In the past five years there’s been a radical change globally in how travellers decide and book their travel to Africa. Gone are the days when everyone entrusted everything to a travel agent and tour company. Gone are the days when everyone was happy with a ‘package’ tour. The internet is now allowing people to make their own choices and book independent travel. While this doesn’t mean that the days of the package tour safari are dead it definitely means that people are wanting to create travel options which suit them the best and they’re using the internet to do so.
So, if you’re an independent traveller and looking on the internet to plan your trip to Uganda what are the best sites to go to? We’re here to help!
The first – albeit biased – answer is This is Uganda’s travel section (https://www.thisisuganda.org/travel-guide/) which has hundreds of independent reviews of places to stay, where to go, and what to do while in Uganda. If you want a taster of the array that Uganda has to offer this is the best place to start.
Next, before you decide where you want to go you’ll want to visit the Uganda Tourism Board’s website. This is set up and maintained by an association dedicated to promoting and marketing Uganda’s tourism. Here you can find descriptions of regions and information about Uganda generally: http://www.visituganda.com/.
WikiTravel also has some good, concise and consolidated information when you’re first starting out: http://wikitravel.org/en/Uganda.
As you make decisions about where you want to go check out TripAdvisor. This website is made up of reviews and recommendations/warnings from travellers. While businesses in Uganda are just waking up to the fact that tourists use this site A LOT more are coming online everyday so it’s worth reading reviews of places you’re considering. They also have a number of forums where you can post/read questions:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g293840-Uganda-Vacations.html.
As your questions become more specific you’ll be surprised to learn that someone else has already wanted to know the same thing so visit Virtual Tourists Uganda Forum and see what others have already asked. If your question still isn’t answered you can leave it for an answer: http://forum.virtualtourist.com/Uganda-4144-2/forum.html.
If it’s a blog that you’re looking for Uganda Blog has one of the best for tourism. If their recent article on National Geographic picking Uganda as one of the best world trips for 2013 doesn’t persuade you to visit, then nothing will: https://www.ugandablog.com/.
Maybe all this online stuff isn’t for you. Want to go offline and sit in a coffee shop with a travel book in hand? A list of travel books is ready for you in our Next Great Read article: https://www.thisisuganda.org/recommended-reads/.
If you want to take the trouble out of planning your own trip then a tour company is for you. There are a number of reputable ones in Uganda and you can read about how to find one here : How to Choose a Tour Company/.
