Uganda Travel Guide

sadly this establishment is no longer in existanceNorthern Ugandan food for Southern softies! Malakwang ne lumonde

Half decent Pure Vegetarian restaurant. This place was known by another name (also a vegetarian gaff) previously and when I went there in March 2015 it had only been open a month There were a lot of sweets and snacks but I plumped for the set meal Thali

UPDATE JANUARY 2016The service centre for MTN is no longer in the centre of town it is now located at Victoria mall. My old sim had “expired” according to the helpful young chappie behind the counter and quickly registered me with my new sim all for 2,000UGX. I did have to wait till the place was open though which I think was at 10.30am. No need to...

The very colourful flag of Uganda is one of the most striking national flags of the world. It is comprised of 2 stripes each of Black, Yellow and Red and Red with a crested crane in full colour on a white disk in the middle. Black represents the African people, Yellow stands for sunshine and the Red symbolizes the brotherhood of man. The 3 colours...

A few years since |I took these photos the market is now well complete and is a maze of stalls on various floors. Better than the average market was Jinja market. It was a crowded friendly place full of friut, veg, spices and all the other usual things for sale at an African market but since my last visit like a few markets in Uganda at the...

I was told the main Hindu temple is situauted on the way to the show ground from Jinja town but this temple is a lovely building and the askari on the gate was quite happy to show me around.

If you are needing a bus to Kenya from Jinja the place to go is either the Akamba Bus or Kampala Coach bus offices which are pretty much next to each other on the roundabout north east of town. This is not the roundabout near Owen Falls dam it is further along the Tororo highway than this. Both offices are in a block of buildings opposite the Gapco...

There are a gaggle of internet cafes in Nehru Rd. Non are brilliant and the power does tend to go from time to time but usually the internet cafe will fire up their own generator.

Not sure this place has got a name. It is also not the easiest place to find as it it is situated in the alleyway between two parallel streets Labwor and Awich roads in Gulu. The girl at the hotel I was staying told me to eat here and right she was to do so. I loved the Dek ngor moo yang which I ate with sweet potatoes. The café gets really busy...

Can't remember the name of this place but it is on the right of Kampala road as you walk north.Traditional northern Ugandan Food. Best going at lunchtime, if you go in the evening the choice of food is not as extensive as the menu might suggest. I was disappointed a couple of times in the evening when the malakwang had been eaten so had to go to...

Anywhere in this part of Uganda you are likely to come across Colobus Monkeys. In Lake Nkuruba you will see them daily. In Fort portal town it is possible to see them in the trees at the top of town near the Toro club and even on the bus from Kampala it is not uncommon to see a black tail hanging down from a branch of a tree.

From Lake Nkuruba there are many walks that you can take in a multitude of directions. A fairly straight forward one is to walk to the nearby lake of Nyabikere. This is easy because you follow a track all the way until you come to the paved road near CVK camp on Lake Nyabikere. You set off from Nkuruba and head off along a track heading east the...

Not a million miles from Fort Portal, well just a few kilometres down the Kasese road is Mugusu home of possibly the best market in East Africa. The market is on every Wednesday. As well a the usual fruit, veg, and goats for sale it may well be the best place to buy mitumba (second hand clothes). Unlike other markets in Uganda the clothes here are...

On my last visit to Soroti I wanted to have an early start and found that there was one bus leaving to Kampala at 6 in the morning, thinking that 6 was too early I set my alarm to get me up for the 7am bus run by the YY company which like all the early morning coaches leaves from the main street at the northen end of town. I was only going as far...

You know when you are crying out for something to eat which you have missed and have had real difficulty in finding. Then you find somewhere that scratches that itch. This was such a place when I was desperate for scrambled eggs on toast. With lashings of Chilli sauce of course. Ahhh that hit the spot! I never got to eat the French toast (2 slices...

All your favourite Ugandan dishes at reasonable prices with Sky news on the box as you eat.

One of the cheapest eats in Lira and possibly the best place to go for a choice of food in the day time is one of the many restaurants that surround the bus park. They even have Agiira!! The dish of a sauce made from ground dried green peas Malakwang ne lumonde

This place advertises itself with the tag line "Indian, local and Chinese food and a car wash!!Loved this place. Stumbled across The Wash as I was wandering around town and ended up spending a whole afternoon here supping cold beers and writing in my travel journal. After several hours of this I went back to my lodge, showered changed came back and...

The best and most hassle fee way to get to Lira is by Gaagaa Bus. They now have their own compound at Arua Park on Ben Kiwanuka street. they have designated counters for each detination Paidha, Arua, Koboko, Lira, it is all very organised unlike the Qualicel Bus Park.The only bus to Lira leaves at 10 in the morning and departs from Lira (from what...

Similar to, but possibly less choice than the Friends Hotel/Restaurant. Selling a few Ugandan staples if they are already prepared or you can buy the odd snack. Luckily there is always chai on the go

In the centre of the main drag in Moroto there is a large tree and underneath this tree during daytime you will see a few blokes selling wooden stools of various sizes. I always fancied one of the small stools that you see Karamojong and Turkana blokes walking around with that they use for pillows/neck rests as well as stools to sit on in the...

