Sight Seeing in Kampala

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Geo: -14.4113, 31.6098

We spent the day walking around Kampala, dodging a couple of downpours. We visited the Kasubi Tombs which is the official resting place of the first four Kings of Uganda. The tour did a great job of explaining the early tribal/clan history of Uganda and its continued importance today. The building that contains the tombs is closed to the public now because it was destroyed by a terrorist fire started by the Sudanese in 2010. Fortunately the tombs are underground so they were not destroyed. A new building is under construction and will be completed by sometime in 2015. At the site there is also a cemetery where family members of these four Kings are buried. From the cemetery you can see views of two other hills in Kampala – there are seven in total – on each of the two hills are cathedrals, one Anglican and one Catholic. We walked to the Anglican Cathedral which isn't far but a good uphill slog in the heat and humidity. It was well worth it. Since it was Sunday, there were lots of people going to services and it was interesting to see the dress of some of the women. We assume the colors and style represent their clan. Some are very fancy brocades and they have side sashes tied in the front. All were very colorful.

After the cathedral we headed downhill again and got caught in the first down pour which we waited out under an awning with a bunch of young men. Once that stopped we headed out again and caught a matatus (mini-van taxi) to a stop close to a shopping mall (nothing like ours in the US). Got caught in our second down pour, which was short but heavy, and then after a quick look for Ibuprofen in the shopping mall headed back to the hotel.

There is not a lot more to see or do in Kampala so we were happy to not have planned to stay longer.

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