A little more
Uganda.
A lot less roaming.

Travelling to Uganda: what to know before you go

Uganda is a green, lake-filled country astride the Equator, where you can trek to see mountain gorillas and chimpanzees, watch the Nile thunder through a narrow gorge and look for tree-climbing lions on the savannah. It suits wildlife travellers and adventurers who prefer forests, rivers and mountains to the classic plains safari.

Where to go

• Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. A steep, ancient rainforest in the south-west that is home to roughly half of the world's mountain gorillas.
• Murchison Falls National Park. Here the Nile forces its way through a gap only a few metres wide before tumbling into a pool below.
• Queen Elizabeth National Park. Savannah, crater lakes and the Kazinga Channel, where boat trips get close to large numbers of hippos, buffalo and birds.
• Kibale National Park. A tropical forest with one of the highest densities of primates in Africa, including chimpanzees, which you can track with rangers, and red colobus and L'Hoest's monkeys.

Best time to visit

Uganda can be visited all year, but the drier seasons, from roughly December to February and June to August, are best for gorilla and chimpanzee trekking, when forest trails are less muddy. Game viewing in the savannah parks is also easier in the dry months.

Staying online in Uganda

Mobile coverage is good in Kampala, Entebbe, Jinja and other towns, with 4G widely available. Coverage in national parks is mixed: lodges near park gates often have signal, but deep in the forests of Bwindi and Kibale and in remote Kidepo there may be none. Wi-Fi is offered by many lodges, though often slow. Download offline maps for long road journeys. Install an eSIM before you fly and switch it on when you land at Entebbe.