Overview
I’ve visited Uganda a couple of times and it’s always been a country I’ve enjoyed visiting. The people are friendly and, yes there are occasionally mass demonstrations in the cities and you hear on the news about human rights issues, but from a visitors point of view I’ve always felt incredibly welcome and at the time of writing it’s probably my favourite country to visit.
The first time I visited was in 2009 during an overland trip with Dragoman that visited Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda before travelling back through Uganda to Kenya where the trip finished. Then a few years later I spent a week visiting a friend who was volunteering at an orphanage in the town of Jinja between Kampala and the border with Kenya.
The scenery in Uganda is beautiful and the countryside seems a lot cleaner and unspoilt than in neighbouring Kenya. It’s can seem quite barren in places but you are never far from a wealth of wildlife, and in other places there are plantations, forests and beautiful vistas containing an equally impressive wealth of wildlife. Some of my favourite travel photos were taken in Uganda both of the wildlife and the scenery.
Wildlife is one of the major attractions of Uganda and during my visits I’ve seen Elephant, Chimpanzee, Hippo, Uganda Kob, Monkey, Water Buck, Impala, Vulture, Zebra, Buffalo, Warthog and much more. It’s also possible to see Lion and Gorilla if you’re lucky.
The only drawback of travel in East Africa is people will keep calling you Mzungu (the Swahili word for white person) while trying to sell you things and this can get a little annoying but it’s one of those things you just accept as one of the details of travelling in Africa. Nobody means anything by it and, as I mentioned earlier, the people in Uganda are the most welcoming people I’ve met anywhere in Africa. You’ll just need to take the usual travel precautions that you would anywhere around the world.
It can rain a lot in Uganda depending on the time of year you visit so make sure any tents you take are well waterproofer and make sure you take a waterproof jacket and good waterproof walking boots and you’ll be fine. There are plenty of things to see all over the country whether it’s raining or not, and some of the ones I visited are listed below.
My Trips
August 25th – 30th & September 2nd – 5th, 2009 [view blog]
An overland trip around East Africa with Dragoman where we spent a lot of time visiting National Parks and enjoying the best of Uganda.
February 28th – March 5th, 2012 [view blog]
A week-long trip to Uganda to visit my friend and interact with the kids at the Ekisa Orphanage in Jinja, Uganda
My Experiences
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Kampala – This is the capital city of Uganda but I’ve never spent much time here as there isn’t as much to do here as other parts of the country. We stayed here overnight during my Dragoman overland trip to break the journey and get supplies, and stopped here for lunch in 2012, but there isn’t much to do here from a tourism point of view. If you fly to Uganda you’ll arrive in nearby Entebbe which is smaller but a better place to stop overnight as most flights arrive late in the evening or overnight. |
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Entebbe Wildlife Education Centre – Simply known as “The Zoo” while in town this was a great place to see some of the wildlife I missed out on last time I was in Uganda like Lion, Giraffe and Ostrich. It’s a lot cheaper than other national zoos and was very quiet when I was there (I was the only visitor) so found it a great place to explore for a couple of hours. It’s on the banks of Lake Victoria so there are great views as well. |
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Entebbe Backpackers – I stayed overnight at the Entebbe Backpackers which is only a short drive from the airport. It was a great place to spend the night – they have an assortment of private rooms and suites in addition to dorm rooms and a campsite and they offer pickup from the airport at any time of the day or night. It’s only a few minutes walk from the main road where you can catch a boda or matatu wherever you need to go. |
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Kibale Forest National Park – This is the best place to trek for Chimpanzee in Uganda. Make sure you go on the morning trek not the afternoon one as this will give you the greatest chance of seeing Chimps when they descend to the ground to forage for food. We stayed at the Chimpanzee Guest House which is just outside the borders of the park and were treated to a trek around a local tea plantation by the owners – we were told about the harvesting process and had a chance to watch some of the tea pickers at work while overlooking some great scenery. |
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Fort Portal – A small town just outside the Kibale Forest National Park we stopped here to pick up supplies and fix the truck. It’s a great place to do those due to its location, and you can pick up a few souvenirs, but there’s not much else to do here. |
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Queen Elizabeth National Park – One of the biggest and best National Parks in Uganda this is where I saw the majority of the wildlife that I saw in Uganda. I saw Elephant, Buffalo, Crocodile, Hippo and much more. One of the highlights of my visit here was a cruise down the Kazinga Channel – a natural waterway connecting the two big lakes in the park. We got up close with the large number of Hippo and were able to see some traditional fishing villages along the banks of the lakes. We camped on a hill overlooking the Kazinga Channel and the sunset we saw that evening was one of the best I have ever seen. |
