A man loads heaps of salt rocks at Lake Katwe on January 24, 2012. Photo by Felix Basiime
Salt mining resumes at Lake Katwe after one and half years
BY FELIX BASIIME, January 28, 2012
KASESE: Salt extraction has resumed at the salty lake Katwe in Katwe-Kabatooro town council in Kasese district after a dormant one and half years due to flooding.
However, it is not yet a bee hive activity as it used to be at the peak season but according to Mr Arinaitwe Kagongo, a guide at the Katwe Tourism Information Centre (Katic), a community based organization in the area, two lorries loaded salt on Monday and left for the markets.
“At least, the people here are resuming business in this hot spell in January” said Kagongo on Tuesday.
Business died down since May 2010 after the lake flooded as a result of climate change threatening Lake Katwe and the lives of over 8,000 residents who engage in salt extraction for a living. The flooding also left more than 3,000 porters jobless and the urban authority lost Shs 24 million in revenue each year.
The floods forced people to seek for alternative jobs and a few residents remained there just extracting the muddy salty stuff commonly known as Kifuufu, a poor quality that is at times sold to cattle keepers.
More than 8,000 people own small wells (salt plots) on the shallow lake. Their lives depend on extracting salt daily but since May 2010, you could hardly find more than 20 people on the lake working.
Plots on the shores of the lake are demarcated and owned by individuals or families. The ownership is hereditary.
A plot means a pond of at least 10 or 12 feet wide and between three to five feet deep. At the center of the lake, only licenced individuals are allowed to extract the salt leaving the locals to own plots at the shores.
But of recent, the urban authority says, there are several illegal well owners that are not registered.
A salt miner at peak season would earn between Shs 20,000 to Shs 40,000 daily before the flooding of the lake.
A salt miner at peak season would earn between Shs 20,000 to Shs 40,000 daily before the flooding of the lake.
Business usually booms during the dry seasons, (from January- March and June-September) when the water in the shallow lake evaporates exposing the salty rocks underneath.
According to Kagongo, the floods that hit the area in 2010 to 2011 dissolved the salt in more than 8,000 salt pans.
"There used to be over 30 streams refreshing lake Katwe but now only 4 are left," Mr Arinaitwe says.
He attributes this to the environmental factors that Lake Katwe is facing where the vegetation cover on the banks has been degraded.
According to Kagongo, the floods that hit the area in 2010 to 2011 dissolved the salt in more than 8,000 salt pans.
"There used to be over 30 streams refreshing lake Katwe but now only 4 are left," Mr Arinaitwe says.
He attributes this to the environmental factors that Lake Katwe is facing where the vegetation cover on the banks has been degraded.
“Photos from the achieves of this lake show that this crater salty lake, like its nearby lake Nyamunuka, was surrounded by a forest, but now it is gone, so rain water just floods this lake and therefore salt rock cant form under such conditions” Kagongo reasons.
The salty lakes in Kasese district used to be Katwe, Nyamunuka, Bunyampaka and Munyanyange but today, only Katwe and Bunyampaka have salt.
The salty lakes in Kasese district used to be Katwe, Nyamunuka, Bunyampaka and Munyanyange but today, only Katwe and Bunyampaka have salt.
Traders around East and central Africa have for many years flocked Lake Katwe to load about 8 to 10 lorries of salt daily. The lake produces three types of salt- Crude salt for animal leak, edible salt (sodium chloride) and unwashed salt.
The women scrap the bottom of the garden to scoop the salt. They use their feet to crash the salt to form small/fine crystals and then wash the crystals forming edible salt (washed salt/ sodium chloride).
According to the Katwe-Kabatooro town council Clerk, Mr Kikoni Martin Muhindo, the local government has lost Shs 24 million annually in taxes from the salty lake.
According to the Katwe-Kabatooro town council Clerk, Mr Kikoni Martin Muhindo, the local government has lost Shs 24 million annually in taxes from the salty lake.
“We have not made a single project since 2010 in this town due to flooding, we just hope that the current situation (dry sell) continues” said Muhindo.
According to Kagongo, other factors of flooding are still eminent at Katwe.
“NEMA should come in to help us because people still set up the salt pans (ponds) at the inflows of streams that feed the lake” reasoned Kagongo.
Despite all this, Lake Katwe boosts the tourism industry.
“Through the trainings of USAID-STAR, tourism grew in 2011 and we have hosted 40, 260 tourists which is 400 percent from 2009 and has generated Shs 38 million to Katic” said Mr Kimulya Yowasi, the Director at Katic. USAID-STAR supports Katic on eco-tourism.
Fact box
Lake Katwe has a salt rock that lies on a contour line that connects lakes: Katwe, Munyanyange, Nyamunuka and Kasenyi (Bunyampaka).
Lake Katwe has a salt rock that lies on a contour line that connects lakes: Katwe, Munyanyange, Nyamunuka and Kasenyi (Bunyampaka).
Fresh water from the streams goes through the vents and dissolves the main rock to become a salt solution which quickly turns into salt due to evaporation.
The communities at Katwe-Kabatooro town council are entirely surrounded by Queen Elizabeth National Park and rely on traditional solar salt mining, fishing in Lake Edward and tourism for their livelihood.
END
