Preparing for your Trip!

Quick Facts

Capital City: Kampala

Population: About 25 Million

Official Language: Swahili (Luganda, Bantu,

Nilo-Saharan languages, English, and Arabic are

also used in the country.)

Time Zone: East Africa Time (UTC+03 )

Climate: Tropical

The Local Currency: Ugandan Shilling (UGX)

Visa

A tourist visa can be issued for $100.00USD upon arrival at Entebbe airport. You must hold return or onward ticket, yellow fever vaccination certificate, and 2 passport sized photos. You can also apply for a visa at your local Ugandan Embassy. Most participants get the tourism visa upon arrival since it is less time-consuming. For a trouble-free entry, you should indicate your purpose of travel as tourism. A tourism visa is all you need for short term non-paid volunteer work in Uganda. A tourism visa is valid for 3 months and it can be renewed for those who want to stay longer.

For the most updated information, please check with the local Ugandan embassy.

Safety

The capital city Kampala is a relatively safe city. We caution against all travel outside Uganda’s main towns during  the late hours. Even though it is unlikely for something to happen to you, we recommend that you take the following precautions:

-If you must carry a handbag, try to keep your handbag in front of you.

-Try to use taxi drivers that you know and keep car doors/windows shut.

-Try not to wear real gold jewellery while walking around the streets.

-Please do not join political demonstrations, talks and groups.

-Try not to walk alone after dark.

-Try to keep in groups when going to unknown places.

-Be careful when crossing the streets

We also recommend that you bring two Debit/credit cards when you travel but keep them in different places. You can probably keep one in your wallet with you for daily use and keep the other card in a very safe place for back-up purpose. In this case, if anything happens, at least you won’t loose both cards at the same time. Most ATM's accept Visa and Debit cards.

Communication

Communications infrastructure is reasonably good in Uganda. It is easy and cheap to call and to send emails. Internet access is also affordable (less than US$1 per hour). The country code of Uganda is +256.

Vaccinations

Yellow Fever is the legally required vaccination for Uganda. Don’t forget to take your yellow fever certificate with you while you travel.

The following are recommended:

-Polio

-Hepatitis A

-Hepatitis B

-Diphtheria/Tetanus

-Typhoid

-Malaria – Tablets