my favourite country in africa is ghana and i am getting the impression from posts that i read that uganda has a similar vibe. the nightlife sounds good, the people friendly and kampala relatively safe. i did find in harare and dar es salaam that the cities themselves seemed to close down after nightfall whereas in accra it was buzzing. am i right as we like to look round during the day and then find a good bar to go out to at night and listen to some music and have a meal and/or drink. what i had in mind was a few days in kampala then off to entebbe for chill out.

Plenty of good night life in Kampala, if you like Ghana you will like Uganda, Rwanda is also worth a trip if you have time though Kigali is not so hot on nightspots.

Where was you going to chill out in Entebbe - by the airport???
Plenty of nightlife in Kansanga - area of Kampala - Kabalagala road. Go for it

#2. undecided as wether to stay at tourist hotel in centre of kampala or banda inns at tank hill. what do you think. i'm also getting the impression from your post that you think a stay at entebbe is a bit pointless

I don`t particularly understand the comment about Entebbe, there is more than just the airport to the place ( though if you are interested you can see the remains of the Air France plane of Raid On Entebbe fame, its the one painted in the colours of the Ugandan flag on the right hand side as you leave the airport) there is a wildlife research centre which is very good and also the Entebbe botanical gardens by the lake which are very nice, you can also take an aftenoon trip to the chimp island from here, Entebbe is a good place to chill out if you find Kampala to frenetic

thanks paulinhenley. that's what i originally planned. split the trip between frenetic + chill

Just that your comment about Dar es Salaam is not true. It definitely does not close down, only the predominantly muslim downtown is pretty quiet, and even there there is one quite nice nightclub.

maybe that was an over statement fulana and i apologise but although i enjoyed the place i didn't find it bustling at night in the way that say accra is. maybe it was me and i didn't know where to look. my favourite place was a cafe we found at lunch time one day. it was just a sort of dining garden with a counter where you could get food or beers and was full of office workers. it was on a tree lined avenue round the back of the lutheran church near the ferries. the atsmosphere was great and the people were really welcoming. a great place to people watch. what i felt dar es salaam did lack was somewhere to just sit outside, have a beer or a coffee and watch the world go by.

In any place you need to check where the nightlife is. Even in Kampala, it might not be in the area you are staying, actually most probably it is not. In Dar there is good nightlife in Msasani peninsula and all over Kinondoni municipality which is some 5km from the area you are talking about. The place you are referring to is most probably City Garden, it is surrounded by embassies, very few people live there. Indeed, it is completely dead at night. Perhaps you should revisit Dar es salaam....?;)
Kampala is good, but do not forget Maputo, it is an oasis of nightlife....