We can surely know that you’ve always yearned to take a safari to this amazing country called Uganda, but couldn’t do it up to now! There’s no one stopping you from visiting the country because visiting Uganda will be the best adventures of your life, and you’ll get the opportunity to explore what this amazing country has to offer!

Organizing a safari to Uganda during your gap year abroad will be substantially more than simply any African adventure, and you’ll be exposed to the heat and the frenzy, the crazy traffic jam and crowded streets, fascinating culture, spicy food and the glorious architectures, The national parks, waterfalls, beaches and many others.

In any case, before you make another step further, here are some of the best tips that will help you as a first-time traveler in Uganda.

Don’t try to see it all!

It’s the best advice any first traveler to Uganda may need to know – and as is commonly said, Uganda as a lot to offer to be covered just in one trip! So in case you think that you’ll be able to explore all the attractions in the country on your first visit, then you really wrong. You’ll wind up exhausting yourself and miss more activities because most tourists activities in the country need to physically use also of energy for example gorilla trekking where you have to hike in the jungle for about 3hours, mountain climbing, white water rafting and others. The best thing is to organize your travel schedule considering the number of days that you can spend.

Step out of the cities and explore the rural Uganda

For sure the rural Uganda is real Uganda. In case you really came to explore the real Uganda, then spending a lot of time in town centers is not necessary because most of the interesting attractions in Uganda are outside cities like the wildlife park most of them are in upcountry like the kidepo Valley National Park in the northeastern corner of the country in the Karamojong region, the mighty Murchison Falls in the northwestern part of the country about 283 kilometres by road from Kampala, the rare and endangered mountain gorillas in the impenetrable forest of Bwindi National Park in the far southwestern part of the country about 480km from Kampala among others.

Be prepared for a culture shock!

Regardless of how much you do research about the country and what other people who has ever travelled to the country tell you about their experiences in the country, you ought to be ready for a culture shock during your first time to travel to the country! Believe me, things in Uganda don’t happen the same as they do in your home country and grasp the difference happily. Exploring Uganda would be an amazing experience yet it’ll possibly be so in case you are ready to accept the ways things happen in Uganda. Leave your Western ways and beliefs behind, due to the fact that they don’t have any significant bearing here. Come with an open mind and open heart and Uganda will open up to you.

Learn a few basic words in Luganda

When you get a chance to have a walk on streets, you will find most of the people smiling at you and some may just be too polite to say ‘muzungu oli otya (white man how you in Luganda). It’s always a good idea to learn some simple local words when you travelling abroad. It will help you when communicating with the locals and it also reduce on the chances of being cheated and even it will help you make more friends since most locals will be surprised to hear you talking some of the words in their language. While the majority of Ugandans are able to communicate in English (fluent or broken), regardless you’ll have a better stand in case you know words in Luganda.