Nsaggu: An oasis of affordable land so close to Kampala city
The area is sparsely populated. Photo by Tony Mushoborozi
What you need to know:
- Nsaggu is a hilly, fertile village that had remained hidden from property dealers, until recently. It is almost entirely surrounded by a swamp, making it very fertile and desirable. Though it is as close to town as Kira, Namugongo, and has a tarmacked access road, land prices here are five times cheaper.
For anyone who lives and works in the Kampala metropolitan area, it is becoming harder to find an affordable plot of land, close to Kampala, on which to build a home. One of the reasons could be that people keep looking in the same locations, hence concentrating demand on limited places and exacerbating prices.
What most forget is that there are great places very close to the city that are not only perfect for a home, but are also very affordable. One such place is Nsaggu, off Entebbe Road, Wakiso District.
When one stands on Nagalabi Hill, by King’s College Budo and looks southward, one will see a beautiful range of gentle hills rolling toward the great lake in the south. If the cascading hills were a bus, Nsaggu would be the windshield.
The small trading centre, wedged between two small hills, faces northwards staring at Nagalabi, like a loving dog looks at the owner. The two are separated by Namusa swamp, which surrounds Nsaggu almost entirely. Sadly, this great swamp has been besieged by farmers and bricklayers from end to end.
Nsaggu is only 17 kilometres outside Kampala city but looking at the environment, one could be led to think it is hundreds of miles away deep in the country.
It is sparsely populated, gauging by the number of homes perched here are there and in places where there are considerable numbers of homes, they are mostly brand new. Many of them are still under construction.
The bulk of the land is generally covered in banana plantations and cannabis bushes, the two main crops in Nsaggu.
Property companies
Property companies have arrived in this quiet village. They have bought large tracts of this beautiful land and they are, as usual, demarcating it into standard plots to sell to you and I.
Anyone interested in property should get acquainted with this little village on the Northern tip of Busiro South county.
Nsaggu is not so different from other villages in Busiro South in terms of land prices, or the fertility of the soils, the niceness of the villagers.
However, unlike other untouched villages stretching all the way toward Lake Victoria to the south, Nsaggu is very close to both Entebbe road and Masaka Road.
It is as close to Kampala as Nansana or Kira. It is apart of Kajjansi town council, but it is hidden from the general Entebbe Road area by the stretched-out Nakilama Hill, with the commercial tea plantations further restricting access. This has kept it hidden and undefiled.
Land prices
A standard plot here is still as affordable as less than Shs10m, compared to 30 million and more in Nansana or Kira.
According to a local I talked to, and information I got from the property companies, some of the plots on hilltops go as high as Shs20m.
Some of the available hilltop plots I visited have views to die for, and would at least go for Shs70m or more elsewhere, and clearly miles out of the reach of many. Some of the plots in the lowlands toward the valley go for as low as Shs5m.
Access road
The best access road to this undefiled piece of real estate is King’s Way. King’s Way is a road of untold royal history in Buganda Kingdom.
It so happens that there is only one place in the kingdom where the king’s coronations have taken place for millennia, and that place is Nagalabi, just a stone’s-throw away from King’s College Buddo.
King’s Way happens to be the only designated road that the crown prince must travel by on his way to becoming the Kabaka. Such is the significance of this road.
King’s Way was only recently tarmacked. It branches off at Seguku on Entebbe Road, 10 kilometres from Kampala, and goes up to Buddo, some five kilometers westward. It passes just two kilometers outside Nsaggu, making this little village very accessible today.
To get to Nsaggu, you leave King’s Way at about the four-kilometer mark and take Kasangye road for about two kilometers and arrive. The small trading center of Nsaggu looks just like any other trading centres in rural Uganda, with the flat-faced shops lining the dirt road.
Rainy days
If you plan to move here, be sure to get a 4X4 car. When it rains, the mud roads go mad. The red, sticky soils might be very fertile, but they are a menace to motoring.
This, however, should not deter one from considering Nsaggu as one’s new home because when all is said and done, this place could be the most affordable option to having a personal home in the general Kampala metropolitan area.
Fertile land
In the short vicinity around the shops are the simple homes of the residents in high concentration as expected. The villagers’ homes get more and more interspersed as you take any of the inner roads for a kilometer or two.
What becomes more apparent is how fertile this place is. Any farmer would do himself good to move here. All the villagers’ farms are flourishing, even when they are not particularly looked after well.
