Equator residents ask government to develop the site

PIC: Some of the MPs of the Natural Resources Committee posing for photographs at the Uganda Equator at Kayabwe in Mpigi district. Photos by Eddie Ssejjoba

Residents and tour guides at the Uganda Equator in Kayabwe along the Kampala-Masaka highway in Mpigi district have appealed to government to develop the site into a full-fledged tourist centre.

They said the site had the potential to attract more tourists but many normally stay for a shorter time because they do not find more attractions in the area.

The Kayabwe Equator (imaginary line) is one of the few open spots where tourists get the chance  to see where the world is divided into two halves and always enjoy placing one foot in the Northern hemisphere and one foot on the Southern hemisphere of the world.
 

A water plate used for experiments at the Uganda Equator in Kayabwe, Mpigi district.

 
Hannington Kalungi, a tour guide at Kayabwe said that during peak season, over 400 tourists visit the site in a day especially those moving to the Western tourist axis, mainly going to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest to track gorillas.  

He said the tourists get fascinated to see a line drawn in the middle of the road, with a monument on both sides, where they stand with captions indicating it is the 'Uganda Equator', where they pose for memorial photographs.  

"But apart from posing for photos and buying items from the crafts shops here, there is nothing more that can keep these tourists here to stay longer. Some actually come expecting to see more," Kalungi said.

A tourist poses for a photo at the Uganda Equator in Kayabwe, Mpigi district

 
Kalungi said that some tourists had complained that they come expecting to stay for more hours. "I feel sorry for tourists who ask me whether they would tour around, only to move behind and see banana plantations and gardens," he said.

He explained that government was losing a lot of money that tourists would have spent if there were more facilities at the site and asked the place to be developed further to become a more welcoming tourist centre.

Kalungi also talked to some Members of Parliament on the Natural Resources Committee who branched off in the area on their way to Lwera Sand Mining area in Kalungu district.

Mannington Kalungi, a tour guide explains some geographical experiments to some MPs of the Natural Resources Committee at the Uganda Equator at Kayabwe in Mpigi district.

 
"I want these MPs who visited the site to take my idea to Parliament, we are losing a lot of revenue," he said.

The guide, who also works for Equator Line Restaurant explained to MPs the magic of the geographical water experiment by placing a flower in a can with water, and let it rotate.

If the water can is located at zero degrees, according to Kalungi, the flower does not rotate in any direction but outside the line on the North axis, it moves clockwise and vice versa when done on the South axis but in the same area.

Kalungi told the MPs that at the Equator, they experience the equinox twice a year, on March 21 and September 23, which is an astronomical event in which the plane of Earth's equator passes through the center of the Sun.

A shop owner at the Uganda Equator at Kayabwe displays some of the items they offer to tourists for sale.

 
"Many tourists would have loved to be around here on such days but we even do not have accommodation facilities," he explained. He charges shs10,000 for explaining some of these experiments to a group.

Rwampara legislator, Charles Ngabirano who was part of the group said that Kayabwe Equator was an important national resource, which was 'uniquely' unavailable elsewhere.

"It is a shame that government has not fully tapped into this resource so that it is developed into a big attraction to tourists," he said.

He pledged that he would lobby to see that government acquires more land and if possible work with the private sector to develop the place.  

"We should not ignore such potential resources which can give employment to many youth and earn us more money," Ngabirano said.