DOLWE ISLAND TRAVEL GUIDE

LOCATION OF DOLWE ISLAND, UGANDA

Dolwe Island is located in the Eastern part of Uganda, within the North-Eastern region of Lake Victoria. It is part of the Namayingo District in the Busoga region. The island is known for its fascinating rock formations and ancient rock art, which have been in existence for approximately 300-500 years.

SOME HISTORY OF DOLWE ISLAND, UGANDA

Dolwe Island Uganda's (and Lake Victoria's) best kept secret situated in the North-Eastern part of Lake Victoria (Busoga region) and hidden away inside these natural castles are messages and symbols from the past in the form of rock paintings, carvings and engravings and also gongs ("rock gongs"), left behind by unknown people long ago (probably the biggest known concentration of gongs on this continent), opening windows onto Dolwe's mysterious and enigmatic past. The Dolwe is a one of a kind and a beautiful island about 25 sq Kms, situated in Ugandan waters not far from the Kenyan border. It is characterized by the many granite rocks and boulders which rise like castles across the landscape, carved hollows, grinding hollows, decorated pottery sherds, stone age demarcation lines and grids, stone age demarcation lines and grids.

The island of Dolwe has various cultural products including rocking paintings and engraving, rock gongs, ground hollows, stone stools and pottery. It is possible that Dolwe hunters-gatherers and agriculturalists perceived this island's landscape as enshrining knowledge of what happened in the past and recorded in the rock art. There is also another mysterious and remarkable artistic heritage from the past in the form of what archaeologists call ground (carved) depressions/hollows in the granite which abound here in their thousands. The island is much too remote for most tourists to reach by vehicle and boat which takes a long time and can entail rough crossings. Much of the island is still wild and undeveloped and therefore beautiful. There are no vehicles and it is important that the government make a rule for everybody not to introduce vehicles here which would ruin its exclusive nature.