Antoine Mukeshimana gets off a boat to the shore of Lake Rweru, where a hippo attacked him on March 19, 2014. He was photographed here on May 3, 2024, during his visit to his former residence in Bugesera District, Eastern Province of Rwanda. All photos by Samuel Ngendahimana
By Samuel Ngendahimana
Antoine Mukeshimana is a 45-year-old man born and raised in Sharita Island, one of the remote and high-risk areas in Rweru Sector of Bugesera District in the east of Rwanda. The island is surrounded by Nyagisenyi stream and Akagera river, a major tributary of Nile river.
Being an island, Sharita is cut off from the country’s mainland, with no access to basic infrastructure like health facilities, roads, schools, electricity, clean water and sanitation.
Fishermen Musabyimana and Kalisa row wooden boats in the channel nearby Sharita Island in Rweru Sector of Bugesera District on December 2, 2014. Fishing is the main activity for men on the island.
Mukeshimana is the second son in a family of seven children. His parents, Ezekiah Nyirinkwaya and Dative Kabega, are both farmers.
He is a living testimony to the constant dangers faced by the island population. He survived a hippo attack that resulted in the amputation of his right leg.
The island is home to generations of Rwandans, but with few modern services and increasing risks associated to climate change, such as seasonal floods. Sharita was exposes its inhabitants to hazards and limits their options for improving their livelihoods.
To access essential services, residents must undertake an hour-long journey by canoe and on feet to reach the nearest market, health centre, and secondary schools, among other services. They use and drink unpurified water from the lake, which leads to persistent health and sanitation problems.
Residents onboard a small handmade boat with their food stuff on their way from the market to Sharita Island in Bugesera District on December 2, 2014.
On Sharita Island, the only reasonable structure available to residents is a primary school. When students completed primary school, they would be forced to cross the lake over to the mainland, at a trading centre known as Batima for secondary school, while many of them opted to drop out.
In 2016, the island was inhabited by 1,080 residents under 150 households who eked a living from harvesting of papyrus, farming and fishing.
A harrowing experience
Antoine Mukeshimana poses for a photo in a few months after the hippo attack that led to the amputation of his right leg on Sharita Island in Lake Rweru, in eastern Rwanda, on December 2, 2014.
Mukeshimana, a father of six currently lives with a disability that resulted from the hippo attack ten years ago.
The former fisherman and farmer recounted the harrowing incident: “It was March 19, 2014. I woke up early in the morning to look for feed for my livestock. I was accompanied by my neighbor Athanase Biziyaremye to cut papyrus to feed our cows.”
“We each took small boats. Biziyaremye and I headed in the same direction, with me in the lead. As we navigated through a flooded papyrus plantation, my boat hit something unusual. Soon, I realized it was a hippo which was grazing on the banks,” he narrated.
Mukeshimana alerted Biziyaremye, who was nearby. By the time Biziyaremye turned around, the hippo had rammed Mukeshimana’s boat, throwing him into the water and continued to attack him.
“I attempted to swim, but the hippo pursued me relentlessly, Mukeshimana recalled. “Upon reaching the shores, the hippo lunged and attacked my right leg, knocking me down and nearly killed me. I couldn’t fight anymore.”
Once the hippo retreated, he called out to his neighbor for assistance. Although he had dodged the attack, Biziyaremye stayed close to monitor the situation in case the hippo returned.
“He put me on his boat, and informed other residents about the incident. They swiftly came to our aid, and took me to the mainland on a motorbike for urgent medical attention,” Mukeshimana narrated.
Mukeshimana went through a challenging journey due to health complications. After neighbors helped him cross the flooded wetland to reach the health centre, he was transferred to the University Teaching Hospital of Kigali (CHUK) in the capital city for advanced treatment.
He spent three months in hospital. Unfortunately, due to the severity of his injuries, his leg had to be amputated.
A fresh start after ordeal
In 2016, on the 22nd anniversary of Rwanda’s Liberation Day, Mukeshimana’s family was among the first group of about 400 people who were relocated from Sharita and Mazane islands and settled in the Rweru Model Village.
The hippo attack victim and his family were given a four-bedroom home in the newly built village, a water tank for clean water, a kitchen and a lactating cow to give milk to his children.
Settling in the new model village rekindled Mukeshimana’s hope for life.
“I was relocated from Sharita and that was a major relief for me,” he said in May 2024.
“After being attacked by the hippo, I couldn’t work to support my family. But my life has never been the same after relocation. I have a cow; my children now drink milk. And we had electricity in our home for the very first time when we moved to this village,” Mukeshimana narrated.
He added, “I think my life expectancy has now doubled. Life on the island was too risky! We were always afraid of hippos, floods, and death. Such harsh living conditions exposed us to various diseases.”
Revisiting Sharita Island
A footprint of a hippo that damaged crop plantations on the island on May 3, 2024. Because of a rise in the hippo population in Lake Rweru, the government decided to relocate the residents to minimise human-wildlife conflicts.
Mukeshimana, on May 3, 2024, returned to the island to visit his former abode. He also traced hippo footprints and witnessed plantations destroyed by the aquatic animals.
However, not all residents have been resettled from the island and the remaining group of residents call for a speed relocation.
The island, currently home to 30% of its original population, remains a high-risk zone, which make its residents to call for urgent relocation.
A potato plantation damaged by a hippo on Sharita Island on May 3, 2024.
Clementine Nyiransabimana, who lives in Karizinge village on the island, is among those who have yet to be relocated.
She explained that the relocation of their neighbors led to isolation, which has increased the threat from wildlife.
