Kampala is the capital of Uganda — a city of 3.7 million people spread across seven hills above the northern shore of Lake Victoria (the largest lake in Africa by surface area, the world's largest tropical lake, and the primary source of the River Nile). Kampala was founded in 1890 on Mengo Hill (the hill of the Kabaka (King) of Buganda, the most powerful kingdom in the Great Lakes region) as a British colonial garrison and administrative post, taking its name from the impala antelope that grazed on the hills before colonisation. The Buganda Kingdom (founded approximately 1300 CE, the most sophisticated pre-colonial state in East Africa) had its royal court (the Kabaka's Palace) on Mengo Hill — the same site where the colonial fort was built. The city's defining cultural landmark is the Kasubi Tombs (Tombs of the Buganda Kings — UNESCO World Heritage Site 2001; the royal burial ground on Kasubi Hill, where four Kabakas are buried in a monumental thatched structure (a Buganda architectural tradition using elephant grass, bark cloth, and woven reed)); the Tombs were partially destroyed by fire in 2010 and are being reconstructed. The Namugongo Martyrs Shrine (the site where 45 Christians (22 Catholic, 23 Anglican) were burned alive in 1886 on the orders of Kabaka Mwanga II; visited annually by 2 million+ pilgrims on June 3) is the most visited Catholic pilgrimage site in Africa south of the Sahara. Best months: June–August and December–February (the dry seasons).
Kasubi Tombs (Obutebe bwa Basekabaka be Buganda — Kasubi Hill, Kasubi division; UNESCO World Heritage Site 2001 as 'Tombs of the Buganda Kings at Kasubi'; the royal burial ground of the Buganda Kingdom, containing the tombs of four Kabakas (Kings): Mutesa I (1856–1884), Mwanga II (1884–1897, the same Mwanga who ordered the burning of the Uganda Martyrs), Daudi Chwa II (1897–1939), and Edward Mutesa II (1939–1966, exiled by Milton Obote in 1966)). The main structure (the Muzibu Azaala Mpanga) was the largest thatched building in the world: a circular thatched palace 50m in diameter (built without nails or metal fittings, using elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum), bark cloth (made from the beaten bark of the Mutuba tree (Ficus natalensis) — the traditional cloth of the Buganda Kingdom), and plaited palm ribs) — it was partially destroyed by fire in March 2010 and reconstruction is ongoing). Entry UGX 20,000 (~€4.90).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideUganda National Museum (Kira Road, Kamwokya; established 1908 by the British colonial administration, the oldest museum in East Africa; the collection has four main sections: (1) the Ethnographic collection (the most comprehensive collection of Ugandan traditional material culture: bark cloth making equipment, Buganda royal regalia, Acholi hunting and warfare equipment, and musical instruments from Uganda's 56 officially recognised ethnic groups (Uganda has one of the highest linguistic diversities per capita of any country on earth)); (2) the Natural History collection (Uganda birds — Uganda has 1,067 bird species, the second-highest bird diversity of any African country per km², with 24 species found nowhere else in the world); (3) the Archaeology collection (Stone Age and Iron Age sites from the Great Lakes region); (4) the Science and Technology wing (the Buganda Kingdom's metalworking and textile traditions, the most developed in the Great Lakes region before European contact). Entry UGX 20,000.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideOwino Market (Owen's Market — St Balikuddembe Market, Nakivubo Channel; named after a Kampala businessman Owen Mukasa and locally known by his Luganda name Balikuddembe ('patience pays')); the largest market in East Africa by trade volume: 60,000+ traders operating in a dense, multi-storey market complex selling everything from second-hand European clothing (the mitumba trade — hundreds of thousands of tonnes of donated Western clothing arrive annually in East Africa; Uganda is one of the largest importers of used clothing on the continent, to the distress of local textile manufacturers) to fresh produce, electronic spare parts, traditional medicine (the herbalists' section of Owino is the largest concentration of traditional healing plants in Uganda), and live chickens. Navigating Owino requires either a guide or adventurousness — it is completely overwhelming and magnificent.