exploring-the-beautiful-sights-sounds-of-kampala- Old taxi Park/

Welcome back to this episode of exploring Kampala. Today we are ere gong to shine a light on the incredible epicentre of Uganda’s transport sector.

Located in the valley between Nakasero hill and Old Kampala hill is the beating heart of Uganda’s public transport, behold the Old Kampala taxi. For those of you who come from countries where you have cabs for taxis and its only one individual or a pair of friends moving to a particular place that hail it to take them to their destination, well, you need to make this 1 day Kampala city tour walk to this taxi park in order to see our version of taxis! Trust me, it will be worth of your time. For starters, let me try to shed light on what we Ugandans call taxis… This is a fourteen (14) seater van which is used by the general public to commute from one place to another. These taxis are managed by two people i.e. a driver and a taxi tout-who we normally call the conductor, his principle job is to call for people going to a particular destination to board his taxi, he also solicits for the transport fares from the onboard passengers before they get to their destinations.

The Old taxi park

To have a full view of what we have just seen above in retrospective, let’s take a Kampala city tour walk to the epicentre of Uganda’s public transport system and that is none other than the Old Kampala taxi park. On arrival to this park, your eyes are greeted by a swarm of these vans parked in one place with their many having their engines revving, conductors shouting all names of places within and outside the city in a hope to alert of their potential passengers of the places they are heading to. Walking through a maze of these taxis, you encounter numerous Ugandan hawking an assortment of quick snacks and soft beverages with an aim of making a sale to any of the thousands of people who flog this park to in a bid to get a taxi to their destination that’s the old taxi park right there… I tell you it’s an absolute frenzy and chaos when you come here, but don’t feel sorry for us cause that’s the way we like it!

Where do taxis go?

Regardless of how far you’re going, you can be assured of finding a taxi that will lead you on your Uganda safari escapade to any of the major towns in Uganda not matter how far it is. You can always find a taxi to take you as far as to Arua town 500km away from Kampala to Kibuye which is 2 km away from the city center.

How to determine the fares

While using Ugandan taxis, there are no fixed fares as the fare prices are cognizant of the demand and supply curve just as we get to learn from the economics class hence being determined by the number of passengers available and travel hours. To put this in retrospective, you can easily board a taxi for 1000ugx as transport fare from one point to another and after just an hour the same taxi demands 2500ugx to take you still to the same destination. Now this change is subject to increase in the number of passengers available looking for a taxi to whisk them to their destinations especially during morning rush hours as people what to make it to their workplaces just in time. The other time when transport fares seem to shoot through the skies as if they have been attached to rocket launcher by NASA is during the festive season. During this time of the year, fares can literally increase by over 100%.

If you find yourself with an extra day in Uganda, on top of your 1 day Kampala tour, you can add a visit to other nearby Uganda safari destinations such as a 1 day Jinja city tour. This Jinja day tour gives you a unique chance of visiting the remarkable Nile river which is the longest river on the planet. Besides the river there other attractions in Jinja which will fascinate you on this Jinja day tour, these include Itanda falls, birds, Lake Victoria. Engage in various safari activities in Jinja source of the Nile which include bungee jumping, white water rafting, horse riding, quad biking and kayaking.

If you decide to have an overnight stay in Jinja, the town has various accommodations in Jinja you can choose from and these include Explorers River Camp, Nile River Camp, Jinja Nile Resort, Samuka Island Retreat, Source of The Smile Hotel and Guesthouse. Prime safaris has distinguished itself as one of the best companies that offers Jinja day trip or 1 day Jinja tour in Uganda.

Besides Jinja, other destinations you can visit include Ngamba chimpanzee sanctuary. This sanctuary is home to over 50 chimpanzees which will do nothing but put on a fascinating spectacle for you on this 1 day Ngamba chimpanzee safari especially during the feeding hours as they scramble for their lunch.

If you’re a birding fanatic, then the best place for you to visit is Mabamba island and Lutembe bay which will give you an insight into what a Uganda birding safari experience can offer to you as these are 2 places are home to a wide variety of bird species and a Uganda bird watching safari to Mabamba culminates into sightings of the prehistoric shoebill stork and white-winged terns and many others.

Would you like to visit Uganda? Check us out at Wild Gorilla Safaris, at Wild Gorilla safaris, we strive to meet all your Africa safari needs as we have got virtually the safari packages that will give you a memorable Africa safari experience. For anyone interested in Uganda wildlife safaris packages we have got you covered with a wide range of packages that are tailored basing on the number of days you have and the destination you would like to visit on your Uganda safari tour. If you’ve got only a few days, then choose from our short Uganda wildlife safaris which run from 2 days to 5 days such as 2 days Uganda wildlife safari to Murchison falls or 5 days Uganda wildlife safari with chimpanzees and many more. For those that have got more than 5 days, then I suggest pick from our compressive long Uganda wildlife safaris that run from 6 days to as many as 21 days such as

On top of an epic Uganda safari adventure to many of these savanna parks, you have an opportunity to encounter mountain gorillas. Yes, a Uganda gorilla tour experience is very possible when you visit gorilla trekking Uganda destinations Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. A Uganda gorilla safari to any of these parks gives you an opportunity to meet any of the 19 gorilla families that have been habituated to give you nothing but the ultimate Uganda gorilla tours experience, you can ever think of.

If you’re interested Uganda gorilla safaris these are available in both short Uganda gorilla safari packages such as 3 days gorilla tours in Bwindi and 4 days Bwindi gorilla tour and wildlife in Lake Mburo. There are also long Uganda gorilla tours that run from 6 days to as many as 18 days while featuring many other things along the way to the gorillas. After a magical gorilla tour in Uganda, you can always visit Lake Bunyonyi Uganda and enjoy the stunning views of this magical lake. A visit to Lake Bunyonyi gives you an opportunity to experience a boat ride on Africa’s second deepest lake.

Rwanda is also another gorilla destination you wouldn’t want to miss out on, hence if you are planning for a Rwanda gorilla safari package, check out some of our Rwanda gorilla tours packages which also come in form of short Rwanda gorilla gorilla safaris for those that have got only a few days in Rwanda but those that have got more days, then Long Rwanda gorilla trekking safari packages will do you good as they also give you a chance to visit other Rwanda safari attractions.

Congo as well is another gorilla destination and we have numerous Congo gorilla safari packages that will take you on a Congo gorilla tour adventure to either Virunga National Park for an encounter with mountain gorillas or Kahuzi Beiga National Park where you will encounter Eastern lowland gorillas. Besides gorilla safaris and wildlife encounters in Uganda, you can still explore Uganda’s diversity using any of our wide range of day trips that visit other sites that are near the capital city Kampala or Entebbe international airport such as a Mabamba birding day trip to Mabamba island Kampala city tour day tour Jinja day tour and 1 day Ngamba island chimpanzee safari. Check out our great east Africa safari to such as Kenya safari tours and Tanzania safari tour that take you on an Africa wildlife safari adventure to Kenya and Tanzania respectively.