“Only 22 families remain in our village, and since the time our neighbours left, we have been living in constant fear,” Nyiransabimana said.
“Wild animals have become a significant problem; our children cannot play freely, and we worry about their safety.”
Additionally, she said, these animals damage their food crops, causing significant losses.
“I hope the government will hear our pleas and relocate us as soon as possible,” she added.
Oscar Mutabazi, a 69-year-old farmer and Mukeshimana’s father-in-law, observed that the relocation has turned the island into a high-risk area for the remaining inhabitants.
“The island is no longer a residential place. It has become a dangerous zone to its population,” he explained.
Oscar Mutabazi,69, Mukeshimana’s father-in-law, is among the residents of Sharita Isalnda who want to be relocated.
“In addition to the flooding that affects our farming during the rainy season, we also face heavy losses from hippos that come out of the water and destroy our crops. We wish to join others in the new village where we can feel safer and access essential services more easily.” Mutabazi added.
Former residents who have been resettled in the new model villages expressed gratitude to the government for rescuing them from danger.
Aloysie Uwitonze, who received a new three-bedroom house equipped with electricity, clean water, said: “I was not safe on the island. My house was on the brink of collapse, and I lived in constant fear, especially during periods of heavy rains.”
Aloysie Uwitonze, one of the hundreds of former Sharita residents resettled in a new village.
“Resettlement has drastically changed my life,” Uwitonze rejoiced. “I now live in a beautiful house, sleep soundly, and my children and I are in good health.”
She added that she was thankful to President Paul Kagame who gave them the homes.
“I no longer fear the heavy rains or hippos. My wish is to see the other residents relocated from the island so that they can have a better future,” she added.
Agathe Mukansonera and other 13 residents in a small boat survived a hippo attack on May 2, 2024. Mukansonera and other residents were coming from the mainland on their way to Sharita, faced a hippo hiding in the channel blocking the boat’s direction. Fortunately, the hippo left the channel and the boat finally crossed without a harm.
Environmental Health expert calls for urgent need to relocate all residents
Dr Abias Maniragaba, an Environmental Health expert, emphasized the urgent need to relocate the population from the island to safeguard both human lives and wildlife.
Dr. Maniragaba pointed out that residing on the remote island poses significant risks to both biodiversity and the local population.
“You cannot protect biodiversity while people continue to harm it. To better safeguard biodiversity, relocating people from the island is essential,” he stated.
Researcher Maniragaba noted that the increase in the number of hippos and monkeys following the relocation of people is not coincidental. He explained that the colonization of species depends on their access to food and security.
“After the relocation, grasses and trees have regrown and flourished, which is a key factor in attracting more hippos back to the island. Although hippos are large and somewhat fearful of humans, they are drawn to areas where they can feed freely. The reduction in human activity makes the island more hospitable for them, leading to crop destruction. Wildlife tends to be nomadic, moving to places where they can live in harmony and find adequate food and security.” Maniragaba stressed.
He underscored the importance of environmental conservation at Sharita Island, highlighting its social, economic and environmental impacts on both the residents and the country at large.
“For instance, essential services such as healthcare, education, and markets are costly and difficult to access on the island. Relocating the population would simplify access to these vital needs,” Dr. Maniragaba explained.
He also revealed that providing services to people in the island, is serving a limited number of beneficiaries but when they live on the mainland it will be easy to share services collectively.
In addition Dr. Maniragaba noted that the positive experiences of those who have already been relocated demonstrate the benefits of such an action. Their testimonies suggest that relocation leads to improved living conditions, reinforcing the argument that relocating all residents should be a priority.
“If the residents of the island call for relocation and those who have already moved are living in better conditions, it’s clear that relocating everyone should be the focus,” Dr Maniragaba added
The relocation of Sharita residents has inspired the nation to save more people countrywide whom are reported to live in the high risk zones.
So far, over 70 percent of the island’s population has been relocated to Rweru model village where residents have easy access to clean water, electricity, healthcare services, schools, markets, among other amenities.
The initiative launched in 2016, so far, in all 30 districts of Rwanda, a model village was constructed for poor residents and high risk zone duelers. Each year, on July 4, the country celebrates the Liberation Day anniversary. The same day, also a new model village is inaugurated, and hundreds of houses units are handed over to the residents.
Francois Hakizimana, 56 year-old resident of Sharita. He calls for relocation since they are still facing environment challenges and experience consequences of hippos in their plantations.
A busy canoe crossing the lake on May 3, 2024. They are former residents who relocated. Captured here from the island, where they continue to roll farming.
A woman holds hippo waste at Sharita on Friday, May 3,202. At the island, people believe that hippo waste is an important medicine.
(L-R) Vestine Uwamahoro( Mushekimana’s sister) Oscar Mutabazi, 69, ( Mukeshimana’s father-in-law) and the hippo victim Antoine Mukeshimana pose for a picture at Sharita
To access essential services, residents must undertake an hour-long journey by canoe to reach markets, healthcare, and secondary schools among other services.
Two women residing at Sharita Island walk around the island on May 3, 2024. According to the residents over 70 families that still live at the island call for relocation.
Gratia Nzamwitakuze fetching water in the lake. She said that drinking water sourced from the lake, which is unfiltered, has led to persistent health problems among residents.
A busy boat leaving Sharita Island, as the hippo attack victim Antoine Mukeshimana and residents of the new village returned to their settlements after visiting his former residence on May 3, 2024.
Some newly constructed housing units that are accommodating former Sharita residents in Bugesera District.
