How foreigners took over Kalangala

ISLANDS     KALANGALA

It is a one-and-a-half-hour ride from the main island of Bugala to Buyovu, one of the 84 islands that make up Kalangala district, located approximately 60km across the water, southwest of the Entebbe International Airport.

Of the 84, at least 63 islands are habitable. What welcomes you at Sanyu (happiness) landing site on Buyovu Island are rickety temporary structures built out of wood, grass and polythene sheets, looking similar to a refugee settlement. By way of appearance and common language spoken, most of the residents here are foreigners.

They commonly speak Kinyarwanda, Swahili, Lingala and other dialects not common in Uganda. It was one of the islands with least inhabitants, a handful of landowners, the majority of whom live either in Kampala, Entebbe or Masaka.

The biggest part of the island was forested, with rare tree species and thickets that were valued for their medicinal value by mainly traditional herbalists and healers, who host clients from as far away as Kampala. Many caves up to today, serve as seasonal worship places for traditionalists.

The 1991 national population census estimated that Kalangala had a total population of about 6,400 inhabitants, but by 2002, the number had grown to approximately 34,800. Ten years later, in 2012, it was estimated that the population had risen to about 66,300, but there were fears that the number could have doubled by 2019, given the speed at which new settlers were finding space on the island and on several other hitherto unhabitable islands.

Details in New Vision today