One month travelling in Uganda/Rwanda

Uganda is my next destination so not yet able to comment there but have been to Rwanda

I spent 3 weeks in Rwanda and could have spent more and given the size of Uganda I would have thought the question should be is 4 weeks enough

First get the Bradt guides to each country they are excellent and will help you plan. I would draft up a rough plan and then post request and see if you are missing the obvious, trying to do too much or there are places that might be droped or replaced

As far as rwanda goes almost anywhere is suitable for hiking they call it the land of a 1000 hills and I think they just stopped counting but will depend on if you want formal trecks with guides or marked routes or just take off in the countryside

using public transport in Rwanda is fine for journeys between to and from Kigali - fast, frequent, comfortable and cheap. Sometimes it will be easier to transit between towns via Kigali.You may need to consider private transport in the national parks. In Kigali you would probably pay from $US 10 and a bit less round the country. Lots of accomodation available. If visiting gorillas book in advance

Check out embasy web sites for visa details applicable to your passport as a UK citizen it was simply a visa on arrival so no need to even think about multi entry

Assuming you are flying from Holland you should consider flying into Uganda and home from Kigali (or otherway round) which you can do with a number of airlines including KLM

Definitely look into the possibility of landing in Uganda and leaving from Rwanda. I live in the south of Holland, so I always look first for flights from Brussels. I was planning to see the gorilla's and chimps in Uganda (maybe combine with the pygmies) and golden monkeys in Rwanda. For the rest I want to enjoy culture and nature. Should be wonderful in both countries. I'm glad to hear that hiking in Rwanda is worthwhile. It's one of those ways to really see a country. As for taking a guide, I will see when I get there (maybe for a multiple day hike). In Kathmandu it was easy to get a VOA at the airport, so I was hoping the same for Uganda. Should be the same for UK and Holland.
I'm gonna look into some guidebooks, but first wanted to hear some firsthand info from travellers. Always useful to make up your mind. If I have some sort of itinerary I will put it on the board.

Brussels Airlines fly that route entebee and kigali

Not so easy in rwanda/uganda as they have different rules for different nationalities so check what the situation is

I spent 6 weeks in Uganda last Dec/Jan and could easily have spent longer, I don't think you'll get bored!
We had a bit of rain, but not enough to cause inconvenience or affect our travel. There were some chilly evenings though, you'll need some warm clothes, hot showers and a blanket on the bed in many places.

We saw the golden monkeys in Mgahinga NP, very good value at usd50pp. You can stay at the community camp right outside the park entrance, they have a couple of bandas and one better cottage, as well as camping. Reserve the cottage if you can, it has glass windows where the bandas just have wooden shutters - and it was VERY cold up there! We didn't see gorillas or chimps.

It is mostly easy enough to travel about using public transport, although the driving is diabolical and the shared taxis are horribly over-crowded. There are motorbike taxis (bodas) for shorter journeys and it is possible to hitch (paying for your ride). Prices are reasonable, but go up daily in December as xmas approaches and more people want to travel home! You'll probably only need private hire to visit some of the parks, like Murchison NP.

Plenty of guesthouses, our average spend for a double room with bathroom was just under £11 per night, sometimes including breakfast.

If you fly into Entebbe you can buy the visa on arrival.

Some of the things we liked: Ziwa rhino sanctuary, Nile river cruise at Murchison, Bigodi swamp walk, hiking at Sipi Falls, Crater Lakes near Fort Portal, canoeing on Lake Bunyonyi, Mabira Forest walk.

Hola

I live in Kampala and work in Kampala and Kigali and used to live in the Virunga Mountains so i might be able to help

my basic 1 month itinerary would be

kampala (general madness, nights out, taxi park, markets) - stay at red chili backpackers
fort portal (chimps, crater lakes) - stay at YES hostel
Kasese (queen elizabeth national park/Rwenzori mountain trekking) - stay anywhere cheap, Rwenzori mountain services have a guesthouse but its a bit out the way. you will need to rent a taxi for the day to enter the game park and do the launch cruise etc
Kabale (lake Bunyonyi) - stay at crater bay cottages
Kisoro (virunga mountains, golden monkeys, gorilla trekking in Bwindi/Nkuringo) - stay at golden monkey guest house. you can buy your gorilla permit in Kisoro but i would recommend getting it either when you are in Kampala or better still before you travel, well, now! make sure though you get SOUTH BWINDI, gorilla groups Nshonge, Kahunge, Nkuringo or Mishiya. North bwindi is a nightmare to get to and some 6-7 hours from kisoro.

i wouldnt really go to Rwanda as you'll cover everything in Uganda, but you could do the golden monkeys in Parc National Volcanes - but it is NOT as good and more expensive, the same goes for the volcano trekking although Mt Visoke is a nice one and the views from the top might be argued as being superior to Mt Saybyinyo in Uganda, though the views of the mountain itself are no where near comparable

the highlights would be Kigali and the genocide memorials, akagera game park, which sadly has very little game and Nyungwe forest, which is beautiful but the chimpanzees are not as easy to track as Kibale forest in Fort Portal/Uganda and seeing them is rare.

2) see the batwa in Kisoro, Uganda but don't expect 'little people' the population has been interbreeding for years, the only 'true' batwa tribes could be argued now to only exist in DRC

3) it rains all the time in the virunga region, going during the dry season won't guarantee you dry trekking, though it does get tiring hiking the volcanoes in constant rain with no views. November/december it will be wet, just bring a good jacket. the roads on the above itinerary are generally unaffected by usual rains but can flood if it gets bad

4) both extremely easy to travel. Uganda is easier to see places off the beaten track purely as rwanda makes it so easy to get from one big city to the next without stopping, local transport is more common and easier to get on in UG.

5) uganda has hundreds of options for under $15 a night, all the places above are under this figure in their most basic guise (i.e. tent/dorm/single). Kigali has no easily accessible budget options, don't bank on the game park areas of Rwanda to have any budget options, for PNV, use musanze, but its still not dirt cheap.

6) depends on nationality. VOA possible in uganda for almost anyone, rwanda for Uk and US is fine, others have problems, some have MASSIVE problems. their visa system is online and is very poor, a lot of travelers get stranded in Kisoro. if you want to go there, get your visa application done before you travel on a good, fast internet with a printer ready. there are no multi entry visas for either country though rwanda is free for UK and some others. you can upgrade ugandan visas to multi entry in Kampala for about $20.

7) VISA is fine in Ug for most banks with a limit of 250,000 shillings per day. Again rwanda can be a nightmare, one bank, ecobank, worked for me but not my friend traveling with visa who could not get money out in the entire country. stock up with shillings and change them to francs at the border just in case!!!!

sorry to be so succinct, I'm at work! but this is the best advice i can give but please feel free to email or post followup questions

Edited by: ric_howard

Hey, thanks for all the input so far. I'm sure to get a proper itinerary to work.
I will check the visa regulations for both countries. And maybe skip Rwanda.
Again, thanks.

It would be a shame to miss Rwanda completely. If you have got as far as Kisoro it is probably much quicker to get to Kigali than Kampala

I'll be working in Rwanda this summer and then traveling around in Uganda (first time travel to Africa). I've seen a few mentions of Red Chilli hostel as being a great place to stay in Kampala. Has anyone stayed at the Backpackers Hostel? I've been communicating with them to book a trip to the Rwenzori mountains, and do rafting on the Nile. Any opinions on these two hostels or hostels in Kampala in general?

Also I'm curious as to what to do when in Kampala, and what is the acceptable dress code there ?

thanks