Uganda Tours
Uganda’s response to its difficult past was to draw on its remarkable variety of alternative tourism attractions. While big game populations recovered, a new menu of activities was developed. Today, Uganda Tours include tracking the endangered mountain gorilla in the forests of Bwindi and Mgahinga – the equally rare golden monkey can also be reliably found in the latter – and chimpanzee in the forests of Kibaale, Kaniyo Pabidi and Queen Elizabeth National Park. The potential for adventure has been utilised to the full. Trekkers climb to the giant caldera of Mount Elgon and the glacial peaks of Mount Ruwenzori, the legendary snowy source of the Nile, while at the more conventional source of the Nile, rafters and kayakers negotiate Africa’s finest stretch of white water rapids below the river’s exit from Lake Victoria (supplementary adrenalin activities here include jet boats, quad biking, mountain biking, horse riding and even bungee jumping). Birdwatchers seek the talismanic shoebill in wetlands and roam forests ticking off Albertine Rift endemics and Congo-Guinea biome species at the eastern limit of their ranges. Prime birding destinations include Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and The ‘Royal Mile’ near Murchison Falls National Park, ranked number one and nine respectively by Travel African Magazine in its list of the top 10 bird watching sites in Africa. Other major birding sites include Queen Elizabeth National Park, home to 604 bird species, and Semliki Forest, on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, which contains 46 Central African birds found nowhere else in East Africa. Cultural tourism sites and events celebrate the diversity of some 40 ethnic groups and the rich history of the traditional kingdoms. And if the excitement gets too much, travelers can rest and recuperate at one of the comfortable retreats on the shore of Lake Bunyonyi, beside the white beaches of the Ssese Islands, or overlooking the crater lakes of Fort Portal. Indeed, the standard of accommodation has improved nationwide. Older, historical hotels have been refurbished and new ones constructed. The 2007 Commonwealth Summit in Kampala was preceded by a dramatic increase in quality hotels in the capital, while luxury lodges and tented camps serve all the major protected areas.
