মিগিঙ্গো: বিশ্বের সবচেয়ে ঘনবসতিপূর্ণ দ্বীপ

কেনিয়া এবং উগান্ডার মাঝামাঝি স্থানে অবস্থিত জনবহুল দ্বীপ ‘মিগিঙ্গো’।

আয়তনে একটা প্রমাণ মাপের ফুটবল মাঠের চেয়েও ছোট। অথচ এখানেই বসবাস করেন হাজার খানেক মৎস্যজীবী।

বিশ্বের সবচেয়ে ঘনবসতিপূর্ণ এই দ্বীপটি সম্পর্কে আরো কিছু তথ্য রয়েছে। প্রায় দু’ দশক আগে মিগিঙ্গো দ্বীপে বসবাস শুরু করেন একদল মৎস্যজীবী।

আফ্রিকার ভিক্টোরিয়া হ্রদের মাঝে ভাসমান এই কেনিয় দ্বীপের মোট আয়তন ২ হাজার বর্গমিটার।

এই দ্বীপের বাসিন্দারা মূলত মাছ শিকার করে বিক্রি করেন। ছোট্ট এই দ্বীপে কী নেই! দু’টি থানা, একটি গির্জা, একটি মসজিদ, একটি ক্যাসিনো, একটি হোটেল, ডজন খানেক রেস্তোরাঁ- আরো কত কী!

History of Migingo Island

Two Kenyan fishermen, Dalmas Tembo and George Kibebe, claim to have been the first inhabitants on the island. When they settled there in 1991, it was covered with weeds and infested with birds and snakes.

Joseph Nsubuga, a Ugandan fisherman, says he settled on Migingo in 2004, when all he found on the island was an abandoned house.

Subsequently, other fishermen—from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania—came to the island because of its proximity to fishing grounds rich with Nile perch.

An unusual claim in 2009 by some Kenyan fishermen was that since none of the Nile perch breed in Uganda (the nearest Ugandan land and nearest Ugandan freshwater is 85 kilometres (53 mi) away), then the fish somehow "belonged to Kenyans"

Geography of Migingo Island

The island has a population of about 131 (according to the 2009 census), mostly fishermen and fish traders, who are served by four pubs, a number of brothels, and a pharmacy on the island.

A rocky and rugged piece of land with little vegetation, Migingo is one of three small islands in close proximity.

The much larger Usingo Island is 200 metres (660 ft) to the east of the small white rectangle that is Migingo, and Pyramid Island, the largest of the three, is 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) due south of Migingo and 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) north of the Tanzanian border in Lake Victoria.

On detailed maps, all three islands have been shown on the Kenyan side since the 1920s, when the Kenya Colony and Protectorate Order in Council, 1926 awarded all three islands to Kenya.

The boundary delineation in that 1926 agreement and the Constitution of Uganda state that the boundary line runs to "the westernmost point of Pyramid Island ... thence continuing by a straight line northerly to the most westerly point of Ilemba Island."

A line connecting those two points runs 510 metres (1,670 ft) west of Migingo, placing the island within Kenya along with the larger Pyramid and Usingo Islands, as shown on most maps since 1926.

Tiny Migingo's location within 200 metres (660 ft) of the much larger Usingo Island is clear both on Google Earth and on widely available television network videos depicting aerial helicopter photography.

Migingo Island is so small that it is not displayed on some maps. However, it has not "emerged from the water" recently, despite a Uganda government official's claims.

In the first decade of the 21st century, water levels have dropped only 0.5–1 metre (1 ft 8 in–3 ft 3 in) in the lake from the normal level.

Recent photographs clearly show the island reaching 10–15 metres (33–49 ft) above the lake level.