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Chimp at Ngamba island sanctuary
Taxi from the airport to Kampala
Muyenga club pricelist
Muyenga area, Kampala
Hi,
I am thinking of visiting Kampala for a couple of days in April 2011 but have read that this is smack in the middle of the rainy season and is in fact the wettest month.
Now I can handle a bit of tropical rain, but what I'd like to know is whether the rain will be 'that' bad. I mean, will it be thrashing down non-stop making it impossible to step outside, or is it like other places where it will rain heavily for a couple of hours around noon?
Any help with this will be greatly appreciated.
Regards
Jason
Hi there,
April is the according to statistics the wettest month in Kampala with an average rain of 15,4 cm. That is 2-3 cm more than March and May. I visited Kampala in the beginning of June this year. The weather was in general nice during that week.
I decided to visit the swimming pool in Muyenga club one sunny day. The club is on a hill with a good view over the city. From there I could see big, black clouds coming from the Victoria lake towards the city, with a heavy rain weather. After one hour it was gone and it was sun again. (Pictures of the clouds is seen on the General Tips of my Kampala page). When so much rain could fall in that short period, and it all was fine after one hour, I believe you shouldn't let the tropical rain stop your travel.
Have a nice trip.
Georeiser
Rainy season in Kampala is not too bad to the extent that it paralyzes all activity. You can still move around unless you are in very muddy areas or areas which are built on swamps. The chances of being in a muddy or swampy area are very few though especially if ur just coming for holiday. Even during the rainy season there are sunny spells so I would still encourage you to visit plus even when it rains theres always someone selling an umbrella around the corner.
Kampala is the capital and the largest city in Uganda with 1,5 mill inhabitants. The city is built on many hills with the average altitude of 1200 metres above sea level. The city is very lush and green, and was earlier a swampy hunting area. Downtown has some few high buildings, suburbs and other parts of the city have small houses and lower buildings.
It is very easy to stay in telephone contact. You will find yellow kiosks everywhere. By yellow kiosks, I mean a yellow wooden box with a phone on it. Here, you can make local and international phone calls and/or buy credits for the SIM cards used in your GSM phone. All phone calls within Uganda are local calls and will cost around USh 300 per minute.
The SIM card can be purchased on arrival at Entebbe Airport. It will cost you around USD 4 for the card. There are usually some good deals when you fill it up with credits. For example, if you buy USh 20,000 worth of credits, you may get a few more for free. Talk to the person at the counter, and he will be glad to assist you.
You can refill the credit on your SIM card at the road-side kiosks. Just walk up and tell them how many credits worth of refill you want. There are some standard amounts, and you can choose accordingly. So, if you choose a USh 5000 worth refill, then he will open up the plastic covering, scratch the card to reveal the pin number, SMS it to the network, and recieve confirmation within 30 seconds that the recharge is complete. At any time, you can monitor the number the credits in your SIM card.
If you are travelling through East Africa, then I strongly recommend CelTel because you can use the same SIM card in all three countries (Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya). The coverage is pretty good. You can make phone calls in the Serengeti if you want to.
NOTE: Don't bother getting your CDMA phone to Uganda.
COUNTRY INFORMATION:
Visa: 50 USD for visa on arrival at the airport. You can stay up to 90 days.
Mobil phone: Good roaming in the cities and the main roads.
Recommended language: English.
Infrastructure: Good in Entebbe and most areas in Kampala, else very poor.
Friendliness by the people: Curious people, but some rude desires to tourists.
Attention by Police/military: A lot of security guards, police and soldiers in the streets after the terror bombs in June 2010. They are checking your bags in the streets. Some suspiciousness and anxiety among them, but they are friendly towards tourists.
Crime: No bad experience.
Rainy period: March and April.
Price level: A little bit cheaper than Kenya.
Airport departure tax: Nothing.
This is a great local custom. If you order a cup of coffee in Uganda, they bring you a little pot of coffee that holds about 3 cups. The prices are reasonably low so this is a great idea that just keeps getting better. The coffee? Gorgeous. They grow it here. I didn’t see any of those high-priced coffee multi-national chains and I hope they never come here. This picture was taken at the Imperial Hotel veranda in Kampala.
There are lots of beggars in Kampala, occupaing busy streets around the market place and city centre. Most of them are quiet, almost invisible and in some way polite. Some of them, especially woman, abuse little children for begging sending them after whites who pass by and it looks really ugly. Somebody should do something about because this poor kids do not deserve to be treated like that.
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