Kampala City, Uganda

Kampala City Uganda

Kampala is a metropolitan capital city of Uganda, and it was a British protectorate until 1962, when Uganda gained independence. The city is found in the central part of the country. On the south-east, it borders Lake Victoria, which is known to be the largest lake in Africa. It has an approximate total population of around 1.2m. For anyone who travels to this city and is wondering where to get started to explore the city, the starting point is called City Square, along a street called Kampala road. As a native of Uganda and proudly Ugandan, I was constrained to highlight and elaborate some key aspects that everyone who reads this write-up would seek to know about Kampala City; perhaps, this documentation would be one of the marketing tools of the city and therefore attracting many more tourists not only to Kampala as a city but rather Uganda as a whole. In my next paragraphs, I will talk about three key aspects about Kampala that include tour sites, multi tribal nature, and security.

There are many monumental sites that anyone visiting Uganda should look out for first within Kampala city. In general, Uganda as a country is endowed with a lot of natural resources and in particular, its uniqueness is premised upon hospitality and tolerance of strangers to an extent of having many decide to acquire citizenship in the beautiful landlocked country. I believe this is one of the parameters upon which hospitality and tolerance of any country can be measured. Like many others, in his tour to Africa, from which he wrote a book “My African Journey” in 1908, Winston Churchill described Uganda with what became the most beautiful nickname, “The pearl of Africa”. This nickname was fully adopted everywhere in Africa.  Children in schools are told about this descriptive metaphor while still young, and it becomes part and parcel of them and therefore influences their future behavior, actions, and life decisions. Churchill was motivated by the variety of form and color, magnificence, wealth of brilliant life, a vast scale of birds, beasts, insects, etc. Prior to Churchill, John Hanning Speke explored Uganda together with Richard Button in 1858. This is when he discovered Lake Victoria, which is literally located in Kampala city, as the source of the Nile. Stretching from Lake Victoria, the Nile also has a spectacular view in another city called Jinja, which is 77km (44 miles) from Kampala. Another spectacular view of the Nile is found in the western part of Uganda called the West Nile, where the river is seemingly wide but with only one bridge at Pakwach town. Apart from the Source of the Nile, other places to explore in Kampala include Namugongo Martyrs’ Shrine, which is just 15km east of Kampala off Jinja road.   This place attracts thousands of Pilgrims from different parts of the world every year. Another place to visit in this city are the Kasubi Tombs, which is a site for burial grounds of the Kings of Buganda kingdom.

As earlier stipulated, Kampala has a population of around 1.2m people. Being a multi tribal city, it is predominantly occupied by the Ganda tribe, which is believed to be the most predominant tribe in the country with a population of around 5.5m Baganda spread all over the country. Kampala is considered to be Buganda land since it is located at the center of Buganda Kingdom. Kampala harbors all 56 tribes found in Uganda. Factions of different tribes are said to be predominant in specific localities in the city. For instance, Arua Bus park is predominantly occupied by tribes from Northern Uganda that include the Alur, Lango, Lugbar, Kakwa, Acholi, and many more. These do vending from around that area. For those interested in tasting the food delicacy of people from Northern part of Uganda, Arua park is the starting point in Kampala. The Batooro and Banyoro tribes to which I belong are predominant in a place called Kitooro in Kampala and mainly do vending in the downtown of the city. The Batooro originally inhabit only 2 districts of Kabarole and Kasese, whereas the Banyoro inhabit 5 districts of Masindi, Hoima (now the oil city), Kiryandongo, Kibaale and Bulisa. Baganda, Banyoro, Batooro, Bakonzo, and Basoga, are the only tribes with active and vibrant cultural leaders, Kings. The rest of the tribes traditionally had chiefs heading chiefdoms. Chiefdoms and chiefs are gradually phasing out. These were mainly predominant in for instance the Acholi land, which had 54 chiefdoms each headed by a chief. The other dominant tribe in Kampala is Banyankole from which the current president hails. These originally inhabit the Ankole land, which has over 8 districts. They own most of the milk dairy businesses in Kampala city, since they are commonly known for cattle keeping together with the Karamajong of the Eastern Uganda. The streets of Kampala, mainly sidewalks, are always filled with traffic of vendors, mainly hawkers and pedestrians.

Usually, when anyone travels to a foreign land, their biggest worry is on how secure they will be and how safely they will return home. Many people who get to Kampala and happen to spend 5 months in the city, always wish not to return home, and others keep visiting if they returned home. Like the entire country, Kampala is the most secure city in Africa. When you search a few reviews you will notice that everyone who leaves any other country and finally lands in Kampala, starts to immediately feel like they are home, free, loved, and secure right from the Airport. Later you get to notice that you can even freely walk on Kampala streets during the night without any worries. Churches, clubs, and bars are open 24/7 without any insecurity feelings as can be witnessed in many other cities in the world, and more predominantly in developed countries. Like in any other city you just have to be mindful of pickpocketing where your phone would be snatched.

I would unearth quite a lot about Kampala and Uganda entirely.  It is a place that I believe will face a serious wave of immigrants in the next 6 to 10 years as it continues to grow economically, and democratically. From last year, Uganda is continuously facing a significant rise in the number of refugees entering the country from the neighboring countries. Most refugee settlements have refugees who have lived there for over 30 years and not wishing to go back from their home countries like Rwanda, Somalia, Congo, Sudan, and many more. Many Somalis for instance have established very big businesses in the city of Kampala and slowly bring their relatives to stay. Kampala is a city you shouldn’t miss out to explore.

(Judas Tadeo)