Kibiro Salt Village

Kibiro sits on the shore of Lake Albert at the foot of the Rift escarpment, reached only by a steep footpath down from the top, and salt has been made there continuously for around eight hundred years, which archaeology at the site has confirmed. Hot saline springs feed gardens of salt-bearing earth worked by women, who scrape, leach and boil the soil to produce salt that is traded up the escarpment. It is on Uganda's World Heritage tentative list.

What you actually see

• The salt gardens - plots of salt-bearing earth worked and leached by hand.
• The hot springs - the saline springs that feed the whole process.
• The escarpment path - the steep descent of about an hour from the top.
• The continuity - production documented archaeologically over some eight centuries.

When to go

June to September and December to February are the drier windows and the best for the path. The descent and climb are hot in the middle of the day. Production runs year round.

Honest expectations

The only access is a steep footpath of about an hour down and considerably longer back up, in heat. The village is remote with no facilities. Visits should be arranged through the community.

Nearby

Hoima is on the escarpment above, and Lake Albert stretches west.