Fresh details have emerged about the crocodile that killed 16-year-old Namirembe Namirimu at Kyankolokolo Landing Site on Bugaba Island, with wildlife officials revealing the reptile had gone 30 days without food, making it extremely aggressive at the time of the attack.
Namirimu was attacked on December 4, 2025, around 6:30 pm while fetching water from the shoreline of Lake Victoria. Witnesses said the crocodile emerged from its nesting site and moved slowly toward the girl.
‘I thought it was as usual because we were used to seeing them near the shore without causing any harm,’ said Steven Balyejussa, the first responder to her cries.
‘But we were shocked when it suddenly trapped one of the girls and dragged her,’ he added.
According to Namirimu’s mother, Nalongo Nalubaale, her daughter had moments earlier asked her friends why the water had turned unusually dark before the crocodile grabbed her leg and pulled her underwater.
The reptile resurfaced three times with her body before disappearing into deeper waters.
Residents noticed on December 5 that the crocodile had vacated its nesting area after moving its hatchlings.
Namirimu’s body was recovered last Saturday (December 6), about two kilometres from the landing site at Kamujiri.
Her left leg was missing, and she was buried the same day.
Oswald Tumanya, an officer with the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), explained the attack was linked to natural crocodile behaviour.
‘A crocodile protects its eggs for 30 days without leaving the nest. When the eggs finally hatch, the hunger it has endured makes it attack anything it finds in its way,’ Tumanya said on Thursday.
He added that the timing of the attack coincided with the crocodile’s natural hunting hours.
‘Crocodiles begin hunting between 5:00 pm and midnight. Namirimu was still in the water at 6:30 pm, a time when crocodiles move several miles along the shoreline searching for food. It found her directly in its path,’ he explained to Monitor on Thursday.
Tumanya advised lakeside communities to avoid the water during high-risk periods (5:00 pm to 12:00 am and 5:00 am to 11:00 am). He added that not all crocodiles pose a threat.
‘There are many crocodiles in the lake, but usually only two or three are hostile. Here in Kyankolokolo, many are harmless, but one became aggressive and attacked a girl. But that doesn’t mean we relax; preventive measures are still necessary,’ he explained.
UWA has installed over ten traps near the landing site to capture the deadly crocodile and relocate it to safer areas.
Local leaders say the lack of safe water points is forcing children to risk the lake. Abdallah Walinbwa, defense secretary of Kyankolokolo Village, said:
‘Even though our children live near the lake, if we had tap water, this girl would not have gone to the lake where the crocodile found her.’
‘Crocodiles are increasing in population at a time when we have many children on the landing site, yet we have no safe water point. Everyone is forced to depend on the lake, which is now dangerous,’ he told Monitor in an interview.
Repeated incidents
Johnson Thembo of the Uganda Wildlife Education Center previously said destruction of breeding grounds was pushing crocodiles toward ‘soft targets.’
Since last year, more than six people have been killed and at least eight crocodiles relocated in Kalangala, but residents say new crocodiles continue moving in.