Lake Katwa Salt Works : It so happens that Lake Katwe is a saltwater lake. An old lake called Lake Katwe is located in Queen Elizabeth National Park in the southwest of Uganda. The lake’s water is supplied by streams and has no outflow, making it salty and subject to intense evaporation during the dry season. The hyper-saline water also contains a concentration of minerals.

How do crater lakes come about?

Explosion craters are a common name for violent volcanic eruptions. These geographical features were created by volcanic activity between 8000 and 10000 years ago;

It exerts a lot of pressure when molten lava from the earth’s crust tries to escape through a blocked vent or fissure.

A large depression known as a crater is left behind as pressure forces the surface. The explosion’s debris creates a volcanic pile on the crater’s surrounding sides. Violent volcanic explosion is the name given to this type of eruption.

The depressions eventually fill with water as time goes on to create a crater lake. The majority of the crater lakes in western Uganda were formed by the same volcanic processes.

These crater lakes are also known as extinct volcanoes, although a few of them still emit the smell of sulphurous gas, indicating the possibility of an eruption at any time and serious danger to the nearby communities.

Lake Katwe in Queen Elizabeth National Park, the Bunyaruguru craters on the spectacular Kichwamba escarpment, and Nandali- Kasende in Kibale National Park are the three largest crater lakes in Uganda.

Katwe Salt Lake

In the south-western region of Uganda, north of the Mweya Peninsular, in Queen Elizabeth National Park, is where you’ll find Katwe Salt Lake. The most prestigious craters in western Uganda are those found in Queen Elizabeth National Park.

When visiting, you can also engage in the eye catching crater drive of about 27km, with the attracting crater lakes like Katwe and Nyamunuka.

In Queen Elizabeth National Park, crater lakes offer wonderful trekking terrain. For example, around Nyamunuka Crater, you may see flamingos, warthogs, and other wildlife.

The numerous water streams and inlets that flow into Lake Katwe are the cause of its salinity. It has no exits, though. This is the main cause of ocean water’s salinity as well. The amount of evaporation that occurs during the dry season concentrates the salt solution to create salt rocks.

However, the importance of this salt mining industry at Katwe Crater Lake has diminished. This is due to the fact that salt mines have been found in numerous other nations. Back then, it was a financially rewarding endeavour for the people of Katwe and Katunguru. Before salt was found in other regions of east Africa, salt from Lake Katwe was also exported to the Congo and Rwanda.

How is salt mined from the acidic lake? Lake Katwa Salt Works

The dry season is when salt production in Lake Katwe in Queen Elizabeth National Park is at its highest; the busiest times for salt mining are January to March and July to September. The saline water of Lake Katwe concentrates due to evaporation during the dry season, creating a hyper-solution that turns to salt.

The salt that has created a crust on the surface is scraped off by the women. It is transparent and contains the filtered salt used to manufacture table salt. Contrarily, men use shovels to remove the salt chunks from the lake’s bottom. At the lake’s shallow end, this is done.

There are wooden walk ways separating the miners. Large slabs of salt are removed. The dirty, muddy salt is marketed as salt licks for cows, whereas the highly crystallised salt is utilised for human use. Due to its widespread use in Uganda for locally tenderising meat and beans, the muddy salt is also marketed for a low price.

Salt mining is not an easy activity

The salt miners spend the entire day in and around the mines despite the intense heat and unpleasant smell of the evaporating saline water. The low temperatures during the sunny season are caused by the salt that is in the depression.

For both women and men working there, the aggressive, salty Lake Katwe water poses a serious threat to their ability to reproduce. Women fill their intimate areas with flour to prevent contaminated water from getting inside. As the men put on condoms, their penises are protected from the water.

Despite the efforts these miners undertake to avoid sexual issues, it is reported that the saline water from Lake Katwe may make a man infertile and a woman barren. Despite their difficulties, the salt miners in Katwe are still working because it is their sole source of income.

A visit to Katwe salt lake only takes half a day.

The trip of Queen Elizabeth National Park includes a half-day stop at the Katwe salt works. With the aid of the guide, you can learn some crucial facts from the miners about salt mining and the local history.

The main industry in the Katwe region is salt mining. Nevertheless, it is no longer as profitable as it once was. Because the money they make from mining salt is insufficient, the miners still live in a very poor manner.

Only by purchasing local items from the artisans can you help these communities. Locals create these items with great care and display them by the side of the road to sell to tourists. This is merely an additional method to support the work of salt mining.

What else around Lake Katwe apart from salt mines

Culture Craft making

Vegetation and animals along the way

Living and life style of the locals of Katwe town.

It should be noted that a facility for processing salt used to be active in Katwe. The poisonous compounds in the salt from Lake Katwe ruined the factory tubes. At the salt lake in Katwe, the Germany salt factory is now in ruins. If the salt spoilt the metal tubes in the Germany factory, what about the humans that go for mining with no protective gear?