most magical moments to date.
Right there as I silently watched the water fall run through my fingers, I wondered how this treasure had gone hidden from the public for so long, known only to the Bukibologoto villagers, who used the surrounding areas to cultivate coffee, bananas and eucalyptus trees for firewood, bitter about the difficulty the rocky terrain brought to their farming experience.
Sisiyi Falls, so named because it never runs dry, come rain come shine, is only recently getting the acknowledgement it deserves. Slightly over eight years ago, Dr Patrick Mutono and his wife discovered its wonders and how much they could do of it. The couple has since bought the surrounding land from the locals, who were only too eager to see it go as its rocky terrain only undermined their farming efforts anyway. The Mutonos, in a way that doesn’t make you feel caged in, have fenced off this land and developed it into leisure gardens with cottages, finally transforming it into a suitable tourist destination now averagely flocked by tourists, holiday makers and honeymooners.
With self contained grass thatched cottages strategically scattered on the rocky grounds to maximise the good points of the place, you can sleep just beneath the falls, a captivating view away from them, or just among the rocks and wild flower plants. Either way, you are assured of waking up to the freshness and refreshing thud of the falls against the rocky gorge at the bottom of the cliff. At the bottom of the path from the falls, just as you enter the resort, the Mutonos have constructed a kitchen, restaurant and bar for refreshments and relaxation.
Impressively, all these developments seem to have been carefully made to deliberately enhance and reserve the area’s natural beauty, without diluting or crowding it with modernisation. The trees still stand tall and natural in the area, with an addition of flower plants evidently strewn about to make them blend in as naturally as possible, compared to if they were arranged carefully for instance. You could say it was made habitable without ruining its natural appeal.
As the locals couldn’t have found a more befitting nickname; Sisiyi falls Resort is indeed a sort of “Garden of Eden”. Uganda is home to countless tourist resorts and Sisiyi holds its own among them, offering a perfect place to admire nature in its naked beauty, or free oneself from the city commotion.