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideAcacia Avenue (Kololo Hill — the upscale restaurant and bar district of central Kampala, on the highest hill in the city (the Kololo area, 1,312m above sea level); the strip of restaurants along Acacia Avenue and Bukoto Street is the social centre for Kampala's international community and young professional class. Sunset drinks from a Kololo rooftop: on clear evenings the Kampala hills and the glimmer of Lake Victoria to the south are visible; the equatorial light (Kampala is 19km north of the equator) creates a fast, dramatic sunset (the sun drops at a steep angle and the sky transitions from gold to red in 20–30 minutes). Rolex (a Ugandan street food — not the watch: an omelette rolled inside a chapati (the Ugandan chapati, different from the Indian original — thicker, flakier, very slightly sweet), with tomato, cabbage, and onion; UGX 2,000–3,000 (€0.50) from any street vendor).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideMatoke (matooke — the definitive Ugandan staple: green cooking bananas (a specific plantain variety not eaten raw; the species Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana hybrids grown in the banana gardens of the Buganda Kingdom) steamed in banana leaves until soft, mashed or served whole; the main carbohydrate of the Buganda table, accompanied by: groundnut stew (peanut sauce — ground roasted peanuts cooked in water with tomato, onion, and palm oil; the most widely eaten sauce in Uganda), smoked catfish (Nile perch (Lates niloticus — the largest freshwater fish in Africa, introduced to Lake Victoria in the 1950s and now the dominant species; controversially, as its introduction caused the extinction of 200+ endemic cichlid species)), or goat stew. Restaurant recommendation: Fang Fang (Kampala Road — a long-established Chinese-Ugandan restaurant that also serves East African food; or the more authentic Ange Noir (Naguru — a Ugandan restaurant popular with the middle class, matoke and sauce UGX 15,000–25,000).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideNamugongo Martyrs Shrine (12km northeast of Kampala centre; the site where Kabaka Mwanga II of Buganda ordered the execution of 45 young men (22 Catholic, 23 Anglican) in 1886 — men who refused to renounce their Christian faith and (in the case of the pages) to submit to the sexual demands of the Kabaka; they were burned alive over the course of a week (the most steadfast, Saint Charles Lwanga, led the Catholic group; he was canonised by Pope Paul VI in 1964)); the shrine has two separate sections: the Catholic Shrine (a circular modernist church completed 1975 in the design of the architect Brian Enright (modelled on the Namirembe round church tradition), on the site of the burning; the 22 Catholic martyrs were canonised as 'The Uganda Martyrs'; the Anglican Shrine (300m away, a separate memorial and museum for the 23 Anglican martyrs). June 3 (the feast day of the Uganda Martyrs) draws 2–3 million pilgrims from across Africa — the largest annual pilgrimage gathering in sub-Saharan Africa. Entry free.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideBahá'í House of Worship, Kampala (Kikaya Hill, 5km north of central Kampala; one of only eight Bahá'í Houses of Worship (temples) in the world — each continent has one (the others are: Wilmette (North America), Sydney (Australasia), Frankfurt (Europe), Panama City (Latin America), New Delhi (Asia — the Lotus Temple), Santiago (South America), and Battambang, Cambodia (under construction)); the Kampala temple was the first in Africa (consecrated 1961, designed by the British architect Charles Mason Remey in a nine-sided domed form (nine is a sacred number in the Bahá'í Faith, being the highest single digit and representing completion)); notable for being built on a hill with a 360° view of Kampala's seven hills and (on clear days) of Lake Victoria; the temple is open to visitors of all faiths (or no faith) for prayer and meditation. Free.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideNdere Cultural Centre (Kisasi Road, Ntinda; a cultural performance centre founded by ethnomusicologist Stephen Rwangyezi in 1986; the most important centre for traditional performing arts in Uganda — the Ndere Troupe performs traditional dances and music from Uganda's 56 ethnic groups (Wednesday 18:30–20:00 and Sunday 17:30–19:30 — book in advance; UGX 30,000–50,000)): the Kiganda music tradition (the amadinda xylophone (a 12-key wooden xylophone played by three musicians simultaneously, with a unique interlocking technique where each player's melody is incomplete without the others), the endingidi (a single-string spike fiddle)), the Acholi bwola (a formal court dance in concentric circles), and the Ankole empaako name-giving ceremony). The centre is also a restaurant and cultural meeting place even outside performance times.