Daily Monitor (17/08/2020) Kalangala District, a necklace of 64 habitable islands interspersed with lush vegetation, is a jewel in the crown for those seeking a holiday.

To the north, the island is bordered by Masaka District from which it was carved in 1989, Mpigi and Wakiso, Masaka, Kalungu and Rakai to the west, Mukono to the east, and farthest to the south is Tanzania.

Tucked away in the dark-blue expanse of Lake Victoria, it is only until about seven years, that the island became more accessible, thanks in part to improvement in telecommunications, the rush for land to build tourism facilities, and largely palm oil growing.

Today, the main Bugala Island is a beehive of activity. The island is situated on Lake Victoria in Uganda’s Kalangala District and has undergone a transformation over the past decade.

Likewise, accessibility to any of the islands from Bugala is easier. And generally, livelihoods of the islanders are much better today than, for example, 10 years ago when Kalangala, according to a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Index was ranked among the poorest districts in the country.

According to the 2014 national census, Kalangala had one of the smallest populations of 53,406 persons against the national head count of about 45 million.

In 1997, government and the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development conceptualised large-scale palm tree growing in Kalangala as part of the Vegetable Oil Development project to address rural poverty by involving smallholder farmers in vegetable oil crops production.

Read more at https://www.monitor.co.ug/SpecialReports/Kalangala-costly-refurbishment/688342-5610120-c4g68xz/index.html