On the way to Lake Katwe, we stopped at the new Equator Monument, designed by Eric Prince Ondia, who won the Joadah Innovation Challenge under the category ‘Best Equator Monument.’ The new monument is made of stainless steel and ‘elegantly showcases the globe with the equator line...
We stopped for lunch and some shopping in the provincial town of Kasese. It is one of the fastest-growing towns in Uganda and a stopover destination for tourists who flock west to explore the Queen Elizabeth National Park, hot springs, the Kazinga Channel, Kibale National Park, and access...
Friendly kids wawed on us from their nursery at the church, so we stopped and gave them some lollipops. The government doesn’t provide public pre-primary education, so families must rely on private providers, which can charge high fees. This was the community-run nursery, where...
We enjoyed the nice weather and drove around the legendary, mist-covered Rwenzori Mountains, which UNESCO named a World Heritage Site in 1994 because of their beauty and biodiversity. It’s the tallest mountain range in Africa, and several peaks are permanently covered by ice and glaciers...
After reading many reviews of Kibale NP, we decided to try the Chimpanzee Trek (🎟️999000 UGX), but of course, we had a terrible experience with a local con man. At the park gate, they gave us the phone number of the UWA office in the Fort Portal. They promised to book our tickets online...
During our trip around Crater Lakes, we spotted a small vanilla plantation, so we stopped and visited it. Uganda is a leading exporter of vanilla beans known for its high vanillin content, which surpasses equivalent grades from Madagascar. It is the only country in the world to harvest...
The little coffee plantation at Isunga Community was across the road from the tea plantation we visited earlier. Uganda ranks second in Africa and eighth in global coffee production. The country grows Robusta and Arabica coffee at a ratio of 4:1. Accounting for 10% of global coffee farms...
We made a deal with the Isunga Community to tour us on a local motorbike boda boda around tea plantations, coffee plantations, and crater lakes for 55 USD (3 motorbikes / half day with a guide). Tea is Uganda’s third biggest foreign exchange earner after coffee and fish. A favorable...
Our journey continued through some of Uganda’s most incredible crater lakes. On the first day, we had terrible luck with the weather, so we did it again the next day on motorbikes (boda boda). On the highest hill behind Lake Nyamirima, we visited the viewpoint Top of the world, where you...
We stopped at one of many villages to see the traditional way of brickmaking. In open clay quarries, damp earth is dug from the ground and shaped in a mold. Many of these blocks are then piled up (there can be thousands in one stack). Mud is plastered over the whole surface to help retain...