Kanungu District is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

in the Western Region of

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

. The town of

Kanungu Kanungu is a town in the Western Region of Uganda. It is the location of the district headquarters for Kanungu District. Location Kanungu is located approximately , on a winding dirt road, southwest of the town of Rukungiri, the nearest large ...

is the site of the district headquarters. The

Bwindi Impenetrable Forest The Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is a large primeval forest located in south-western Uganda in the Kanungu District. The Bwindi forest is on the edge of the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift, at elevations ranging from ...

in Kanungu District is among the sites shown in aerial footage in the movie Black Panther.

Location

Kanungu District is bordered by

Rukungiri District Rukungiri District is a district in the Western Region of Uganda. The town of Rukungiri is the site of the district headquarters. Location The district is bordered by Lake Edward to the North West, Rubirizi District to the northeast, Mitooma D ...

to the north and east,

Kabale District Kabale District is a district in the Western Region of Uganda. Kabale hosts the district headquarters. It was originally part of Kigezi District, before the districts of Rukungiri, Kanungu, Kisoro, Rubanda and Rukiga and were excised to form se ...

to the south-east,

Kisoro District Kisoro District is a district in the Western Region of Uganda. The town of Kisoro is the site of the district headquarters. Education Metropolitan International University in a secular private university licensed and accredited by National Co ...

to the south-west, and the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

to the west. The district headquarters are approximately , by road, north-west of

Kabale Kabale is a town in the Western Region of Uganda. It is the chief town of Kabale District, and the district headquarters are located there. Sometimes nicknamed “Kastone” as in the local language Rukiga, a “kabale” is a small stone. Lo ...

, the largest town in the sub-region. This location is approximately , by road, south-west of

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

, Uganda's capital and largest city. The central coordinates of the district are: 00°57'S, 29°47'E.

Overview

Kanungu District was created by the sixth

Parliament of Uganda The parliament of Uganda is the country's legislative body. Unicameral, the most significant of the Ugandan parliament's functions is to pass laws that will provide good governance in the country. The government ministers are bound to answer t ...

in July 2001. The district comprises two counties;Kinkiizi East and Kinkiizi west with the twelve sub-counties of Kihihi, Kambuga, Nyamirama, Rugyeyo, Rutenga, Kayonza, Mpungu, Kinaaba, Katetete, Nyakinoni, Nyanga, and Kanyantorogo, and the four town councils of Kanungu, Kihihi, Butogota, and Kambuga. Mass murder and suicides were committed at several sites in the district by the

Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God was a religious movement founded by Credonia Mwerinde and Joseph Kibweteere in southwestern Uganda. It was formed in 1989 after Mwerinde and Kibweteere claimed that they had seen vi ...

cult in 2000. The district has a distributed feeder road network and community access roads. There are three airstrips: Kayonza Tea Factory,

Savannah Airstrip Savannah Airstrip (also known as Kihihi Airstrip) is an airport serving Savannah Resort and the town of Kihihi, Uganda. The airstrip receives daily flights from Entebbe International Airport and Kajjansi Airfield, a route frequently used by tou ...

near

Kihihi Kihihi, also spelt Kihiihi, is a town in Southwestern Uganda. It is the second-largest metropolitan area in Kanungu District, after Kanungu, where the district headquarters are located. Location Kihihi is located approximately , by road, northwe ...

, and the Ishasha River Camp Airport in the Ishasha Sector of

Queen Elizabeth National Park Queen Elizabeth National Park is a national park in Uganda. Location Queen Elizabeth National Park (QENP) is in the Western Region of Uganda, spanning the districts of Kasese, Kamwenge, Rubirizi, and Rukungiri. The park is approximately by ...

. The charitable organisation CHIFCOD operates schools, colleges, and

health centre A healthcare center, health center, or community health center is one of a network of clinics staffed by a group of general practitioners and nurses providing healthcare services to people in a certain area. Typical services covered are family pr ...

s in the district.

Population

In 1991, the national population census estimated the district population at 160,700. The 2002 national census estimated the population at 204,700. The annual population growth rate for the district was calculated at 2.1 percent. It has been estimated that the population in 2012 was 252,100. The district is served by one district hospital, Kambuga Hospital located in the Kambuga Town Council. The

Bwindi Community Hospital Bwindi Community Hospital was founded in 2003 by Scott and Carol Kellermann. It began as an outreach clinic under a tree, and has grown into a 112-bed hospital providing health care and health education services to a population of over 100,000 pe ...

, operated by a non-governmental organization, is located at the outskirts of the

. The district has two Health Centre IVs, one located in Kanungu Town Council, Kanungu HCIV and the other one in Kihiihi Town Council Kihiihi HCIV, and ten government Health Centre IIIs at the sub-county level.

Religious affiliations

In September 2002, residents of the district self-reported their religious affiliations as follows: Christianity 95.3 percent, Islam 2.7 percent, Other 1.7 percent, and

None None may refer to: *Zero, the mathematical concept of the quantity "none" * Empty set, the mathematical concept of the collection of things represented by "none" *''none'', an indefinite pronoun in the English language Music * ''None'' (Meshuggah ...

0.3 percent.

Economic activities

Agriculture is the mainstay of the district's economy, as is the case with the majority of other Ugandan districts. The fertile soils and good climate allow for adequate produce for home consumption and surpluses that are sold. However, because of the remoteness of the district and the mountainous terrain, bringing the produce to market remains a challenge and a constraint to increased production. Many people in the district keep livestock on a subsistence level, primarily for milk production. Milk is part of the local diet and is a requirement for almost every household. But few people keep cattle in large numbers since the people here are traditionally agriculturalists. Crops grown in the district include: The Kayonza Tea Factory and the Kigezi Development Tea Factories, one in Butogota Town Council and the other in Rugyeyo Subcounty, purchase and process the tea grown locally. The CHIFCOD Coffee Factory supports 1,000 farmers, training them to create high-value produce then processing and exporting it. The high altitude and fertile soils allow production of temperate fruits like

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus '' Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years a ...

apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

s, and

pear Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in the Northern Hemisphere in late summer into October. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the family Rosaceae, bearing the p ...

s. The district also receives revenue from the tourism sector as a majority of the world's population of mountain gorillas are harboured in the

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park The Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (BINP) is in southwestern Uganda. The park is part of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and is situated along the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) border next to the Virunga National Park and on the edge o ...

. The Kanungu Hydroelectric Power Station, which is just downstream of Bwindi, provides electricity to the Kanungu district.

Photo's

Photo of Downtown Kanungu Town

References

External links

Details about Kanungu District and the CHIFCOD Projects
{{Uganda districts Kigezi sub-region Districts of Uganda Western Region, Uganda