A day in Kampala

Our adventure with Acacia came quickly to an end and we were dropped off on the side of the road in the outskirts of Kampala City. Without any accommodation booked, we were pretty flexible and we decided to join the Belgian-Dutch couple we had befriended on the tour. The 4 of us jumped in the taxi our tour guide had organized for us and we headed to Kampala center, where we would celebrate Christmas Eve together. Every xmas away feels weird, especially when it is hot and sunny and it is hard to get into the Christmas mood. A few “Feliz navidad” and “jingle bells” later, we were ready to have a nice dinner and celebrate xmas with some French food (as you do). The next day, our new friends were driving to Entebbe to fly out and we took a few hours to celebrate our anniversary (5 years, hoorah!) and discover the city.

About Kampala City:

• Located on the northern shore of lake Victoria, it is the capital city (it replaced Entebbe that was previously the capital city under the British protectorate)
• It has 1.7 million inhabitants who speak English and Swahili (official languages) and many (many) dialects

Interesting facts about Kampala City:

• It is among the top 15 fastest growing city in the world
• It is known as the city of hills
• Most of the businesses are owned / run by Indian immigrants
• Kampala city was severely damaged during the overthrow of Idi Amín
• It is extremely dirty unfortunately

If you only have 24 hours in Kampala City, have fun:

• Staying at Fat Cat Backpacker hostel – clean, well located, friendly staff and affordable. What else do you need?
• Having a beer on your hostel’s rooftop, relaxing and planing your next adventure
• Trying some fried Grasshoppers – it is supposed to be a délicatesse
• Jumping on a boda boda and visit the Kasubi Tumbs – ladies, cover your legs and pretend not to be offended when you are refused the entrance of empty rooms because you are a woman and you could tempt some invisible celibates
• Walking back to your hostel from the tumbs- this 6-km walk takes you through different neighborhoods and allows you to discover another side of Kampala
• Having some amazing Indian food- because why not?

We could have visited the Kadhafi mosque, the Mengo palace and the Buganda parliament as well but we preferred taking it easy before heading north to Kidepo.

Next stop: Kidepo Valley National Park

Happy trails and remember: Carpe Diem!