Location: Mukono District is located in central Uganda. It borders the
Districts Wakiso and Kampala to the West, Kayunga to the North, Mayuge, and Jinja to the East, and Kalangala and the republic of Tanzania to the South.
Population: The District has a population of about 1,105,000 people,
including the planned Kayunga district.
Main Town : Mukono is the main town of the district and has a
the population of about 47,000 people.
Area: 14308.6 Km2
Land and vegetation: 65.7 percent of the district area is open water, 3.2 percent is
wetland and 4.2 percent is forest.
The key tourist attractions of the district are given below
1. Mabira Forest Reserve
Mabira forest reserve is found about 30 kilometers from Mukono town, along the Jinja-Kampala highway. Part of the forest reserve is developed into an eco-tourism center, comprising trails, a campsite, and Bandas. The key attractions at the reserve include mountain/forest biking, nature/forest walks, and bird watching.
2. Ssezibwa and Kalagala Falls
Both falls are found in the Mukono district, north of Mukono town. Ssezibwa falls are found on River Ssezibwa while Kalagala falls are found on the Victoria Nile in the Kalagala and Nile Bank Forest Reserves, close to the Itanda falls.
Ssezibwa falls are uniquely characterized by black waters and are about 4 meters high. The falls are popular with excursionists for the nearby campsites. The traditional healer at the site adds some diversity to the product.
Kalagala falls have been identified as a national project for development into a modern nature-based tourism center. Currently, the site offers nature/forest walks and bird watching.
3. Buvuma Islands
Buvuma Islands are located in the Lake Victoria areas of Mukono district south of the source of the Nile in Jinja district. The Islands form an administrative County comprising the main Buvuma Island and about thirty smaller Islands. The survey team was able to visit 17 of the Buvuma Islands.
The Islands visited are: Buvuma, Kokola, Nyenda, Buziri, Sindiro, Mpata, Mwema, Kibibi, Serinya, Malija, Mpungu, Bugaya, Nvunza, Lufu, Yumbe, Zzinga and Lingira.
The important potential tourism attractions of the Islands include birds, sand beaches, forest reserves, caves, and crocodiles. There are fascinating sights of some Islands which are fully occupied by birds, sceneries that are not documented in the country’s tourism books.
The Islands are unexploited for tourism purposes probably due to the long distance involved in the travel from the administrative and commercial center of Mukono town to the Islands.
4 Ngamba Island
Ngamba Island is located in Mukono district, in Lake Victoria, south-east of Entebbe town. The Island is a forest reserve developed as a chimpanzee sanctuary. The infrastructure on the Island includes rest shelters and bandas. Other activities at the attraction include bird watching, and boat cruises.
5 Lake Victoria
65 percent of the Mukono district is covered by open water bodies, mainly of Lake Victoria. However, despite the conducive natural environment/attractions, which include sandy beaches and birds, there are limited centers of tourism activity developed at the shores of Lake Victoria in the Mukono district.
Tourism activities that may be developed on the lake include resorts, boat racing, and angling.
9. Modern Farming Estates
Modern farming estates found in the district include the Tea estate at Namataba and the Metha Sugar estate at Lugazi.
10. Crafts and Souvenirs Industry
There was not any crafts and souvenirs shop in the Mukono district, except the sale of stools by the roadside along the Kampala-Jinja road near Mukono. However, proximity to markets in Kampala and availability of resources, for the industry.
11. Hotel and Catering Industry
The district had 30 accommodation business establishments with a capacity of 736 beds, at the time of the survey. The industry employed 350 people.
The outstanding accommodation establishments in the district included Rider and Colline Hotels located at Seeta and Mukono towns, respectively.