UGANDA - An adventurous itinerary in 2 weeks
UGANDA - An adventurous itinerary in 2 weeks
Welcome to this travelblog! My sister and I did a two week trip through the most incredible sceneries, nationalparks and weather conditions. Uganda is a country full of heartwarmingly nice people and exotic animals. In this adventure in east africa, we cover nearly 1600 km.
Entebbe/Kampala
We start our trip in Entebbe. Compared to Kampala it’s a very chill place and the perfect spot to start your Uganda adventure. We stayed at the Blue Monkey Guesthouse. It offers different rooms in different price categories. It includes a super nice breakfast that you can enjoy in the beautiful garden with lakeview. The hosts have been living in Uganda for years and have very helpful tips for activities, accommodations and car rentals.
In Entebbe we visited the Botanical Garden (highly recommended, take a guide at the entrance) and wandered around the streets for a bit.
The best way to get around is with the Bodabodas (motorbike taxis). They might not be the safest option, as the streets are covered in potholes and you probably won’t get a helmet, but they are cheap and get you everywhere fast.
For Kampala we chose to get there by minivan taxi. This small busses can take a maximum of 14 people and it is as cramped as it sounds. By asking around you will find the right taxi going to your destination. In Kampala you either get off at the main taxi park or just tell the driver to stop whenever you like.
For me the city was the most chaotic, dirty and ugly metropolis I have ever been to. I can’t really recommend going there. You rather use this day for one of the many beatiful spots this country has to offer.
Rent a car
There are not a lot of possibilities to travel Uganda. There are a few long distance busses, but they only stop at major cities along the main roads and apparently the drivers are quite reckless. There is also no other public transport such as trains etc. and using the minivan taxis is not an option (slow, tiny and only serve certain routes).
So you are left with the choice of renting a car and driving yourself or getting a driver. The second option is probably more comfortable but also way more expensive.
We didn’t have any plans before arriving in Uganda and after a few talks with our hosts we decided to rent a car and drive on our own. When you are confident driving in a different country with sometimes very difficult roads, this is the best option and we highly recommend it for anyone up for an adventure!
We got a Toyota RAV 4 from 4x4 Uganda for 45 USD/day including 24-hour road assistance, free delivery to your accommodation and insurance. If possible take an automatic one: You will be busy maneuvering the car and don’t have time to think about gear changes.
On day two our car broke down as the fans for the radiator stopped working and the engine overheated. We had to stop somewhere in the mountains near Bwindi. Luckily there were some locals who started helping us without any questions asked. They provided us with new water for the cooler and figured out the issue with the fans in a matter of minutes (they even offered to get a mechanic from their village). We contacted 4x4 Uganda and they sent us a mechanic from the nearest town. In total it took about 4 hours until everything was fixed (including getting new parts for the fans). The locals were super helpful, nice and interested and we had a fun time chatting with them. From there on it was pretty much smooth sailing besides a few smaller problems (nothing dramatic, if you consider the car had over 230.000km).
Lake Mburo Nationalpark
The Lake Mburo Nationalpark is the only one in Uganda where you can see zebras. It is also one of the smaller parks, that’s why there are no elephants. But besides that you have giraffes, buffalos, hippos, leopards, birds and a lot more.
We stayed the night at the Mburo Eagle’s Nest in one of their tents. You have an amazing view over the park and the lake. From there it’s only a 5 minute drive to the park entrance, where you start your game drive.
Lake Bunyonyi
All the way in the south-west, near Rwanda and Congo, there is Lake Bunyonyi. With an elevation of over 2000m it gets quite cold in the night, so you better have some warm clothes with you. I made the mistake to only bring one pair of long pants, because I thought africa (especially at the equator) is warm all the time. We slept in a tent at the Crater Bay Cottages, located directly at the lake.
You are allowed to swim here and it definitly is something you should do. Get up early and enjoy the sunrise while having a nice and refreshing swim in of the deepest lakes of africa (at least the locals say so).
Unfortunatly we didn’t have a lot of time here, but you can do hikes, boat tours, bird watching and canoeing.
IMPORTANT TIPS
Mobile data: I used an E-SIM from holafly but its probably a bit cheaper to get a local SIM card where you also have an Uganda phone number in case you have to call someone.
Get a car with 4WD.
Always have water for emergencies (drinking water and cooling water for the car).
Have a canister with some extra liters of petrol/diesel in the car if possible.
Even though there is a really high density of gas stations it’s advisable to always have a full tank. Especially when you go to the bigger nationalparks (there are only a few gas stations with much higher prices).
