Location
Ssese Islands is an archipelago of 84 beautiful islands lying off the northwestern shores of Lake Victoria with beaches. The islands are in two main groups. The Bugala Group and the Koome Group with two groups being separated by the Koome Channel. The Bugala Group includes Bubeke, Bufumira, Bugaba, Bukasa, Buyova, Funve and Serinya and the Koome Group includes Damba, Koome and Luwaji.
Headquarters
The Ssesse Islands are administrative under Kalangala District with Kalangala Town as the main urban centre. Kalangala Town is approximately 55km fromacross water Entebbe International Airport.
World’s Best Secret Island
Ssese Islands are included in the top ten list of the World’s best secret Island
Life on the islands
Locals live in villages along the shoreline and launch their fishing boats each evening at sunset. The islanders depend a lot on fishing and always migrate from one place to another following the seasonal movements of fish.
Livestock farming is practiced on the islands and about 3,000 cattle, 250,000 poultry (chicken and ducks), 1,235 goats and 7,000 pigs are kept on the islands.
15,000 acres of palm oil plantation have been planted by BIDCO on the islands
Controlled logging is another economic activity that is practiced on the Ssese Inslands.
Population
The Islands has a population of about 35,000.
Transport
Boats, ferries and vehicles are available to enable one move between and around the 84 islands. A ferry is in place to improve transport to and from Kalangala District via Masaka Town.
Flora and fauna
The islands provide a home to many species of birds including hornbills, turacos, barbets, flycatchers, robin-chats among others. The animals on the islands include the vervet monkey, bushbuck and black and white colobus and hippos. A sanctuary of chimpanzees is found on one of the islands.
The islands are blessed with serene sandy beaches, palm trees, exotic plants, flowers and trees
The annual rainfall ranges from 1,125 to 2,250mm and the rainfall peaks are in March – May and October – November.
Hotels and Sand Beaches
The Islands have a number hotels, resorts and tented camps.
Communication
The islands are served by all the mobile telecommunication networks in Uganda including Uganda Telecom, MTN and Celtel Uganda.
A Visitor can engage in any of the following activities:
- Fishing
- Bird seeing
- Boat cruising
- Fishing
- Logging
- Camping
- Swimming