Residents of Maboga village in Mugoye sub-county, Kalangala district, fear they will soon have to vacate their homes following constant attacks by hippopotamuses in Lake Victoria. 

Besides wreaking havoc, hippos have crossed their boundaries 200 meters from the lake shoreline in search of food from residents’ homes, something that is worrying the community. 

Yuda Tadeo Kigula, one of the affected residents, says they now live on God’s mercy since the animals started attacking them. 

“The hippo attacks are forcing us out of our homes because the hippo has now crossed the buffer zone to our homes. It has destroyed our crops and it's now on our premises. Two days back, my children called me at 9:00 pm and said there was a cow outside, but to my surprise, I saw a huge hippo beside our kitchen,” he says. 

Residents on night patrol with fire which they claim chases away Hippos. Photo by Samuel Nkuba

Due to the lack of piped water in the area, parents send children to the lake shoreline to fetch water, but according to Kigula, the children are no longer safe since the hippos reside at the shoreline. 

“We fetch water from the lake and that’s where the hippos stay. By 7:00 pm, we can’t even move due to the fear of being attacked by these animals,” adds Kigula. 

Godfrey Ssali, the Maboga village chairperson, says that so far, five people have lost their lives due to the hippo attacks. 

“The attacks have been ongoing for some time now, five people have lost their lives. We have constantly called upon Uganda Wildlife Authority but we have not gotten any response from them yet, now the hippos have crossed their boundaries to people’s homes,” says Ssali. 

Kyomya Twaha, the Kibanga landing site chairperson, says three fishermen have so far lost their lives due to hippo attacks while out fishing. 

“Let the government come out and help us because even the crops are being destroyed, the hippo is now in people’s premises yet we can’t kill it by ourselves,” he adds. 

Bambalazaabwe Ssemakula, one of the island natives, appealed to upon Uganda Wildlife Authority to grant permission to the community to kill these hippos. 

“These animals hamper people's economic activities, mainly those working in palm plantations nearer to the shoreline. On this, people will soon have no other resort but our appeal is that UWA come up and rescue the residents from this dangerous aquatic animal to human life,” he says. 

Bashir Hangi, the UWA spokesperson in a phone interview advised residents and leaders to write to them, to avail a contact person whom they approach to guide their team in case of any deployment.   

As a way of protection, residents at Maboga village have resorted to lighting fires at night to chase away animals.