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideNyama choma (nyama = meat, choma = grilled; East African BBQ tradition — whole goat, whole chicken, or beef ribs roasted over charcoal, served by weight (per kilogram, chopped with a cleaver at the table) with ugali (stiff maize porridge), kachumbari (tomato-onion-coriander salad with lime juice), and a cold Nile Special (the national beer of Uganda, brewed in Kampala by Nile Breweries since 1951; a lager of 5.6% ABV with a slightly sweeter profile than European lagers; the beer takes its name from the Nile River that begins at nearby Jinja)). The Bukoto bar strip (the informal nyama choma restaurants along Bukoto Street, open until midnight): a roast chicken (entire, charcoal-grilled) and two Nile Specials: UGX 30,000–50,000 (€7.35–12) for two people; the most typical Kampala social evening.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideJinja (80km east of Kampala; 1.5 hours by coach (Post Bus or Kalita Coach from the Kampala New Taxi Park, UGX 10,000–15,000 (€2.45–3.70))); Jinja is the town at the point where the Nile begins: Lake Victoria, the 69,484 km² lake, drains northward through the only outflow, now dammed by the Owen Falls Dam (Nalubaale Power Station, 1954); the point where the Nile begins to flow was first precisely located by British explorer John Hanning Speke in 1862 (he called it 'the true and certain source of the White Nile'; the geographical source is now defined as the most distant point from the Mediterranean from which water reaches the Nile, which is actually the Kagera River in Rwanda — but the Lake Victoria outflow is the 'head' of the main Nile stream). The 'Source of the Nile' monument is in a small park beside the dam; boat trips on the stretch of water between the outflow and the falls: UGX 30,000–50,000 (~€7.35–12).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideBujagali Falls (formerly — the falls were submerged by the Bujagali Dam in 2012 but the stretch of the Nile between Jinja and Bujagali still has Grade 3–5 rapids that are the most famous white-water rafting destination in Africa). Rafting operators (Nile River Explorers, Adrift — the two main operators; day trips including 21km of rapids (Grade 3: 'The Superhole', 'Itanda' Grade 5 (the most difficult commercially rafted rapid in Africa); the price USD 95–125/person for a full day including lunch and safety equipment)). Alternative: kayaking, boda-boda (motorcycle taxi) tours of the Jinja riverbank villages, and the Jinja market (a traditional Ugandan market with fresh Lake Victoria fish (tilapia, Nile perch), matoke, and crafts from the Busoga Kingdom area).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideJinja Main Street (the colonial-era commercial centre of Jinja, built largely 1900–1940 under British administration): the most intact colonial town-centre streetscape in Uganda (Kampala's was largely demolished after independence, but Jinja's smaller scale preserved more of the original buildings); notable: the Jinja Hindu Temple (built by the Indian merchant community (the Ismaili Muslims and Hindu Gujarati traders who dominated East African commerce from the 1890s until 1972, when President Idi Amin expelled all 70,000 Ugandan Asians in 90 days)), the Jinja Sailing Club (1925, the oldest yacht club on Lake Victoria), and the Lake Victoria waterfront (boat hire for lake exploration, UGX 50,000–80,000/hour).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideReturn coach to Kampala (1.5 hrs, UGX 10,000–15,000). Late evening in Kampala: the Kampala nightlife is one of the most vibrant in East Africa; the area around Natete Road and the Wandegeya district has bars and clubs open until 03:00–04:00 (the social hours in Kampala are late — dinner at 21:00, bars from 22:00, clubs from midnight). Ugandan waragi (a gin-like spirit distilled from bananas or cassava, 45% ABV; the most common spirit in Ugandan bars; mixed with tonic and lime it is indistinguishable from European gin and tonic at a fraction of the price, UGX 4,000–6,000 (~€1–1.50)/measure). Alternative for early risers: the Kampala night market at Nakasero (open until 22:00, fresh fruit including passion fruit (the Uganda passion fruit (Passiflora edulis) from the highlands is considered the finest in the world), pineapples from Mubende, and the Jinja-grown tilapia grilled over charcoal).
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