Traveling in Uganda

Traveling in Uganda now offers you a range of personalised travel choices from which you can choose and make you travel to Uganda a lasting experience.

Authentic Vacations.

Our authentic trips allow you to discover the major sites of Uganda and have an unforgettable opportunity of your vacation to Uganda. You will discover fantastic natural surroundings and daily life of the inhabitants away from tourist busy areas. The true face of Uganda is not only made of National parks, lakes, rivers and wonderful landscapes, it is also adorned with the faces of those who still live traditionally in the altitude and forests. Minority ethnic groups are the most representatives of this rural population authentic life that punctuates the course of the days and seasons for decades with you to discover our range of authentic journeys.

Tribes.

The culture of Uganda is made up of a diverse range of ethnic groups. Lake Kyogaforms the northern boundary for the Bantu-speaking people, who dominate much of East, Central, and Southern Africa. In Uganda, they include the Baganda and several other tribes.

Karamojong tribes of Uganda

In the north, the Lango and the Acholi peoples predominate, who speak Nilotic languages. To the east are the Iteso and Karamojong, who speak a Nilotic language, whereas the Gishu are part of the Bantu and live mainly on the slops of Mt. Elgon. They speak Lumasaba, which is closely related to the Luhya of Kenya. A few Pygmies live isolated in the rainforests of western Uganda.

 

Food

Ugandan cuisine consists of traditional and modern cooking styles, practices, foods and dishes in Uganda, withEnglish, Arab, and Asian (especially Indian) influences. Like the cuisines of most countries, it varies in complexity, from the most basic, a starchy filler with a sauce of beans or meat, to several-course meals served in upper-class homes and high-end restaurants.^{[citation needed]}

Most tribes in Uganda have their own speciality dish or delicacy. Many dishes include various vegetables, potatoes,yams, bananas and other tropical fruits.Chicken, pork, fish (usually fresh, but there is also a dried variety, reconstituted for stewing), beef, goat and mutton are all commonly eaten, although among the rural poor, meats are consumed less than in other areas, and mostly eaten in the form of bushmeat. Nyama is the Swahili word for “meat”.

 

Main dishes.

Main dishes are usually centered on a sauce or stew of groundnuts, beans or meat. The starch traditionally comes from ugali (maize meal) or matooke(steamed and mashed green banana) in the South, or an ugali-like dish made from millet in the North. Ugali/posho is cooked up into a thick porridge for breakfast.

For main meals, white maize flour is added to the saucepan and stirred into the ugali/posho until the consistency is firm. It is then turned out onto a serving plate and cut into individual slices (or served onto individual plates in the kitchen).Cassava, yam, and African sweet potato are also eaten; the more affluent include white (often called “Irish”) potato and rice in their diets.Soybeans were promoted as a healthy food staple in the 1970s and this is also used, especially for breakfast.Chapati, an Asian flat bread, is also part of Ugandan cuisine.

 

Fruits and vegetables.

Uganda’s organic fruits.

Various leafy greens are grown in Uganda. These may be boiled in the stews, or served as side dishes in fancier homes. Amaranth (dodo), nakati, and borr are examples of regional greens.Fruits such as bananas and pineapples are plentiful and commonly consumed; cooked in foods, eaten as snacks or as a dessert.

Some traditional food names.

Chicken luwombo; Ugandan traditional meal with Matooke steamed and served in green banana leaves wrapped around a bowl.

Posho or Ugali consists of maize flour (cornmeal) cooked with water to aporridge– or dough-like consistency. Pictured on the bottom-right of the plate, its served with beef and sauce.

Some traditional and historic Ugandan foods include:

• Posho or Kawunga – called Ugaliin Kenya, it is usually made from maize but also other starches, regional names include kwon. Ugandan expatriates make posho from cornmeal, masa harina or grits. Kwon is a type of ugali made from millet (called kalo in western Uganda) but in other regions like eastern Uganda they include cassava flour.
• Groundnuts(peanuts) – groundnuts are a vital staple and groundnut sauce is probably the most commonly eaten one. They are eaten plain or mixed with smoked fish, smoked meat or mushrooms, and can also be mixed with greens such as borr.
• Sim-sim (sesame) – A staple particularly in the north, roasted sesame paste is mixed into a stew of beans or greens and served as a side dish, though sesame paste may also be served as a condiment; a candyis made from roasted sesame seeds with sugar or honey.
• Matooke– Mashed plantain boiled or cooked in a sauce of peanuts, fresh fish or meat
• Luwombo – A traditional dish from Uganda, in which a stew of either chicken, beef, mushrooms or fish is steamed in banana leaves
• Malewa– A traditional dish from eastern Uganda (Bugisu), made from bamboo shoots
• Kikomando– A Chapati that is cut into pieces and served with fried beans.

Snacks

Rolex: This Ugandan street food is as interesting as its name, which refers to the process of making this snack. To make a rolex, roll a chapati over an omelet.

• Roasted groundnuts (peanuts) – served in a spill of paper
• Samusa(samousa, samosa) – Indian samosas are highly assimilated into the local cuisine, as are chapati and curry
• Mugati naamaggi(bread and eggs) – Originally an Arab dish, it consists of wheat dough spread into a thin pancake, filled with minced meat and raw egg, and then folded into a neat parcel, which is fried on a skillet or hotplate.
• Nsenene– an unusual food item, which is a seasonal delicacy of a type ofgrasshopper
• Nswaa– served similarly to nsenene, but made of white ant, which is a termite
• Rolex– a chapati filled with eggs, onions, cabbage or kale, and tomatoes, though minced meat is sometimes added.

Desserts.

Fresh organic fruits are a common dessert, and sesame-honey candies are also eaten. Europeans introduced cake, which is popular.

 

Beverages

Tea (chai) and coffee (kawa) are popular beverages and important cash crops. These can be served English-style or spiced (chai masala). Coca-Cola, Pepsi andFanta all made inroads in the Ugandan market and soft drinks became very popular. Both traditional and Western beers are probably the most widely available alcoholic beverages across Uganda.

Ajono/malwa,a margical-uniting drink in Uganda

Pombe and lubisi are generic words for locally made fermented beer, usually from banana or millet. Fermented banana wine is also prepared and consumed.Tonto is a traditional fermented drink made from bananas. Waragi is the generic term for distilled spirits and these also vary, see for example Uganda Waragi, a brand name for clear or yellow gin.