Although there are no official records, Martin Asiimwe, a tour guide based at Bunyonyi Overland resort says more than 60 girls lost their lives on this island either out of starvation or by drowning as they tried to swim to escape. 

“The intention in this practice was to teach a lesson to other girls not to engage in pre-marital sex,” Asiimwe said. 

Traditional Bakiga folklore has it that the island became a popular destination for broke men. Men who could not afford the required bride price would wait for the cover of darkness to go and pick free women off Akampene for marriage. 

This practice continued well into the 20th century when the British colonial administration outlawed it. 

 THE LAKE 

The history of Akampene has made it a key tourist destination. In fact, of all the 29 islands in Lake Bunyonyi, the Punishment island is the most visited. From the Bunyonyi Overland resort pier, it takes about 20 minutes in a motorised boat running at a slow speed to get to the island. Some tourists prefer paddling their way in dugout canoes. 

For every hour spent on the lake, a tourist parts with $10 (Shs 36,000) for the dugout canoes, while a ride in a motorised boat costs Shs 100,000 per hour. 

Lake Bunyonyi

The ride to Akampene takes you past the 17-hectare Kyahungye island reportedly owned by Bank of Uganda Governor Emmanuel Tumusiime- Mutebile; Bushara island owned by the Church of Uganda and Bwama island, also known as Sharp’s island because of a British missionary, Leonard Sharp, who settled on the island in 1921. 

In 1931, Sharp turned the island into a leprosy treatment centre. Away from the islands, Lake Bunyonyi is an attraction of its own. The Bakiga knew it as a place of many little birds (obunyonyi), thus the name.

It is about 25km long and 7km wide. 

“It is believed to be the deepest lake in East Africa and also the third deepest in the world, with its deepest point believed to be at 900 metres,” said Michael Ndyareeba, a manager at Bunyonyi Overland Resort. 

Several researchers have visited the lake to confirm some of these claims, and according to Asiimwe, it has been proved that Lake Bunyonyi is the safest in Uganda for swimmers because its waters are free from diseases such as bilharzia. 

“Unlike lakes Victoria, George, Edward or Kyoga, there is no presence of aquatic animals like crocodiles and hippos, among others, in Lake Bunyonyi. Such animals contaminate the waters, causing diseases like bilharzia,” Asiimwe said. 

Bunyonyi is also free from pollution since it does not have any fishing villages around it, probably due to its low fish stock. Being a crater lake and that deep, Lake Bunyonyi does not favour the breeding of the indigenous fish species. But species such as crayfish – introduced to the lake from Europe – do well in there. 

But the relative absence of fish and wildlife on Lake Bunyonyi contribute to its uniqueness, allowing tourists to enjoy the tranquility, serene landscape and nature’s ‘music’.

THE NUMBERS 

Apart from the local communities that live around it, very few Ugandans visit this beautiful attraction in the hills of Kigezi. It has become a popular stopover for many foreign tourists enroute to the neighbouring Bwindi Impenetrable Forest national park and Mgahinga Mountain Gorilla national park. 

While in a month Asiimwe can take about 250 foreign tourists to tour the lake, the biggest number of Ugandan tourists he has ever handled in a month is 10. 

“I can take about two weeks without getting a Ugandan coming to take a boat ride on the lake,” Asiimwe said. “Domestic tourism is low because of the attitude of most Ugandans; they consider tourism as a wastage [of money].”

It becomes tough on hotel owners and tour operators when events in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) scare away foreign tourists. 

“Insecurity and outbreaks of diseases like Ebola in the DRC or Bundibugyo district affect us because on the map; we appear very close to the troubled area,” Ndyareeba said. 

But since the last reported cases of Ebola and fighting in the DRC, the numbers have been improving that in a low season (January to May), a hotel like Bunyonyi Overland Resort can record about 100 tourists a month, and, the number shoots up to about 500 guests a month in the peak-season months of June to early September. 

sadabkk@observer.ug