Uganda,
2 weeks

This market attracts 160.000 vendors en customers daily, from countries as far as Sudan and the Congo! You can buy second hand clothes, computers, home ware, traditional medicine, you name it. Oqino is divided into sections, but still it’s very chaotic. I found it overwhelming, the market is packed to the roof with people, they are poor and you had to take care of your safety. I ended up at a very local ‘medical center’ after bumping into a pan of boiling soup giving way to a few passing locals ;)

Tip!

Go the the second floor of one the ‘office buildings’ at Kafumbe Mukasa Road to get a great overview.

The landscape south of Fort Portal is dotted with picturesque crater lakes, some over 400m deep. These crater lakes are breathtakingly beautiful to behold, and offer one of the best hiking places in the area. The landscape is stunning. I hiked past numerous lakes, big and small and really enjoyed the pastoral, green and lush scenery. It’s easy to do by yourself, you do not need a tour or guide just use Maps.me or Google Maps.

Tip!

Visit a few of the luxurious lodges for the best views.

This will stay with you forever. My group, a silverback, two female and two babies, was soooo close. One lay on my feet and even grabbed my hand! It was magical. Their behavior and facial expressions are so similar to ours, you’ll never believe it until you see it for yourself! It is expensive to go and see them, but it’s a once in a lifetime. Really worth it.

Tip!

Make sure you’re in good shape as you will be tracking the gorillas in the dense forest for a few hours, and when you find them (99% chance) they can move around a lot so you’re following them all the time!

There’s two reasons to visit this park. First, to see the Nile sqeeze through an 8 meter wide gorge and plunge 43 meter down. I was quite disappointed, because the boat that brings you to the bottom the falls comes to a stop hundreds of meters before. So no thundrous sound or mist and not worth 25 USD imho. The other one, is the abundant wildlife. And that will make you happier, you’ll see hippos, crocodiles, elephants, hartebeests, oribi, giraffes and lions!

Tip!

If you feel adventurous: take a bus up to Pakwach and hire a boda-boda (motortaxi) for the last 30 km, 15.000 shilling, 2018)

A gift from Gaddafi, this mosque. The mosque is super huge, it’s the second largest mosque in Africa! It can accomodate 15,000 worshipers under its copper-plated domes and has a central location in the city. The large prayer room is not very special, but the 360 degrees view from the minaret is breathtaking. A tour takes an hour and costs about 15.000 shilling (2018).

Tip!

Visit the next door curio market for a good selection of souvenirs and gifts.

Little visited Lake Mburo National Park is the smallest of Uganda’s national parks, but none the less it is home to a wide range of animals: zebras, hippos, impalas, oribi, giraffes, warthogs, elands, buffaloes, jackals and leopards. With over 13 lakes in the area, this lake also forms part of the 50km long wetland system that is linked by the swamp. Lovely Katya of Leopard Rest Camp showed me all the park has to offer, and more. We found a python digesting a bushbuck, check out the picture! And at night, I had the chance to spot a leopard!! What a great day at the park 😍