UGANDA: LAST DAY IN KAMPALA

 July 26, 2025

Our last day in Uganda was spent on a walking tour in Kampala, the capital city. Let me say up front that it was very hot, that we walked and walked and walked until we were completely worn out, and that our guide was not the best at listening to us and/or discerning our needs. In fact, he ranks among our Top Ten Worst Guides.

That said, we still had a very interesting (in spite of being exhausting) experience in the city that rounded out our other experiences in the rural areas of the country.

Just walking to our first destination was educational. This shop, for example sells fresh flowers packaged to be placed on graves during funerals. I've never seen arrangements quite like these before! 

 

Our first stop was a craft market, and unfortunately I did not take any pictures, but Ella and I both bought several items--woven bracelets, a cloth bag, etc.

Just outside the market there were several artists selling their work. Much of it was too dramatic for me, but then, Uganda is a dramatic country!

I looked for Frida, but I couldn't find her. Uganda is one of the few countries we've traveled in where I didn't see her.

I kinda love this one and wish I'd bought it.

Our first stop was the World War Memorial Monument located in Constitution Square. It was built by the British colonial government in 1945 and commemorates Ugandan soldiers who died fighting for the British. The front honors the soldiers of World War II . . .

. . . and the back honors the soldiers in World War I:

Signage on site points out that this monument is printed on the back of the 5,000 shilling note. (5,000 shilllings = $1.39 USD)

Far more compelling is this monument to Uganda's Independence from Great Britain, achieved in 1962.

It was fun to window shop in Kampala. 

Although I did find it a little odd that the mannequins were all fair-skinned.

Our next stop was the Nakasero Market. First started in 1895, it is the oldest market in Kampala and employs more than 10,000 people from all over East Africa. 

An abundance of fresh produce and staples were for sale.

You can buy the chickens or the eggs or both--your choice.

What's in this metal bowl? It looks interesting!

Um, worms/larvae? Maybe not. Been there, done that in Mexico and Zimbabwe. Don't need to ever do it again.

I think pushing our way through this crowded, noisy market was one of our more unique African experiences. There were no other white people anywhere, and we were in the thick of incredible din, dust, and detritus.

We came to a balcony area where we could look down at the parking lot that is known as "The Old Taxi Park."  These hundreds of matching white vans are the bus/taxi system that brings sellers and buyers to the market from all over Uganda.

An adjacent market, Owino Market, has mostly non-food items. As in other markets we've been to, the aisles are narrow and crowded and some of the stalls sell used items.

When there were food items, they were in booths like this one, which sold dried beans, spicy sauce, and eggs.

This woman sold natural and dyed raffia/hemp, which I think must be for basket weaving.

On our way out, we passed the meat stalls. If anything will make you to decide to become a vegetarian, these stalls will.

Note the Los Angeles Lakers jersey on the man at left. We felt RIGHT at home. (Uh, not really.)

Watermelon is obviously very popular in Uganda, and it makes sense that it is sold on the outside edges of the marketplace because of its size and weight.

There were lots of specialty shops, including this one for pots and water dispensers.

We were hot and sweaty and could have used a break, but no break was on the agenda, and we plowed forward to the Uganda National Mosque, the largest mosque in East Africa. We had to check in at the office before we were allowed to enter, and Ella and I, although wearing long pants and long-sleeved shirts, were required to put on a wrap-around skirt and a head scarf. Bob, of course, only had to take off his shoes.

The mosque (below left) was originally started during the administratoin of Ugandan president Idi Amin. After he was deposed in 1979, it lay unfinished until 2001 when Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi offered to finish it as a gift to Uganda, whose population is 13.5% Sunni Muslim. It was opened in 2007 as the "Gaddafi National Mosque," but after Gaddafi died in 2013, it was renamed the "Uganda National Mosque."

The mosque can accommodate up to 15,000 worshipers on the main level, another 1,100 in the gallery, and 3,500 more in the outside courtyard.

There are five domes in the mosque, and I wish I had thought to ask if that is connected to the five times Muslims pray each day or if it was just an architectural decision.

We made our way up to the gallery.

There are beautiful design details everywhere.

I love the reds and blues of the upstairs hallway carpet.

The carpet in the main room matches the downstairs carpet.

From the upper level we had a view of the expansive courtyard with an arch that echoes the supportive arches inside the mosque.

The 166-foot-tall minaret can be seen from many parts of the city.

Ella and I decided to take the 272 stairs to the top. She sprinted, and I crawled.

The views were stunning. I can imagine 3,500 worshipers crowded into this courtyard.

With windows on every side of the minaret, we got a panoramic view of Kampala.

Four of the five domes. The other is hidden behind the large one.

We were hot, hungry, and exhausted, and when we saw an ice cream shop near the mosque, there was no question that we each needed a double scoop, regardless of our guide's plans.

We still enjoyed some dinner back in the restaurant, served to us by this friendly waitress named "Ella"!  We had to get a photo of Ella with Ella. Our Ella had to have her last hot chocolate of the trip before we left Uganda. 

