Unique Places in Uganda

It is not really and activity. It is about a nice place to spend some nights VERY CLOSE to the Rwenzory National Park. It is idealy situated if you plan to visit the Park.

They try to entertain their guest...and that is one thing not many places in Uganda do. They offer "village walks", forest walks, pipeline walk(yes, there is a pipeline made by a big company, and you can walk following that path). You can do those activities without entering the Park, so no fees to pay.

The comunity has a childsponsorship project too. They offer information about that too.

Food is simple, but o.k and staff do their best.

They have two self contained bandas and camping area.

I would recomend that place to "independent" travellers. They are doing a big effort to improve their comunity.

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A few Kilometres east of the town of Kumi and just past the village of Nyero is the site of the Nyero rock paintings.

No one seems to know when exactly this series of paintings were first painted but was in existence when the Teso arrived in the area around 300 years ago. It is possible that the paintings existed hundreds of years before that and possibly a thousand years ago.

There are 3 different sites. Site 1 has some damage where some old dear tried to remove the paintings by scrubbing them away. This site was initially protected by a wall and a wire mesh screen but the site was used as a base by rebels of the UPA (Ugandan Peoples Army) in the early eighties and the wall is now half demolished letting you have full access to the site.

Site 2 is the most impressive with a huge rock face covered in red painted circles, what look like two men in a boat and possibly seed pods and animals.

Site 3 is only viewed by getting on your back and looking up at the ceiling of this narrow cave. The white circles of what look like a sun is apparently the moon with legs!!!

The two guides that work at the site and employed by the government told me that they have many visitors but when I looked at the visitor’s book the last entry was 4 days previous.

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1/2 an hours taxi ride away from the centre of Mbale is the small village of Bududa.

Bududa is situated to the south east of Mbale tucked just south of the peaks of Mount Elgon. The whole area is surrounded by hills and behind them higher peaks again making this place one of the most beautiful places I've been to in Uganda.

In the village of Bududa itself there is not a lot apart from a post office and a small collection of dukas. When I arrived there was a small hoteli/ restaurant open where I was able to get a chapati and chai before walking a complete circle around the hill to the east. The guy in the hoteli suggested I do it by boda, when I asked if it was possible to walk he said
"Yes it is possible it will take you about 2 hours".
2 hours after I set off from Bududa I was only halfway around and only found out then that to complete the circular route I would have to walk 10 miles.

4 hours later I wandered up the hill passed the post office back into Bududa and sank a well deserved bottle of Pilsner.

More about this area is found on my Mbale page. I have already written this tip in my Mbale page but the place was worth mentioning twice.

This a traditional site that the Bacwezi people have visited since the year dot to consult and make offerings to the spirits. The tree can be reached by walking up or catching a boda-boda to the top of Mubende/Nakayima hill from the centre of the small town of Mubende.

Mubende is about half way between Kampala and Fort Portal.

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In the 1930’s a British company conducted petroleum exploration on the shores of Lake Albert; there were some shows (“oil springs”) and the company drilled a well nearby; this well head is there since the 30’s and shows that petroleum is a protector from corrosion. The oil is very viscous and does almost not flow at ambient temperature. We could not find out whether the people of the villages use that oil for whatever usage; The bubbles in the ring show it is an active seep.

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Bukuma village is located a few kilometres from Lake Albert , on the road to Masindi; the pictures here show a rather big village, with very few people present and almost no activity; a weird feeling when walking in the village. And looking at some houses, reading what is written on, gives a more scary feeling. . .

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There are many isolated villages on the Ugandan shores of Lake Albert; at that time the foreigners were not welcomed, and I do not know for today, if things have changed. It is a strange feeling arriving at these very quiet villages where there is almost no life. . .

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Many villages are accessible only by boat or by trails descending the Rift escarpment. Kybyiro is a small and poor village living on fishing and salt extraction; the salt is carried by feet up the escarpment and then transported to the village markets.