DOLWE ISLAND

December 2020 saw the inauguration of the MV Sigulu (www.unra.go.ug), a free 300-seat ferry linking Watega (Namayingo district) to Dolwe Island (in Kandege) via Sigulu Island. Until now, this land of almost 25 km2,^{surrounded by} the waters of Lake Victoria, was only accessible at the price of a crossing, often long and sometimes perilous, on small boats sailing from Bwondha (Mayuge district); enough to dissuade the most reckless adventurers. Dolwe Island (also known as Lolui or Lolwe) has plenty to offer. With its granite chaos (vaguely reminiscent of the Costa Rican coast...), its fishing villages (including the main one, Golofa), its sandy beaches and rocky escarpments overlooking the waves, this island oasis is very pretty. But the island's tourist potential lies above all in its rock art. The first Western researchers investigated Dolwe in the 1950s and 1960s. Since then, other scientific missions have been undertaken to study the enigmatic rock paintings, engravings and cupules that abound on the island. Painted mainly in red, the motifs (concentric circles, parallel lines, etc.) show many similarities with those of Nyero. Undated, these rock paintings, mostly located on the west and south coasts of the island, are nevertheless stylistically similar to Batwa techniques and geometric imagery. Dolwe Island also boasts more than 20,000 cupules (one of the highest concentrations in the world), in addition to abstruse engraved representations. On average 15 cm deep, 25 cm wide and 35 cm long, these circular depressions and holes, carved by man into large granite slabs, required considerable labor. These cupules seem to have had a ritual or spiritual function. Another island attraction are therock gongs, which emit a metallic sound when struck with large pebbles. They may have been used to transmit specific messages to the island's inhabitants or to communicate with the spirits. All in all, Dolwe Island, which seems to have been inhabited, discontinuously, since the Mesolithic (lithic tools dating back to this period have been discovered), is well worth an odyssey...