Buvuma Island

Buvuma Island (locally 'Uvuma') is the map name of what is actually a chain of more than fifty smaller islands, a few kilometres off the northern shore of Lake Victoria, Uganda in the Napoleon Gulf. Buvuma is located about 25km south of the major city of Jinja, and around 90km east of the capital Kampala. It is part of the wider Busoga region, and is administered as part of Mukono.

The main island is Buvuma, with a land area of around 200 square-miles (517 km²), and a population of around 20,000. It is forested, and is a destination for intrepid bird-watching tourists. The forest is being cut and burned to provide three boats a day full of charcoal for the nearby city of Jinja. There are twenty-six gazetted Forest Reserves in Buvuma.

There is a somewhat unreliable ferry to the mainland. There are also unofficial small boat services from Kiyindi, a major fish-landing village on the shores of Lake Victoria. The area is very poor compared to other parts of Uganda, since funds allocated to it are often 'diverted' before they even reach the island. There are two health centres, but no electricity on the island. Sleeping sickness and tsetse flies are problems.

The waters around the islands are rich in fish, and the local Ruvuma and Soga tribes are fishermen. Most adults are illiterate, and speak no English (the official language of Uganda). The religion is traditional and primitive, with witchcraft and cultism, but Christianity has a toe-hold.

The Buvuma elected Parliamentary representative (2005) is Mr William Nsubuga.

The islands are of ironstone formation overlying quartzite and crystalline schists. Other islands are Bugaia, Lingira (pop. 1000), and Namiti. Rusinga and Mfangano are within Kenyan borders. The 1911 "Britannica" said: "Most of these islands are densely forested, and some of them attain considerable elevation. Their scenery is of striking beauty." Except at the highest elevations, Rusinga and Mfangano are today largely deforested.

Rusinga island is connected by a causeway to the mainland. There are a few tourist lodges, and the island is accessible via several roads leading from Kisumu and Homa Bay as well through the nearby Ruma National Park. It can be reached from the north by a dirt road from the Kakamega Forest or by air from the Maasai Mara. Rusinga is rich in fossils, and Mary Leakey found the skull of Proconsul africanus on the island. The Miocene floras of Rusinga and Mfwanganu islands are subject to a long-term study by paleobotanists.

There was an archaeological prospection carried out by the Tervuren Museum, Belgium, in 1968 (published 1971), on Buvuma and Bugaia islands at Munyama Cave, Tonge Cave, and Nakisito, plus another 47 sites. Pottery materials from 13,000 B.C. to 8,000 B.C. were found.