TRAVEL: Taste of life in a lighthouse
Story by RUPI MANGAT
Publication Date: 1/14/2006
The structure at Lake Victoria Safari Village offers a stunning view of sunset
We're looking forward to visiting the lighthouse at Lake Victoria Safari Village at Mbita Point. Spending a few days in it will be a new experience. The landscape from Kisumu to Luanda Kotieno on the shores of Asembo Bay, off the road to Bondo, is full of ancient features: age-old Cambrian rocks fill the hills along the tarmac road and Kit Mikaye, the gigantic boulders sitting atop each other like giant figures. At Ndori, we turn left onto the dusty murrum road to Luanda Kotieno to catch the 11 o'clock ferry to Mbita Point. It runs like clockwork so if you miss it, you have to wait three hours for the next trip.
The lake is calm, with the water birds here and there and in the distant a strange dust devil appears. It's a whole cloud of the harmless minute lake flies that breed in the water and at times swarm places.
Fourty-five minutes later, we dock at Mbita Point and soon we're at the gate of Lake Victoria Safari Village. The sign at the entrance promises beach relaxation, bird-watching and excursions on the lake.
The lighthouse stands stark white against the blue sky and the blue waters of Lake Victoria, making a perfect postcard picture. The islands of Rusinga, Mfang'ano and the smaller twin ones called Mbasa sit calmly on the lake. The local fishermens' colourful boats sail on the roughening waves, their white sails at full mast. Finally, we get to Lake Victoria Safari Village, a creation of Odd Bredo, an engineer of repute.
We're so excited about the lighthouse that we waste no time climbing up the stairs and into the room with a view. It's Bredo's dream house as he tells us about the building of the lighthouse, which could be the only lighthouse on the Kenyan side of Lake Victoria, with justifiable pride.
"I build bridges," says Bredo, a Norwegian. He's worked in many countries in Africa and it was during one such project that he landed at Mbita Point and met his wife, Louise, and set up his new home on the shores of the lake. That was in 1990. In between building bridges, Bredo's busy working at Safari Village with the latest addition, the lighthouse.
The lighthouse is stunning. It reminds me of a calendar from Greece, with pictures of stark white houses surrounded by blue skies and waters.
We climb up the stairs and onto the patio eagerly waiting for Bredo to open the door to the lighthouse. The white-washed bedroom is spacious, with light and windows opening to the lake's blue waters. It's a beautiful rondavel with a four-poster bed facing the lake, blue beaded Maasai necklaces on the walls and a small blue table and two chairs by the window. Blue is the traditional colour for lighthouse decor. A platform with a collection of stones that once was his mother's forms an artistic showpiece of colours and shapes. There's nothing ostentatious or expensive in the room but it's a place you would, nevertheless, want to live in.
The platform conceals part of the staircase leading from the room to the bathroom below. If there was ever a bathtub with a view, this has got to be it. Maya's (my niece) audible expression says it all. If the wall wasn't there, the bath tub would blend in with the lake. No wonder the lighthouse is the honeymooner's dream hideaway.
After our guided trip around the lighthouse, and having unpacked and lounged on the bed overlooking the sea - l mean, I’m a water person, so l'm totally sold - we join Bredo in the garden for a cold beer. The bird life is just awesome. Within a few minutes at the lighthouse, I've seen a tiny malachite kingfisher flit past in resplendent hues of blue and orange, pied kingfishers and the regal African kingfisher sweep out of the horizon from behind the lighthouse and swoop down to grab a fish from the lake.
The garden is filled with yellow weaverbirds busy building nests on the thorn trees and Maya is busy building sand castles on the beach.
"The lighthouse is a structure for guiding ships using sharp lights," Bredo explains, "but they are going out of fashion now because of the GPS (Global Positioning System). In the olden days, lighthouses were marked on maps. In those old days people lived in lighthouses to take care of the lights and operate the fog horn to guide ships."
Growing up in Norway, Bredo spent many summer holidays in a lighthouse which his father rented. It became a boyhood dream to build his own one day.
"Now I have the time to build one," says the jovial Scandinavian. With a team of local artisans, he built the lighthouse in a year and opened it in October 2005.
"A lighthouse needs a very solid foundation because it's surrounded by water and sand and built on a rocky peninsula. The walls are reinforced with columns and slope inwards."
The place is magical. It's sunset and Bredo has a table set by the beach from where he wants to show us a perfect sunset. The sky turns gold, orange and red, with the blue getting faint as it darkens. The sun, a ball of gold, begins to slip into the dark waters bang in the middle of the twin islands of Mbasa. It's stunning, it's surreal.
"The sun sets between Mbasa islands from December 23. It then begins to move true west," he explains, pointing at Mfangano island "and you see the sun setting there on September 23. It keeps moving and sets on the pointed peak (facing us) on Rusinga island on June 23, after which it shifts back to true west by March 23 and back to the twin islands by December 23."
The world is fascinating but it takes special people like the Bredos, the Fleur Ng'wenos and the Wangari Maathais to show that surrealism in nature. It comes with an appreciation of it.
Don't go away, there's more magic of the lake coming next week.
Fact File
Contact Lake Victoria Safari Village: Tel: 254 059 22182; 0722 792394/0721 912120 Email:
It's a beautiful lodge and very economical. Drive to Kisumu, take the road to Bondo and turn off at Ndori, drive on the murram road to Luanda Kotieno. It's three hours from Kisumu. Alternatively drive via Kisii. Full directions can be got from Safari Village. There are eight bandas and the lighthouse. Great for families or those who want to get off the beaten track. You can visit Ruma National Park from Safari Village.