UGANDA | Bradt travel guide

travel guide

Bradt’s Uganda has for many years been considered the go-to source of information for travellers interested in this extraordinary country, which boasts Africa’s most biodiverse – and arguably most exciting – safari circuit. Written by Philip Briggs, the world’s foremost guidebook writer on Africa, this new tenth edition of the most detailed travel guidebook available to Uganda has been thoroughly updated by local resident and experienced travel writer Andrew Roberts.

Uganda excels for wildlife-watching, and recent transport improvements now make for relatively easy year-round access to key sites. Visit the lush montane forests of Bwindi, which protect one of the world’s largest remaining populations of mountain gorillas, watch habituated chimpanzees in Kibale and tree-climbing lions in Queen Elizabeth National Park, or enjoy outstanding birdwatching throughout – with more than a thousand bird species in a country similar in size to Oregon.

As well as treating readers to a full-colour wildlife section with over 100 colour photographs, Bradt’s Uganda guides visitors around key wildlife-watching experiences. It provides up-to-date coverage of gorilla-tracking options, describing gorilla groups and their locations – everything anyone who dreams of encountering these remarkable primates needs to know.

Uganda is not just about wildlife. Hikers love some of Africa’s tallest mountains, notably the snow-capped Rwenzori (the ‘Mountains of the Moon’), the massive collapsed caldera that tops Mount Elgon, and the steep forest-swathed volcanic peaks of the Virungas. A highlight for adrenaline junkies is rafting the ‘Grade Five’ white-water rapids on the Nile shortly after it emerges from the inland sea that is Lake Victoria.

In this tenth edition, carefully selected accommodation listings have been updated, providing critical appraisals of optimum options in each price bracket. While tourism has long focussed on western Uganda, this edition strengthens attention on the country’s remote northeast corner, which is emerging as a popular destination that includes the untrammelled savannah of Kidepo National Park and offers opportunities to interact with traditional Karamojong pastoralists. Boasting detailed maps of the country, updated or created from scratch using GPS, and all the travel advice a visitor might want, Bradt’s Uganda remains the essential companion guide to this compelling country.