Kampala — THE swamp was always there. Measuring about 4sq km, the swamp was a popular hunting ground.

That was before 1992. Fast forward - 2008 - the swamp is still there, but this time, it is uprooting poverty from the village. Because of the swamp, Bigodi village, 39km from Fort Portal on the road to Kamwenge, is one of the few villages in the country where most people live above the poverty line, thanks to a small swamp known as Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary.

There is nowhere in the country where such a small swamp is praised like in Bugodi. The sh150m that was used to construct the only secondary school in the village came from the swamp. Also from the swamp came a nursery school. But that is not the end of the story. Today, the swamp generates about sh100m a year for the villagers. The income graph is still going up.

The name Bigodi is derived from a Rutooro word, kugodya, which means to walk tiredly. It is said that when travellers reached Bigodi on foot, they were always too tired to continue and face the jungle, hence they ended up resting there.

The wetland is a short distance away from Bigodi trading centre. The wetland was originally called Malebe, meaning a place of water lilies. In the 1960s, the swamp was nicknamed Magombe (a Luganda word for grave) because some Baganda drowned there while constructing a bridge. In the mid-1990s it was officially given the name Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary.

tourist attraction

It is utilised for tourism and a group of women get raw materials for making crafts.

The wetland is an important area of biodiversity. It hosts eight species of primates and over 200 birds species. The most popular bird for tourists to view is the Great Blue Turaco (Corythaeola Cristata).

A wide variety of mammals live or visit the wetland from the neighbouring Kibale National Park. These include the ever elusive Sitatunga bushpig, Bushbuck, Otter Mongoose, Civet Cat and Chimpanzee.

The most common tree species are wild palm, rubber and fig trees and rafia palm which is widely used in making handicrafts.

rich swamp

It's mainly two community groups that conserve and utilise the wetland. The main group is the Kibale Association for Rural and Environmental Development (KAFRED), which was formed in 1992 with six members. The second is Bigodi Women's Group, which started a year later as an affiliate to KAFRED.

After getting some technical help from a US Peace Corps volunteer, the villagers in Bigodi formed KAFRED with many objectives. The community-based NGO was started in order to conserve natural resources through wise use and to redevelop rural communities adjacent to the natural areas by establishing health centres, bridges schools and roads.

They also wanted to create awareness among the local communities about the importance of the natural environment and promote tourism for the benefit of the local communities. The other objective was to train guides and agricultural extension workers to assist local farmers in the development of agriculture and improved yields.

Many resolutions aimed at preserving the wetland were adopted. There would be no individual owner of the wetland, for example. Digging trenches to drain the wetland, burning for agriculture and cutting of trees was abolished. Unnecessary noise in the swamp also contravenes KAFRED's laws.

In 1993, guided walks in the swamp started. The swamp is good attraction for bird watchers. Walk boards have been laid out along the trails as the ground is too soggy to walk on. In addition, the swamp has a tree house where tourists can rest and watch both the birds and primates.

Apart from the Great Blue Turaco, which was adopted by KAFRED as an emblem, other bird species include the Crested Crane, Papyrus Gonolek, Swamp Wobbler, bee eaters and kingfishers.

New activities such as homestead tourism were recently introduced. This brings tourists closer to the way of living of the local people. Tourists are given a chance to sleep under the same roof and share meals with the locals.

Because of the newly built Primates Lodge in Kibale National Park, tourists today spend more time in the locality as opposed to before when they would drive back to Fort Portal due to inadequate lodging facilities in the park.

Consequently, the swamp gets more visitors than before, thus more income.

According to KAFRED's records, the yearly revenue generated from tourism activities in the swamp alone has risen from sh3m in 1993 to sh60m today.

John Tinka, KAFRED's programme manager and current chairman of the Uganda Community Tourism Association (UCOTA), attributes this rise to the establishment of the Primates Lodge. "The opening of the lodge was a blessing to us. We get more visitors. Visitors spend more time with the community. The more time they stay around, the more they spend. The money stays within," Tinka says.

KAFRED records indicate an average of 3,500 visitors per year. Foreigners are charged sh20,000, which has been raised to sh30,000 effective June, while Ugandans pay sh15,000, which will also be increased to sh20,000 for a trek in the swamp.

Today, the women make about sh26m a year from the sale of crafts. Apart from selling the crafts from their shop in Bigodi, they have a shop at Kanyanchu in Kibale National Park. Some of their crafts are exported.

The women have used some of the proceeds from their crafts to construct a nursery school in Bigodi. Some of the crafts are made using millet straws and banana fibre.

"This has encouraged us to grow more millet and plant more bananas which has led to food security," says Betty Tinka, the chairperson of Bigodi Women's Group.

The group has 40 members. The women use a variety of raw materials to make crafts. For example, they make beautiful beads using recycled paper. They colour their products using natural dyes from the swamp, which have now been domesticated due to environmental concerns. Each woman has a plot where she grows the dyes. Some of the materials they directly get from the swamp include rafia and phoenix palm leaves for making baskets and bags respectively.

How does the community benefit?

According to Betty Tinka, the chairperson of Bigodi Women's Group, discouraging the villagers from destroying the swamp was an uphill task.

"For many generations, the wetland was a hunting ground and a source of raw materials for thatching," Tinka narrates. Despite this advantage, it was and still is a source of misery for the small farmers who have their crops raided by monkeys and baboons. "Telling people not to kill the animals was also not easy," says Tinka.

In order encourage the households bordering the park to stop destroying the swamp, an interest-free revolving fund was introduced. Each household gets sh100,000 per year. There are about 120 families bordering the swamp. In addition, such households have been encouraged to grow crops that are unlikely to be raided by primates.

The wetland also benefits schools in the area as a nature study laboratory. Groups from other parts of the country also visit the swamp to learn about KAFRED activities.

Both KAFRED and the women's group offer scholarships to students in the area. The groups are also involved in an exchange programme for teachers with an institution in the US.

Currently, about 20 students are benefiting from the scholarship scheme, while eight teachers are in the US on an exchange programme.

In February, during the 7th conference of the parties to the convention on biological diversity in Kuala Lumpar in Malaysia, KAFRED won the Equator Initiative Award sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme. The prize, which also included a grant of $30,000 (about sh50m), was in recognition of KAFRED's outstanding success in reducing poverty through the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

Last year, Bugodi Women's Group emerged the best handicraft group in the country under the Uganda Community Tourism Association.