Swimming in the crater lake was popular. Boys were encouraged to swim by being awarded points for the House if they could swim across the lake. Beginners were accompanied by a master in a small wooden boat. One evening, five set out to cross the lake followed by the master in the boat, with the head boy and myself swimming. Four quickly gave up and had to be collected by the master in the boat. The fifth boy went on and soon was halfway across the lake. The boat was coping with the four. The head boy and I went after the swimmer and to our horror, when we looked up, he disappeared. Then he came up and quickly sank again. The head boy reached him. The swimmer tried to climb on to the shoulders of the head boy and pushed him under. Minor panic. Arrived he tried to climb on to my shoulders. Life-saving instructions were of little avail. A senior bout and good swimmer , seeing our predicament, swam out from the shore and together, somehow, we got our fifth boy to the edge of the lake. The moment he touched the vegetation, he started to swim around the edge to the grassy bank where the diving board was and climbed out. Without a word, as if there had been no crisis at all, he walked back to the school. We all carried the taste of the slightly sulfurous water for weeks afterward. The depth of the lake was never ascertained. No one had a chain long enough to measure it. The swimmer became a well known Government Official and in playing cricket for Uganda against Ghana scored more runs than the whole of the Ghana side put together!
As remembered and written by Mr. E.C. Cooper, M.A., Headmaster, Between 1948 - 1954. Stay tuned for more Anecdotes of Life at Nyakasura!!
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