Friday, 29th March 2024
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ZeeGoes to Uganda

On June 30th, I jumped on a Kenya Airways flight from Lagos to Entebbe to embark on this adventure. From Entebbe, I hired a driver and SUV for the bumpy ride through the East of Uganda; my first stop was Mbale.

For coffee lovers, make sure to grab a cup here if travelling through Mbale and if you the time to spare, ask Saleh for a tour of a local plantation.

What do you picture when you think of Uganda? A safari of animals roving through the streets or its torturous political, human rights history? When I received a wedding invitation to Uganda, I had zero ideas of what Uganda was about, so I decided to kill two birds with one stone; explore Uganda and make time for my friend’s wedding in the beautiful Lake Serena Resort in Kigo. Besides the safari tourism of Uganda, there was not enough online information on what to do for cultural and adventure seekers.

From my inquiries made on Ugandan Facebook groups, Uganda’s Tourism board, and HRG’s TrekBuyFly, I decided to focus on the Eastern bit of Uganda.

On June 30th, I jumped on a Kenya Airways flight from Lagos to Entebbe to embark on this adventure. From Entebbe, I hired a driver and SUV for the bumpy ride through the East of Uganda; my first stop was Mbale. After the six hours long drive, the first thing I did in Mbale was to grab a bowl of Pasted beef with sides of rice, mashed plantain (matooke), corn meal (posho), with steamed spinach. The food was not overly peppery, instead, the magic was in the coal-smoked tender beef cooked in groundnut paste that left me hankering for more. From here, I checked into Casa del Turista where I met the owner, Saleh, and was served the best cup of coffee I have ever sipped on.

For coffee lovers, make sure to grab a cup here if travelling through Mbale and if you the time to spare, ask Saleh for a tour of a local plantation. Also, if you find yourself in Mbale, definitely give the nightlife a chance by checking out Sukari for their skewered tender goat meat with a bottle of Uganda’s Nile Special beer. Oddly enough, Sukari also offered the best dance music scene throughout my stay in Uganda, including my time in Kampala. A must experience dish in Mbale is a bowl of Malewa (bamboo shoots in tasty groundnut sauce) with rice; magic.

From Mbale, I went on a day trip north east of Uganda to Pian Upe to get a taste of my first game reserve. Note to self, never go to a game reserve on a very hot day. Most of the animals were cooling in hidden alcoves far from the road path, but I did see a flock of Ostriches and unidentifiable cow looking animals running from our approaching vehicle. For those that want to check out the animal life in Pian Upe, visit at dawn to catch the animals in their more active state.

Then we drove south west to Jinja, a town where the Nile begins and the best place to indulge in thrill seeking activities. I was overwhelmed with choices of amazing adventures to indulge in, so I started off my time in Jinja relaxing at the WildWaters lodge with the rushing waters of Nile as my companion while sipping on a very chilled bottle of Nile Special. After a relaxing day on the Nile, I headed into town to go on a quad bike safari tour with All Adrift Adventures. Getting to ride through pockets of villages with the view of the Nile on my side and experiencing a different side of Jinja was a blessing. I wish I had more time to experience their twilight safari ride topped with a local dinner buffet with some of the families in the area. Next time maybe?

My next day in Jinja was simply amazing. I bungeed 144ft over the Nile and spent up to six hours white water rafting through the Nile thanks to a booking on TrekBuyFly. The experience of that was so amazing that I made sure that some of my friends in Kigo experienced the same thing. We rafted through eight rapids that mostly varied from grade 3 to 5 and I can still feel the rush of water sweeping me away when our boat flipped over three times. In a moment of insanity, I decided to take my Samsung S8 phone with me to capture the moments, because really, how can I brag about something if there is no picture to capture those moments? You should have seen me trying to survive the boat flips while making sure my phone had not gone missing in action.

I will conclude on my adventures in Uganda in my next article. So long!

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