Kampala City : The beautiful city of Kampala is the capital of pearl of Africa Uganda. The city with approximately 1.5 million people is also known as a city of 7 hills or the 7 hills city. This is because Kampala is hilly and is known to be made up of 7 main hills that are Mengo, Rubaga, Namirembe, Makerere, Kololo, Nakasero and old Kampala. All these hills are beautiful with unique features that make you fall in love with this city.
Because Kampala is the capital of Uganda you will find it has people from all the 54 tribes of Uganda, however the common languages spoken in Kampala are Luganda and English plus a bit of Swahili. The city is also home to a number of foreign residents from Africa and the western world.
Because of this diversity of people in the city it doesn’t allow for a universal religion or spiritual belief. So, in Kampala you will find different religions including Christianity, Islam, paganism, Hindi ancestry worship and other spiritual practices.
In Kampala the acceptable currency is Ugandan shilling (UGX) though in some places you transact in US dollars. These places are mainly hotels or central business area uptown working places.
Kampala’s weather is good usually warm and friendly, it can get cold in some seasons but usually the temperatures will not go lower than 18 °C though highs can go up to 35°C.
In Kampala the most popular mode of transportation is road by either private car, public taxi – 14-seater, boda boda- (motorbike taxi), special hire or uber.
Some of the popular tourist attractions in Kampala include but not limited: – Kasubi Tombs, Gadhafi Mosque, Uganda Museum, Namugongo shrines, Nakasero market, independence monument, baha’I house, Namirembe cathedral, ndere centre, Rubaga cathedral, st balikuddembe market, new and old taxi parks, Bulange Building, the kabaka’s palace- lubiri, the kabaka’s lake among other attractions.
In Kampala you will be treated to cuisines like steamed Matooke, posho, beans, meat, cowpeas, gnut paste and other dishes. You will also get snacks like samosas, nsenene, chapati, hard corns, gonja crisps, potato crisps and many others.
When it comes to fruits you will eat fruits like oranges, jack fruits, avocados, mangoes, grapes, passion fruits, pineapple, apples, bananas, guavas, beetroot, pawpaw, lemons, tangerines, papaya among other fruits.
You can visit Kampala any time of the year and the average cost of visiting this city will surely depend on how many days you want to be in this city, but on average look at between 50 to 100 US dollars on day. If you are party person, think more than that, party delights are quite costly.
That brings me to the night life, the nightlife in Kampala is very vibrant with a number of bars, clubs, night spots among others. Every night there is a bar or lounge happening with music and entertainment. The city also has big concerts every now and then in designated places. So, if you are in town when that happens be sure to plug in.
When it comes to health, you can always get health care from several clinics in the city and most of all the city big hospitals equipped to handle even the toughest of situations. These include Uganda’s referral hospitals Mulago and kirudu, Nsambya hospital, Nakasero hospital, mengo hospital, Rubaga hospital and others.
On the issue of safety, Kampala is generally a safe city, the people are friendly and not harmful, also the police are in all localities to help keep law and order. That said when you are moving in the downtown Kampala areas you need to be vigilant there may pick pocketers, and most cases apart from snatching your bag, they will rarely do more than that.
If you are into sports Kampala is spread with sports recreational centers including the Lugogo complex, Kyadondo rugby grounds, Omondi stadium, wankukulukuku stadium, nakivubo stadium and many others. Sports played at these places include but not limited to football, basket, hockey, cricket, badminton, tennis, rugby etc.