Our flight home was out of the Entebbe Airport, about an hour drive from our Kampala hotel. The roads are lined with billboards, and I think the second-most-popular advertisements are for Coke and Pepsi. There is definitely a Cola War going on in Uganda. According to my research, Coca-Cola is currently winning with 62% of those surveyed preferring Coke over Pepsi. This is partly because of Coca-Cola's shrewd pairing with KFC and other burgeoning fast food establishments. On the other hand, Pepsi's market share of 33% is growing and has a better understanding of local nuances, with Mirinda Fruity as their star product (Mountain Dew and Pepsi are next).

Note that I said the cola ads are the SECOND most popular. The MOST popular are campaign posters, at least when we were there. Politicians' faces are not only on billboards, but pasted on power boxes, poles, buildings, cars, buses--anywhere you can think of posting something. I have no grasp of the structure of Uganda's political leadership, so I can't tell you who is running against whom . . . 

. . . but I can tell you this fellow, Yoweri Museveni, will likely be elected president whenever he runs. How do I know? He was part of the force that overthrew Idi Amin in 1973. After starting another war in Uganda, he was sworn in as president in 1986 and has been president ever since. Yep, that is 40 years! He scrapped presidential term limits in 2005 and age limits (he is 82) in 2017. In 2021 he was re-elected to his sixth term. Our city guide told us that some believe there will be a coup led by his son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who is essentially the head of Uganda's military, if his father doesn't step down soon.  

We finally made it to the Entebbe Airport, where we were greeted in Departures by this ginormous silverback gorilla statue, a new installation a few months prior to our visit. This is Ruhondeza, the dominant silverback of the Mubare gorilla family of about 17 gorillas. He died of natural causes in 2012 at around 50 years old. 

Uganda is home to over half of the world's remaining mountain gorillas. Why is this significant for Bob and me? Because we are going BACK to Uganda in Summer 2026 to go on a gorilla trek. Yippee!

When we were checking in, we saw a man wearing a University of Utah t-shirt--our alma mater. Bob asked him if he attended school there, and he said, "No, it's just a shirt." Nevertheless, it was almost as good as spotting Frida, which I try to do when we travel. Maybe I'll add University of Utah swag as a second-best find.

The Entebbe International Airport is the largest airport in Uganda and the only international airport. It was opened by the British Colonial authorities in the 1930s and has gone through several renovations and rebuilds since then. The version in existence in 1976 was the site of a hostage rescue operation. (See book review, 7 Days in Entebbe, below.)  If I remember correctly, the terminal currently has six gates and one dining area. It is small but clean and relatively efficient.

Our journey home was long and tedious: a 6-hour flight to Doha with an 8.75-hour layover (and hotel stay), followed by a 16-hour flight to LAX, ending with a 2-hour drive home.  Definitely not for the faint-of-heart, but a trip worth taking, especially with our fun 17-year-old granddaughter!

READING

The Last King of Scotland by Giles Foden is historical fiction about a Scottish doctor who finds himself serving as the personal physician for the infamous and evil Idi Amin during his years of almost total control in Uganda during the 1970s. The author portrays Amin as a sometimes likable but never trustworthy and always unscrupulous dictator who never saw anyone as a real person outside himself. What a creepy man.

There is also a movie of the same name based on the book. It stars Forrest Whitaker, who won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as the corrupt dictator.

All the Glimmering Stars by Mark Sullivan is the fictionalized account of real-life Ugandans Anthony Opoka and Florence Okori, who were kidnapped as young teens by warlord Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in the early 1990s. The two young characters eventually meet and fall in love. Kony is said to have kidnapped over 60,000 Ugandan children, forcing them to become child warriors and sex slaves while he fought (unsuccessfully) to overthrow the government of Yoweri Museveni. Using the stories of Anthony and Florence over a period of about 10 years, the author exposes the horrors of Kony's despotic rule. Anthony actually rises in the ranks to work as a radio signaler for Kony, giving the reader a close view of Kony's madness (figurative and literal), and one of the most gripping scenes in the book is when Florence gives birth while trying to escape from the LRA.

A 30-minute documentary, Kony 2012, was released in March 2012 and drew a lot of attention, particularly among young adult Americans, to the move to arrest Kony,  who is still alive and living in hiding. 

MOVIE

 7 Days in Entebbe is a 2018 docudrama that tells the story of the tense week in 1976 when an Air France jet flying from Tel Aviv to Paris is hijacked by pro-Palestinian terrorists at its stopover in Athens and eventually lands in the Entebbe airport. When the passengers are finally allowed to disembark into the tiny, dilapidated terminal, they are met by Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, who is colluding with the terrorists. Meanwhile, Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and defense minister Shimon Peres are trying to come up with a plan to rescue the hostages, many of whom are Israelis. Rabin negotiates with Amin, and on day four 48 non-Israeli hostages are released. By day seven, Israel is tired of waiting and sends in a commando force headed by Lt. Col. Yoni Netanyahu, brother of the current prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The terrorists and several Ugandan soldiers are killed and so is Netanyahu, but the remaining 102 hostages are saved.