OFFSEASON: If you are okay with some rain you should definitly go in the off season. Prices for accommodations, car rental, etc. are a lot cheaper. You are also one of the very few tourists and most parks and accommodations are super empty.
Flashlight/headlamp: A lot of places have little or no electricity at night.
Get enough cash. We had about 900€ per person changed to Uganda Schilling and used all of it. There are only a few places that accept credit card.
Always have small change. For things like Bodabodas, taxis, food or drinks you will most likely need small amounts of money and the people don’t always have change.
Always take a guide/ranger on the game drives in nationalparks. They know which “roads” are good to drive and most important, they know where the animals are and have a lot of interesting knowledge.
If you plan to do a game drive early in the morning (which we recommend), you better contact a guide/ranger the day before and make up a meeting point and time.
Powerbanks: Always charge them if possible and have more than one with you. Some places don’t have electricity at all and Google Maps for navigation needs a lot of power while driving.
Drive slow! Only the main roads are paved and these are also clustered with potholes and speedbumps. Every other track/path is often quite difficult to drive.
Queen Elizabeth Nationalpark
The Queen Elizabeth Nationalpark is a lot bigger than Mburo and is located at Lake Edward. We stayed at the Enshama Game Lodge & Campsite and can highly recommend this lodge! The rooms are big and clean and the food was exceptional. The staff was incredible friendly and helped us whenever there was a question.
From there it’s a 15min drive to the park entrance. You will see elephants, giraffes, bufallos, hippos and lions if you are lucky. All this with the stunning Rwenzori Mountains in the distance.
We didn’t do a boat safari here, as we wanted to do it at Murchison Falls Nationalpark.
CHIMPAZEE TRACKING AT KALINZU FOREST
Chimp tracking at Kalinzu forest is probably one of the cheaper options if you want to do this. It cost us ca. 50$ per person and we hiked through the dense jungle not only finding chimps, but also other monkeys.
It was incredible humid and I have never sweated so bad in my life! So you better pack enough water.
Lake Nkuruba
The crater lakes near Fort Portal are a great spot for one or two rest days. We chose the Lake Nkuruba Nature Reserve & Community Campsite for our stay. It’s located at one of the crater lakes where you can go hiking or bird watching. Besides the monkeys it is very calm and has great views over the lake, but also the mountains.
Murchison Falls Nationalpark
After a day off at Lake Nkuruba we arrive at one of our last stops on this trip: the Murchison Falls Nationalpark. As the park is very big, most accommodations are located inside the park. This means, you have the pay the entrance fee for every 24 hours you are inside. The longer you stay, the more expensive it gets. We stayed at the Red Chilli Rest Camp. It’s a lovely camp with a great view and very good food. In the evening you sit together with all the other guests and you quickly strike up a conversation.
The Murchison Falls themselves are about 30min away by car. You will have to pay an extra fee to get there and we recommend paying for the hike aswell. You get impressive views of the waterfalls from different viewing points. We did the boat tour to the falls on the next day, but the hike gets you a way better view and much closer! Nonetheless the boat trip was amazing to see a lot of different animals near or in the water of the river Nile. So it’s worth doing both.
For a game drive you better get up very early to see an incredible sunrise over the savannah. We saw pretty much every animal you could think of and had an amazing morning.
As mentioned earlier it’s advisable to have enough gas. We nearly ran out of fuel as the gas stations were quite far away and we underestimated the size of the park and the distances you have to drive!
We stayed a total of two days which was perfect for all the activities we did, but it got quite expensive due to the entrance fees for two days, the waterfalls , the game drive and the boat tour. But it’s absolutely worth it!
Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary
Our last stop before returning to Entebbe was the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary. It offers not only rhino tracking, but also accommodations and a restaurant to stay a night or two.
The sanctuary is an enclosed sanctuary to protect the rhinos from poaching. But the area is very large and it feels like being in the wilderness.
To see the rhinos up close was one of the most impressive experiences on this trip. You walk through the forest and stand only a few meters next to this giant creatures. I can definitly recommend coming here, but it’s enough to only stay for one night.
COSTS
600€ - flight (Stuttgart to Entebbe) (per person)
420€ - rental car (for 2 people)
325€ - petrol (for 2 people)
820€ - accommodations (for 2 people)
736€ - nationalparks/rangers/guides/boat tour/chimp and rhino tracking (for 2 people)
179€ - food and drinks that were not included (for 2 people)
>>> ca. 1840€ (1960$) per person for two weeks