Is It Safe To Visit Uganda?

One of the most asked questions about Uganda by foreigners is whether it is safe to visit Uganda. There are many things that come into play to ensure that safety is realized but when you travel advisories from the American government which actually picked by most of the other governments around the world, they will highly discourage visiting Uganda on mainly three grounds, disease outbreaks, political unrest and high crime rates.

These recommendation are often blown out of proportion more so when someone thinks Uganda is a like a village in Africa with half-naked people, without houses, without any hospitals and in case something goes wrong, there is no way out. Uganda might not be at the standard of most of the western countries but consider it to be at the level some of the western countries were about 30 years ago.

The country is still backward but not to the degree that most people assume. You can have proper accommodation when you visit Uganda. You can have more than 2000km of your trip on well paved roads. There are also a few hospitals. In order to give you a proper perspective, let address the above issues one by one.

Disease Out Break

Earlier this year; April to be specific, there was a declaration by world health organization about the  Ebola outbreak in Uganda. This was after reporting two Ebola cases. When someone hears Ebola, they often think of a situation like Covid-19. They assume that Ebola is everywhere now and you cannot risk to visit. But think about this way, when France had bedbugs, it was easy for people to think that everywhere you go in France, you will find bedbugs. But that was never the case.

Imagine the bedbug case is on a higher magnitude than Ebola has ever been in Uganda. So it is true that there are health cases that arise in Uganda. They pose a risk but never to the magnitude that is portrayed by advisories. Have you ever wondered, in all these situations, no tourist has ever caught Ebola in Uganda. The country receives more than one million people every year.

Political Unrest

Political unrest is something to treat with uttermost importance more so when you are visiting Uganda during elections time. But again most of the unrest happens in Kampala and not all parts of Kampala but Kampala down town. Unrest you had a Kampala city tour on your itinerary, most of the other parts you intend to visit never have any unrest because the mindset of the people in the villages is not similar to the mindset of the people in Kampala.

Most of the tourists that visit Uganda never go through Kampala. They simply drive around Kampala. There is a road that was opened a few years ago that does not require you to pass through Kampala. In fact you do not have to worry so much about the Kampala traffic and unrest. The Kampala unrest cannot be overlooked during campaigns. There is a possibility that the unrest will not be there in Kampala in terms of riots but you cannot iron that out.

The tourism mostly happens more than 100km from Kampala. The airport is also not in Kampala. It is always safe visiting and people have always visited Uganda during elections time.

High Crimes Rates

When we use the term high, it has to be in relation to something. Unfortunately people simply throw the term high as they see fit. There is crime in Uganda but not to the degree of most of the western countries. Uganda is a country where even kids walk and play without anyone attending to them. That is how safe the country is. But crimes happen. People break into shops but this is usually in the night when business has closed. People get mugged in some dark spots at night though it is not very common. Such incidents usually happen when there is a major concert or football match.

Travel Insurance

One of the main hinderances to travelling to Uganda is travel insurance. But that should not be an issue because you can get travel insurance in Uganda instead of your home country. In case they do not wish to offer you insurance, that should not be a problem. Get travel insurance in Uganda and everything will be covered. In case you wish to get some details about Uganda travel insurance, please do not hesitate to contact us.