0:00:22 > 0:00:26Blanketed in jungle, fringed by beaches.
0:00:28 > 0:00:33Bugala Island is the biggest in Uganda's Ssese Archipelago
0:00:33 > 0:00:35in Lake Victoria.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39For Ugandans, Ssese used to be a shorthand for remoteness.
0:00:44 > 0:00:46Today, Bugala's abandoned forests
0:00:46 > 0:00:50and thriving waters are drawing people to its glittering shore.
0:00:55 > 0:00:59You'd be forgiven for thinking that we are in the middle of an ocean,
0:00:59 > 0:01:04and it's the sheer size of this lake that makes the island so remote.
0:01:04 > 0:01:09But it is also what has sustained the people of Bugala.
0:01:11 > 0:01:15In the forests, there is life on every branch,
0:01:15 > 0:01:17and an income in each tree-trunk.
0:01:27 > 0:01:32Jude Kagame became the boat builder to put himself through school.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35- TRANSLATION:- The boats we build are used for transporting people,
0:01:35 > 0:01:39food and animals, and for fishing.
0:01:39 > 0:01:41Some of the wood we get from here on the island,
0:01:41 > 0:01:43and some comes from Congo.
0:01:43 > 0:01:46The trees we use are getting more and more scarce,
0:01:46 > 0:01:49which is why we look to other countries.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52Much of the forest has been cut down for palm trees.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00Palm oil is in demand around the world.
0:02:00 > 0:02:04Growing it can bring wealth, but it comes at a cost.
0:02:04 > 0:02:09Precise rows of palm encroach on what was once wild jungle.
0:02:10 > 0:02:13And it's not just the landscape.
0:02:13 > 0:02:17Islanders' livelihoods are visibly changing.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23He tells me five years ago there were no more than four cars on the island.
0:02:23 > 0:02:27Now, he will repair more than 10 cars a week.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34And you'd need one to traverse the new roads
0:02:34 > 0:02:37which carve through the island.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42But look around, and it's a world of water.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51Every morning, fishing boats arrive at the Nakatiba landing site,
0:02:51 > 0:02:55owned and run by the formidable Mama Sylvia.
0:02:55 > 0:02:59As a young woman, she'd fish in a small boat without an engine.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02Now, she presides over an empire.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07She came to Bugala in the '80s, and things were different then.
0:03:08 > 0:03:12- TRANSLATION:- The reason I was attracted to this place
0:03:12 > 0:03:16was because, where we were, the stock had completely vanished.
0:03:16 > 0:03:20And this place was teeming with fish.
0:03:20 > 0:03:24When we came here, there was no electricity.
0:03:24 > 0:03:26But we have started getting piped water,
0:03:26 > 0:03:29and roads are being constructed.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32In the coming years, Bugala is going to be so much better
0:03:32 > 0:03:37than it is now, because everything has been put in place.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41This community is an example of what it means to persevere
0:03:41 > 0:03:44patiently through tough times.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52Once considered distant and mysterious,
0:03:52 > 0:03:55Bugala is a place that a growing number of people
0:03:55 > 0:03:57are now calling home.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00The island is bursting with potential.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04But its resources aren't infinite.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08For now, though, Bugala continues to hold promise, and to provide.