Things to Do

There are a lot of things to do while on holiday in Uganda. From the rare mountain gorilla trekking experience in Bwindi and Mgahinga to leisurely stays along the Lake Bunyonyi, there are several holiday activities to do in Uganda. Here are the most exciting things to do in Uganda that you can incorporate in your next safari in Uganda.

Kampala City Tour

After or before exploring the rest of Uganda’s parks or other attractions, you can choose to start/ end with a cruise around Kampala city. A Kampala city tour is much more rewarding especially for those interested in history and culture. The latter mainly focuses on Buganda, the largest kingdom in the country

You can start with visiting the royal mile that comprises of the Lubiri Palace and the Bulange parliament all located in Mengo. These two have magnificent architectural designs that please all the tourists who take a glance on them as they walk the royal mile learning about the unique Buganda culture.

Visit the Namugongo shrine, where over 50 martyrs were slain on orders of the then current king of Buganda, Kabaka Mwanga in mid-1880. Also take a tour around different tombs, the burial grounds for Buganda Kings including the Wamala, Walusi to mention but a few not forgetting the highlight of all these, the Kasubi tombs.

Other places to visit during yourself drive tour around Kampala include the mother temple in Africa, the Bahai temple, the only one of its kind on the continent, craft village located along Buganda Road, the National Museum that is the biggest and Oldest Museum found in the country, the great Nakayima tree that has got great connotation to Ndahura and the entire great Chwezi fraternity, St Balikuddembe market in the downtown of Kampala and different historical monuments among others.

Experience the Nile

Uganda is a popular safari destination with some of the unique attractions and activities not found elsewhere in the world and some of the outdoor activities white water rafting on one of the longest river in the word. The Nile River provides an excellent grade five white water rafting for over 21 km going through some of the beautiful water falls in the world.

Bungee jumping is another adventure that is so interesting on the Nile River it involves jumping from a high point of over 100m high with a string either on your leg or waste down on the river and after get on a canoe boat to sail you out of the river still in this eastern district of Jinja you can see the source of the Nile river where the waters start their 3 months journey in Uganda all the way to the Mediterranean sea in Egypt.

Gorilla Trekking

Gorilla trekking adventure is probably the most amazing and a highlight of any safari to Uganda. Its involves trekking through the thick forest and following slippery trails in the forested jungle Bwindi Impenetrable National park a world heritage site, looking for the few of the remaining rarest specie in the world, the Mountain Gorillas. The trek is probably tiresome because in involves long walks for about 2-5 hours but once you meet face to face with the gorilla all the fatigue and tiredness is all forgotten.

Mountain Gorilla Trekking:

What makes Uganda a distinct destination from the rest of the world except Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is basically the remarkable mountain gorillas. A safari in Uganda is incomplete without gorilla trekking. Uganda is undoubtedly the perfect destination for you to visit as it offers nearly half of the world’s remaining mountain gorillas making it a home to largest habituated gorilla groups for tourists to enjoy gorilla trekking experiences.

With over 480 mountain gorillas that live in dense jungles of Uganda, tourists have wide range of options to choose their best gorilla group from all the 12 habituated gorilla groups of which 11 are in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Southwestern side of the country. You only need US$700 to obtain your gorilla permit in Uganda and for those who wish to improve on their experiences, there is also gorilla habituation experience which costs US$1500 per permit and you will enjoy 4 hours of face to face encounter with these remarkable creatures in the wild.

Bird watching

Uganda is just one of more than 30 countries that are part of the African continent but has more than 1008 species of birds. This figure represents more than half of the type of bird species found in Africa making it the best place to be should you desire to go on a bird watching vacation. There are a lot of places to go bird watching in Uganda while driving yourself, taking a pick from over 700 forest reserves.

For instance, you can drive to Albertine Rift Endemic Area that boasts to have more than 38 species of birds. Apart from the forests, there are also the wetlands. Uganda has 30,000 square kilometres of wetlands and not less than 210 bird species are present at all times. You might to see the Shoebill, the African Skimmer, the Papyrus Gonolek, White Winged Warbler or the White Winged Black Tern. The Bigodi Wetland sanctuary and Mabamba swamp are among the top wetlands to top your bucket list while choosing a place to go for birding.

Of the many national parks in Uganda, the most famous are Queen Elizabeth has one of the highest biodiversity ratings of any game reserve in the world and in Murchison Falls, you are sure to see several species of birds while Bwindi Impenetrable and Kibale, you will get to see various species of birds during a nature walk experience and along the way you might get the chance to take pictures of some primates.

Chimpanzee Tracking

Chimpanzee tracking is yet another captivating activity that enables you meet with few of the remaining human closest relatives with over 98% of human genes. Like mount gorillas, chimps also involve walking through the jungle forest but difference is that chimps can be found both on ground and in tree branches, during yor tracking watch out for other primates like vervet monkeys, Red tailed monkey, black and white colobus monkey and lots of beautifully coloured bird species, chimp tracking is majorly done in Kibale forest national park. This ancient forest is believed to have the highest number of primates in Africa.

Game Viewing

Game drives in Uganda are done in 5 major national parks including Lake Mburo National Park, Murchison Falls, Queen Elizabeth, Kidepo Valley and Semulik National Parks. And Uganda is one of the few nations where you can meet all the big five animals, the Rhino, Cape Buffalo, Elephant, Lion and Leopard and its only in Uganda where you can see the rare tree climbing lions in Isasha sector south of Queen Elizabeth National Park while Kidepo valley national park has the highest population of cape buffaloes in Africa other wild animals in Uganda include Eland, world’s biggest antelope. Zebras, Topi, Uganda Kob, Crocodile, Giraffe, warthog, Bush pig, bush bucks, Hippos, Hyena, Jackal, among others.

Boat Cruises

Boat cruises are regarded as the most rewarding activities on any adventure safaris to Uganda as it takes you to highest concentration of wildlife. The boat cruises you around the river banks where most of the wildlife came to draw drinking water and bath. These boat cruise in Uganda are done in three different parks, River Nile in Murchison falls national park, Kazinga Channel in Queen Elizabeth National Park and Lake Mburo National park. Kazinga Channel and Murchison falls are believed to have the highest population of hippos in Africa.

Mountain climbing

Uganda’s Rwenzori Mountain also known as the “mountains of the moon” provides a first class trekking experience. Margarita peak the highest point in Uganda and 3^rd highest in Africa just behind Mount Kilimanjaro and Kenya respectively is amazingly snow capped and its so captivating to experience atleat 5 different climate zone during this lifetime trek which include Savannah, tropical, Alpine, bamboo among other climate zone types. The trek can at least take you between 7 – 12 days in the high altitudes other mountains include Mount Elgon and Moroto.

White water rafting

White water rafting is among the amazing leading adventure activities done while on self-driving safari in Uganda, the activity is more than worth on safari experience on your visit to Uganda because of its unforgettable experience. It is only done on river Nile the longest river in Jinja the adventure home of east Africa organized by Nalubale, adrift Uganda and other more for your great experience.

White water rafting is loved by many tourists due to its most stanning rapids grades from grade 2 and 5 where one explores the ultimate and breath-taking moment while on these special rapids on river Nile.