3 Things to do in Uganda
Uganda is a country in East Africa, the region that includes several countries, and the unified language is Swahili. Hakuna Matata, y’all.
I did a quick HIV/AIDS awareness volunteering program near Kampala in Mutungo. After the program, I had the opportunity to explore parts of the country.
How I Got There
As usual whenever I travel, I either take a United flight or search for the cheapest flight on kayak.com. I wrote an article about how I stick to flying on United as much as possible to cash out big with my miles.
For this trip, I flew from Cape Town to Entebbe through South African Airways.
1. Gorilla Trek – Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
Without a doubt – the top and once-in-a-lifetime highlight. I did a weekend tour of finding the endangered mountain gorillas, which included a roundtrip ride from Kampala to where we stayed for two nights near the park. I paid $1300 (in 2017), which was worth every penny.
After we left Kampala and after nearly 13 hours of driving, we finally arrived near Bwindi Impenetrable National Park at a hotel, and we spent the night there.
Tour Guides
The next morning, we arrived at the park, and we subsequently hiked for about an hour. Prior to 2010, the tourists and the tour guides had to find the gorillas themselves.
Above shown is one of our tour guides cutting through the bushes to create small pathways to the gorillas.
Gorillas
Tribes near Bwindi
And on day two, we did a tour of around the mountains where we got to meet some of the people from the indigenous tribes near Bwindi.
2. Lake Victoria – Kalanga Island
We took a boat from Entebbe and arrived at one of the many islands in Lake Victoria.
I grabbed a beer and enjoyed an insane sunset looking into Lake Victoria from one of the resorts.
Lake Victoria – Kalanga Island
3. Boda Boda Tour of Kampala
I think the Boda Boda (meaning motorcycle) Tour was perfect for a city like Kampala. Kampala is congested with traffic from every direction.
Plus, generally speaking, Kampala is just a huge city in area (and population for that matter), and having a Boda Boda take you all over the city is a quick and efficient way to do it.
Here were some highlights of the tour: The New Taxi Park (Google Maps location)
The New Taxi Park
This is right next to the market. I have never seen such craze in one parking lot. Returning to the suburbs of Kampala was always an adventure, full of people and chaos.
Obviously, you can’t do a Kampala tour without passing by Kabaka’s Palace, so we went there.
There was this really cool fruit market right next to that Taxi Park.
Fruit Market Taxi Park
Also, very underrated: I was very impressed with the food in Uganda.
Food
What is that above? Rice, avocados, matoke, lamb. Very delicious.
Honorable Mentions
The Equator!
Where I Stayed
I stayed with the volunteering organization in their dorms.
By the way, I wrote a separate article on How I Choose Where I Stay when I Travel.
If I Had More Time, I Would Have…
Kayak down the Nile River in Jinja.
I would have wanted to do a safari tour that includes passing by Murchison Falls.
Closing Remarks
I did Uganda right. I’m happy with it. I spent 2 weeks volunteering in Kijjansi/Mutungo, which I would call a “suburb” of Kampala, and I spent one week touring around the country.
The Gorilla Trek was truly once in a lifetime. Kampala was a unique and an incredible city, and having a beer with the sunset bouncing off Lake Victoria during sunset was amazing.
With fewer than 1000 mountain gorillas in the world, Uganda has done an amazing job of preserving the existence of the gorillas while making it an attractive point of interest for the rest of the world.
Uganda was my welcome to East Africa moment. There is just so much more to see and I’m excited to return to the East Africa region one day.