UGA: Kampala Downtown

Kampala, Uganda

Kampala is the capital city of Uganda, which is reachable in an hour by car on average from Entebbe International Airport. Being the largest city in the country, it's divided into five boroughs. A news article in 2016 stated that Kampala was ranked the best East African city to live in, though I'm not sure if it's still the case now.

My BFF and I didn't have much time to explore the city, but we did walk around as far as we could with Hotel Ruch Kampala as our starting point.

There are quite a number of casinos in central Kampala.

Independence Monument at Speke Road was our first destination. Standing at 6 m, it features a man unwrapping and raising a child to touch the sky, symbolising freedom from colonialism. 9 October 1962 was the momentous day when Uganda gained independence from the UK.

Nakasero Market is a bustling market located at the foot of a hill with the same name. Besides perishable goods, you can find cheap shoes, textiles and electronics.

I recall seeing lots of fresh-looking fruits and vegetables there.

A sight not to be missed in Kampala is its Old Taxi Park where hundreds of shared taxis are, well, parked.

Besides those four-wheeled taxis, another ubiquitous mode of public transport is boda boda (lit. motorcycle taxi). There's a mobile app called SafeBoda that allows you to book for one with simple clicks on your smartphone.

We decided to walk all the way to Kampala Hill.

A few locals greeted us with smiles pencilled on their faces.

Located at Kampala Hill is Uganda National Mosque. Construction of the largest mosque in the country began in 1972 and then halted in 1976 until Muammar Gaddafi, the late Libyan revolutionary and leader, intervened and ensured its completion in 2006.

There are some jackfruit trees outside the mosque.

We also dropped by St.Matia Mulumba Catholic Church. There was a mass going on at that time, so we observed a little bit of the solemnity of the proceeding from outside.

As our stomachs started to grumble, we made our way back to the central business district to have dinner.

I saw very few people riding on bicycles, but lots of motorcyclists.

On the following day, we dropped by The Acacia Mall.

From there, we walked down a peaceful, yet pretty dark stretch of road to go back to the hotel.

It's not hard to find Chinese restaurants in Kampala. Unsurprisingly, there's one at Fang Fang Hotel.

Below are the few restaurants we tried in town:

- St. Anthony's Restaurant (African)

- The Lawns Wild Game and Barbecue Restaurant (African and French)

- Café Javas (African and Indian) 

- Endiro Coffee (African and Western)