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Lake Bunyonyi – I was looking forward to being able to rent a dugout canoe at the camp site here so that I could explore the lake. Unfortunately we had vehicle troubles on the way up to the lake so it was already dark when we arrived. The view the following morning was beautiful though so if you decide to visit make sure you arrive early. |
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Kabale – A small town near the border with Rwanda we stopped here a couple of times to grab lunch, pick up supplies, and fix the truck. As far as souvenirs go I found nothing here but there are a few supermarkets and a great bakery / cafe where you can stock up on food. The food at the bakery was actually really nice. |
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Mbarara – A large town in the south-west of the country we stopped here overnight when our journey to Lake Mburo took too long and we were unable to get there before the park entrances closed. We didn’t spend much time here, other than camping overnight at a motel in the town centre, but it appeared to have everything you would need with regard to accomodation, food and supplies and it would be a good place to chill for a few days if you want to but as far as tourism there isn’t much here. I wish we had spent more time here though. |
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The Equator – There are several places in Uganda where the main highway intersects the equator and we stopped at a couple of them to see the monuments. One of the ones we stopped at is the main tourist trap and has a LOT of stalls where you can buy any souvenirs you want if you’re willing to haggle. You can also pay to see a demonstration of how water flows down a drain one way north of the equator and the other way south of the equator. A bit tacky but worth a visit. |
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Jinja – This is probably my favourite town in Uganda and I’ve been here a couple of times. It can be a bit of a tourist trap as it’s adventure tour central – you can take part in quad biking, rafting, jet boating, bungee jumping and much more but this is what many people come here for. It’s also home of the source of the River and there are a LOT of great cafes in town – Mezzanine, Flavours, Ozzies, The Keep etc and I’d highly recommend spending a few days in Jinja if you get a chance. You can easily stock up on souvenirs here too if that’s your sort of thing. |
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The Source of the River Nile – Jinja is home of the source of the River Nile and there is a monument commemorating this, and the fact that some of Gandhi’s ashes were scattered here. It’s a bit of a tourist trap and you will be pestered by people wanting to sell you things but it was on my bucket list of things to see so it was something I had to do. |
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Bujagali Falls – The Falls are a set of powerful rapids just outside Jinja which you can visit, for a price, but that are worth a visit to see how powerful the River Nile is even just after the source. At the time of writing they were extending a hydro-electric power station near to the falls so there was a chance the falls would become submerged but if this hasn’t happened when you visit it’s worth a visit. |
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Ekisa – I spent a week visiting my friend who was volunteering at the Ekisa Orphanage and Children’s Home for Disabled Children. You won’t be able to visit here as a traveller but it was a very worthwhile visit for me and helped me grow as a person. The kids are great and the staff do a great job at giving them the best start to life they can in a country where they have been severely disadvantaged. |
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Boda Bodas – These are the motorbikes you see hanging around on street corners, or flying around towns around most of Africa. They are they cheapest way to get around town if you’re on a budget but they can be a bit scary if you’ve never been on a motorbike before. Most of them don’t have helmets, and you’ll need to hold on tightly around corners or unpaved roads, but “This is Africa” after all. It’s all part of the experience if you do decide to use them but most travel companies and governments don’t recommend it. |
Other Highlights
One of the main highlights of Uganda is the Bwindi Inpenetrable Forest where you can trek to see families of endangered Mountain Gorillas. It’s an expensictivity but I was lucky enough to trek with Mountain Gorillas in Rwanda so I would highly recommend it. Uganda is also full of national parks, such as Murchison Falls and Lake Mburo so you could easily spend a couple of weeks in the country and still not see everything.
Conclusion
Uganda is a very worthwhile place to visit and if you’re looking for an country to visit in East Africa to experience a friendly culture, great scenery and a wealth of wildlife that’s reasonably safe for individuals and families then I would highly recommend it. Whether you’ve been to Africa before or are looking to visit the continent for the first time you can’t go wrong with Uganda. The journeys in between each of the sites can be very long but you will see some great scenery and I hope to return to Uganda again soon to re-visit some of the places I’ve seen and explore some of the less visited areas in the north of the country.
Photo Highlights