Safety Tips in Uganda

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There are no signs or any customs shelter or pole indicating you are near the border between Zaire (at the time it was called Zaire) and Uganda. Here the border is the Semliki river, which in fact is the Nile before it enters Lake Albert.
The deep dark green colour of the grass indicates wet areas which you do not see when driving and you easily get stuck driving off road (no road here). In the border areas (here easy to identify, as it is the river) many people are travelling from one side to the other and you never know if they are “friendly”, when they visit you if you are stuck there..

Do not stay too long in the area.

Roads in Uganda are not in good condition, and in addition, during the night, most of them are not properly illuminated.

But this is not all... when driving you'll meet many people walking along the roads and cars and trucks stopped. During the day, taking care you can drive more or less safely.. but during the night is extremely dangerous to drive.

My advice: hire a driver, and avoid driving during the night.

Traffic in Kampala is chaotic.

There are not many traffic signs, and just some traffic lights. So, here is the law of the strongest.. that means, that in a roundabout or junction, the one bravest is the one who crosses first.

As consequence, driving here is extremely difficult. So I won't recommend to rent a car here. And if you rent it, try to hire a driver as well. And of course... the best car for driving here is a 4x4.

Be careful going down stairs at campsites in the dark. I had a bit of a tumble and had to visit hospital for x-rays. The docs put me in this lovely stookie which I refued to allow to spoil my gorilla tracking plans for the following week.

Don't I look happy!

we plant the curtains next to the river that
it divides uganda from the congo
there is a beautiful hut and we decide to prepare
the dinner them under.
but as soon as we enter on the ceiling a guest
a black mamba
two hours we have given for inviting to go out him

be careful of flashing your money around while out shopping or sightseeing.

petty crime is very prevelent..and many eyes will be watching.

this is a poor country and many of the locals are deperately poor.so crime is high.

Eevn if most people has in mind the killing of 8 german tourists few years ago while doing the gorillas tracking, Uganda is a pretty safe country but there still is a quite violent ultracatholic guerrilla quite active in the north east side of the country, so you'd better get informed before planning a visit to that area.

In the rest of the country the situation si quite safe, even if armed guars are present in most of hotels and hostels to prevent robberies (which are quite rare).

Also in the area surrounding the Congo border are some incursions from congolese guerillas or delicting gangs ( while we were there we read about 5 other tourist being attacked with gun machines but this was a rare thing!)

Ugandas moderate climate is not only favourable for you and me but also for numerous unwanted creatures above all mosquitos. Make sure you undertake all prophlaxis for malaria. Begin 1 week befor the journey. To be on the safe side you should as well use a mosquito net.

In case of anything you can seek medical care in private clinics like
Dr. Gibbons & Dr. Stockley (UK) 12 A Parliamentary Avenue

Hospitals:
Mengo Hospital (Kampala, Mengo)
Nsambya Hospital (Private catholic)
Mulago Hospital