Travel Escapes from Kampala, Uganda

Livio's Adventures

2 years ago

This is a collection of travel and adventure activities I performed (or almost performed) while living in Kampala, Uganda in 2022-2023. They are generally weekend escapes but some are a bit longer. Many involve a bicycle, some a car (private and hired) and ultimately just about anything else I could get my posterior into.

Visit the GPS tracks page for a list of GPS tracks that you can download to your phone (when available).

Friday Explorers Club, MTB Off-Road Uganda

Every Friday (when it isn’t raining) a few intrepid souls in Kampala, Uganda are bored enough to go exploring with their mountain bikes. The area of interest is generally the farming community area across the bay from Gabba Market. This involves a short boat trip and then lots of interesting terrain, and since we are exploring, not always ridable.

Our goal is to find new mountain bike trails for the regular Sunday Bike Shop Uganda rides. Therefor we seek out areas where no bike ride has gone before. This includes jungles, forest reserves, swamps and areas that might be interesting. This video include clips from two of those Friday adventures.

Click to watch the video.

Bike Shop Uganda, MCU Sunday MTB Rides

This is a collection of left-over footage from a few of my Sunday Bike Shop Uganda (or Mountain Club Uganda) rides. This specifically includes a ride to Sezibwa Falls and Kaiiansi and then miscellaneous ride tidbits.

Every ‘Sunday the Bike Shop Uganda’ store in Muyenga, Kampala, Uganda offers a free bicycle ride. Generally the ride sets out from the store around 8am and returns around mid-afternoon. Most weekend rides are on focused on the countryside area next to the Bule informal port (across from the Gabba Market Port). This is an area of countless dirt roads, single and double tracks and some jungle and forest reserves. Sprinkle small villages, isolated huts and two cross-roads with some market facilities and you have outstanding mountain biking opportunities.

Alternatively, sometimes the rides are city based (to the outskirts of Kampala or towards Entebbe). These rides are more mixed with some paved roads, some gravel and yes, red dirt roads with some single tracks through slum village areas.

Click to watch the Video.

Lake Nabugabo Bike Packing+, Uganda

This is a 2-day cycling trip from Kampala to Entebbe ferry port (50km), a boat trip to the Ssese Islands with a sleep over. The next day a ride across the big island to another ferry port (35KM), a hop back to the mainland and then a final ride to Lake Nabugabo (27km).

The post includes a third day at the Lake Nabugabo Triathlon & Duathlon events. Read more & watch the video

Murchison Falls Safari, Uganda

This is a 4-day visit to Murchison Falls National Park, in Uganda, for a self drive safari. We stayed at the Red Chili Rest Camp for two nights and explored the jungle, savanna and river areas.

Read more & watch the video

Punishment Island (Akampene), Lake Bunyonyi, Uganda

This is a 4 hour paddle to Punishment Island (Akampene), in Lake Bunyonyi in Uganda. We were staying at at the Paradise Eco-Hub for a few days (rather than the Byoona Amagara Island Retreat). Both are good locations to meet people, relax and eat well.

Read more & watch the video

Lake Mburo National Park Safari, Uganda

This is a 4-day visit to the Lake Mburo National Park, in Uganda, for a self drive safari. It started at the Hyena Hill Lodge (our 2-night stop over on our way south to Lake Bunyonyi). We paid for a 24-hour park visit with our private car.

Read more & watch the video

Nyero Rock Paintings, Uganda

This is a day trip to Nyero Rock Paintings in Uganda. It started at the Jinja Base Camp Backpackers/Hotel where I was spending some post-cycling down time next to the pool.

We hired a car/driver and set out at 7am and were back in Jinja by 6pm.

Read more & watch the video

Source of the Nile Ride, Jinja, Uganda

This is my random 3-day adventures to the Source of the Nile in Uganda. It all started when I got a WhatsApp message concerning an outdoor event by Activate Uganda called ‘Source of the Nile Trail Run and MTB Challenge. To get to Jinja I decided to ride my bicycle for 9.5 hours from Kampala (see Maps & Facts).

Read more & watch the video

Bushbaby Duathlon In Mukono, Uganda

This is a 1-day outing to attend the Bushbaby duathlon in Mukono, near Kampala. What is a duathlon? Per Wikipedia, “a duathlon is an athletic event that consists of a running leg, followed by a cycling leg and then another running leg in a format similar to triathlons. This off-road version uses mountain bikes and dirt tracks.”

Read more & watch the video

MCU Mountain Bike Kampala, Uganda

For this adventure I decided to try one of the bi-weekly Mountain Club of Uganda cycling half-day outings from Kampala. Note that the area is renowned for its hills (hence not easy bike rides). The good news is that we break up into fast, medium and slow groups. I also only do the countryside rides (not the city rides).