Author: Carlos Costa
Overview
I went to Uganda in August of 23, we went for 2 weeks with Laura, and had a great time self driving around the country, below is a list of resources we used to plan our trip, as well as some areas we visited, I hope it helps :)
Uganda is an incredible country and one of my favorite African nations. It’s very diverse, lush and feels very adventurous and safe. My personal highlights were driving around the rural areas of the country and meeting it’s people and thousands of smiling kids (the average age of Uganda is 16), seeing the Gorillas in Biwindi, and the Rwenzori Mountains. If you are looking for the best game parks or best safaris, Uganda is not the place to go, there is a lot more wildlife in Tanzania, Kenya, Botswana etc. The game parks are small and don’t have a lot of game, but the country is incredible anyways.
I’d recommend you get a car and drive yourself but you need at least 12 days to make it enjoyable, if you go for less than 12 days, maybe get a driver as distances will be long, or fly between the different spots, or just stay around the south west of the country.
Resources:
Google Maps Google Maps → My own Pinned Google Maps Locations. Most of the places I liked I pinned on Google Maps, so use google maps as a guide :)
- 🔗 Uganda Overland - Roadtrip Africa → READ THIS!!, It’s the best most comprehensive guide for self drive safaris, it’s full of itineraries and recomendations. I used their guide to design and plan my own trip and we rented our car from them, I highly recommend them.
- Uganda Overland - Film I made of our trip
Get around
The best way to get around is by private transport either self drive or with a guide. We self drove and it’s easy to do it yourself, but I do recommend to take a 4x4, even though most roads are very easy and in good condition, if you go to game parks, or some mountain areas you will need a 4x4.
Routes
We did a circular route, around the south-west of the country (it’s the most common route) → Se the rough route here 2 weeks in Uganda | This is Uganda’s Finest.
One thing I wish I had time to do but didn’t was to go see Kidepo Valley, apparently it’s the wildest and best game park in the country, but it was too far for the time we had.
Areas:
My favorite areas are marked with a 💙
- Lake Mburo - Game Park, it has mainly zebras, giraffes, but no big game, you can do horseback safari. Pretty, but not amazing in terms of game. Good to stop if you are driving from Kampala towards Bwindi or Queen Elisabeth National park.
- 💙 Bwindi National Park - Must do in Uganda, go see the Gorillas, it’s well worth it. Make sure you book in advance.
- Queen Elisabeth National Park - Game park,
- 💙 Rwenzori Moutiains - Incredible mountains for hikking, we did a full day’s hike, but if you have more time I’d recommend to do more, it is probably one of the prettiest high alpine mountain ranges in Africa (google it)
- 💙 Lake Bunyonyi - Beautiful, peaceful lake, it’s worth to spend a night in one of the islands, we stayed at Lake Bunyonyi Eco Resort and loved it. Other option, depending where you see the gorillas is to go to Lake Mutanda, apparently it’s great too (but we didn’t go)
- 💙 Kumeyna School, Kelele Africa -
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Kelele Africa - Spanish NGO, that’s setup a local school and a lodge, highly recommend a visit. The area is incredible. - Kibale National Park - We didn’t go, but it’s where you can see the chimpanzees, we thought that by seeing the Gorillas was enough, as it’s not cheap.
- Lake Albert National Park - We camped at Kikongo Lodge overlooking the lake, its very beautiful, its a good place to stop in the route between Queen Elisabeth and Murchison Falls National Park
- 💙 Murchison Falls - Nice Game Park for self drive. It’s worth to go see the falls on the boat, and if you can ge the boat to drop you off at the bottom of the falls and hike to the top. If not, drive to the top as it’s worth to see them from the top.
- 💙 Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary - Worth a visit to get up close and learn about Rhinos, it’s very well preserved, if you can camp at the sanctuary as the rhinos will come right up to your tent at night.
- Jinja - We went white water rafting in the Nile, its worth it if you have time, as it’s only a couple of hours drive from Kampala
- Kampala - We drove past it, but I personally don’t think it’s worth to go, its caotic. The only place I’d recommend going would be to go to Wakaliwood, the Hollywood of Uganda… You can go see their set of their home-made viral African movies. YouTube - Ramon film Productions and you will laugh 😂Â
- Kidepo National Park - Apparently it’s the best game park in the country, unfortunately we did not have time to go.
- There are other areas in the north East that has great hiking, and incredible tribes, we didn’t go because of time, but if you have time and want a more off the beaten path experience it’s the place to go.
Other Recommendations
- Download Maps.Me, it works really well in Uganda, for offline capabilities. If you want to download the pins I have saved from maps.me feel free to download them here