Uganda - Getting Around

There is something to be said for the third-class train. There is a branch line to Gulu, and if it is running, it could be a reasonably safe way to get to Gulu and see the country. Driving to Gulu is discouraged; there have been numerous incidents. Hitchhiking is even less advisable, but you may end up hitching if you decide to drive. URC operates passenger service between Kampala and the towns of Jinja, Toroco, Mbale, Soroti, Lira, Pakwach and Gulu. There are also services to Kasese in western Uganda and a weekly service to Nairobi.

There are more than 2,000 kilometers of paved roads in Uganda and 6,000 kilometers of murram (dirt) feeder routes. Four-wheel-drive vehicles are preferable for both surfaces. The only fuel stations are along the major routes. Drivers should inquire with locals about the distances and times between towns and villages. International car-rental companies are based in Kampala and Entebbe. Taxis can be found at the airports and in the main towns. Fares are negotiable and should be determined before you set out. In Kampala, long-distance buses depart from the station near the stadium. Ferries run to the Ssese Islands from Port Bell and Bukakata when they're operating.

There is an eerie quiet in this once bustling country-akin to the sound of waiting for another boot to drop. Uganda can be seen as an inherently civilized country surrounded by nasty neighbors: Sudan to the north, Zaire to the west, Rwanda to the south. The white minority in Kenya to the east is betting on prosperity as a ravaged economy begs for outside investment. There are only about 85,000 or so visitors every year compared to Kenya's 800,000, but it is growing at about 10 percent each year.

Crime is common in Uganda, with violent crime being more common than not. Roadblocks around the country are just as likely to be manned by thugs. Taking pictures of the military is considered a crime. Border areas are not safe. The north is dangerous for any kind of travel. We can only vouch for two towns, Gulu and Moroto, and one outpost, the National Resistance Army Camp on the Kidepo River frontier with the Sudan. Moroto is a lovely place in this serene wilderness. There are even some decaying colonial structures surrounded by green, and a huge green mountain rises due east of the town. But as far as we know, this has always been the sort of African town where you sleep on the floor of the police post.

Gulu, on the road to the Sudanese frontier town of Nimule to the north, and the rail line to Pakwach on the Albert Nile to the west, offers considerably more, but outside of town, this country is just as dangerous. There are the proper, if faded, Acholi Inn (a reminder that this is the country of the Acholi, many of whom were killed en masse by Amin) and, a notch down, the Luxor Lodge (a reminder, perhaps, that the Khedive, through his agents in the Sudan, once claimed all Uganda as Egyptian territory). These days it's unlikely that either of these hotels would require reservations, but even if they do, it's not a police-post town: Both the Church of Uganda and the Red Cross Society are said to offer accommodations.

http://www.ugandaweb.com/