Not the Old trafford Stadium. Well It is actually a video hall that shows Chuck Norris films as well as footie games

Getting off your face as the sun goes down is an excellent way to end the day on Banda! In fact there was little else to do on Banda apart from getting of your face and eating excellent food. It's been a long time now since I was on the island and the owner at the time Dom is no longer with us so hope that things now are as I remember it.

This is the best that Kitobo gets. This is what you see from Banda Island well before the toast and Marmite appears.

It is a 3 hour trip from Kasenyi to Banda as the sun goes down it can get cold! This was the only time I wore a jacket in the whole 4 months that I spent in UG. Boarding at Kasenyi can be a right pain in the arse as scores of people want to help you on board the boat FOR A COST!

Are you a fun of art and community? while you are in or around Masaka you don't want to miss an opportunity to visit the first of its kind a growing community for the Arts in East Africa. This is in Ndegeya (Weaver Bird), a village located only about 6KM from Masaka town center in the direction of Katwe and the through Ssaza. In Ndegeya you will...

I think that there's still a very huge gap between art and Community in Uganda but after the establishment of a sculpture park in Weaver Bird (Ndegeya) , Masaka art lovers can now enjoy a weekend out in Masaka while they get acquainted with sculpture making. Camp Ndegeya Sculpture Park hosts Art camps every 3 months which attracts artists from the...

From the centre of town if you head downhill and in a southerly direction you will I’m sure end up in the taxi park, but it is pretty hard to see until you almost enter the park itself. The park is surrounded by low rise buildings that obscure the usual bustle of all the usual comings and goings. Luckily for me it was right next to where I was...

this is one of the best hotels around the area, it's lovely, the scenery is amazing. its a really warm and friendly welcoming place too. the lake is lovely and great to have a little swim in or take/hire a wooden canoe! I loved my time as a missionary in Uganda, and this was a great place to take a break and some time out! also a little bit of a...

I really never expected to see this type of scenery in Africa. But we did, here we were in Uganda traversing high mountains on dirt roads looking out at some spectacular scenery.Driving towards Lake Bunyoni from either direction you are sure to encounter this type of scenery.

The Ugandans on a whole are such beautiful people. But a memory which sticks in my mind is when we were on the way to the Lake and almost there, we stopped on the side of the road to take some piccies of the spectacular scenery and out of nowhere these kids in my piccie arrived - so friendly, so happy - always smiling.

I was hot and needed a day by the pool to cool off and relax. I was told about the White Castle Hotel that had a pool "it is 2 km out of town" I was told. So 2km would be quite a pleasant stroll. Anyway after about 5k of walking under the hot sun I was about to give up when on the horizon I spied a sign for the hotel. At last I can relax in the...

Every day I spent in Arua I would breakfast at the same nameless place just a few hundred metres away from where I was staying at Rippons motel. It was hardly a restaurant more of a small compound that was fenced off by wicker fencing and a roof made up of several pieces of tarpaulin. A jerry can with a plastic tap roughly affixed to it sat on a...

With a few exceptions transport from Mbale in all sorts of directions leaves from the bus park. Buses from here leave to Moroto, Kotido, Nakapiriprit, Kumi, Soroti, Lira, Gulu, and Busia.Some of the early Gateway buses don't enter the park but stop outside Tawfiq restaurant. Elgon flyers have their own office on Kumi Rd with regular buses to...

Nothing better to do on a nice hot day in Mbale than to take a refreshing swim in the pool at the Mbale Resort Hotel. In what was once the gardens of the hotel they are now building another even bigger hotel which will have a bigger pool or so I am told! The cost of a swim is 5,000 UGX, but as well as a pool there is also a gym and a sauna

Al the usual Ugandan favourites plus on occasions you can get bamboo shoots Malewa . These are usually cooked together with ground nut sauce.

The Crocs were in a seperate area from the big animals, they were in their own area near to some otters but far enough away for the otters to be safe! LOL..The Croc was huge and was the first time I had ever seen one, I was amazed at how dinosaur like they were and how huge they were.If you look Behind Matt in the piccie it looks small but it...

The Rhino here were fab! There were 2 and they were very friendly, if not a little shy!They are enclosed in an area for protection, but once again it was our lucky day! The Warden was going into feed them, and so let us have a touch of these amazing animals and spoke to us about them in detail . (Little Did I know that about 6 weeks later I would...

There is a small museum here in the grounds of the sanctuary which is included in the admission price that you pay to get into the sanctuary itself. Its very small but very interesting - as you can see in the photo there are plenty of animal skulls and things to look at - its amazing how big there are!

Good traditional African eatery selling all the usual Ugandan staples in huge quantities.Service was excellent in this busy local place near the market. Similarly as good and as cheap I found was the Western Hotel right across the road from this place Toast. yeah proper toast I struggle to find a slice of toast in Kampala or else where in UG but...

The place to go to in Mbarara town for nightlife is Bananuka Rd. On this street there are a few bog standard bars such as Sabs Guest house bar, a couple of quite impressively large places to go if you want to dance the night away such as Another life Disco and Vision Empire Night Club. My favourite watering hole on Bananuka Rd and in fact in the...

I guess this place is part of the Hot loaf Bakery group that I see in a couple of places in Kampala. The food here is obviously the same as the shops in the capital but the prices were definitely different. I paid 1,800 for a good sized veggie pizza here in Mbarara; it was lovely so good I bought one the next day as well. In Kampala a smaller...