Floating island excites Mayuge
MAYUGE. A floating Island in Lake Victoria that drifted off and landed at Jagusi Island in Mayuge District, has sparked a wave of excitement in the area and the neighbouring Iganga district.
Hundreds of people are flocking to Mayuge to see the mobile island.
The island drifted into the area last Saturday and seems to have been stabilised about 15km to the landing site.
There has not been further movement of the island despite the current heavy rains and winds.
Hundreds of residents, many of who said they had never seen a floating island, have been trooping in on canoes from Bwondha landing site.
“When I heard that a strange island had landed I could not believe. I travelled from home in Bugiri and boarded a canoe to see it with my naked eyes,” one Faisal Batambuze told Saturday Monitor at Bwondha landing site.
The tourists were paying between Shs2,500 and Shs3,000 for transport by canoe from Bwondha landing site to the island.
The councillor representing Jagusi Sub-county in Mayuge District Council, Mr Geoffrey Kintu, said the island is believed to have floated to the area from the direction of Lubya Island in Jinja.
He said it is covered by mostly papyrus and a few trees and is inhabited by mostly white birds.
“It has brought a number of goodies. It is a good breeding ground for tilapia fish and if it stays for long, it will provide people with land on which to do some farming,” he said.