Kampala District
Kampala District is the largest and capital city of Uganda. Located at 0’19N, 32’35 E, and 1189m above sea level. It is encompassed with the Wakiso district and north of Lake Victoria which is the largest freshwater lake in Africa. Kampala is a few minutes’ drive from the Entebbe International Airport through the great Entebbe Express highway which is allegedly the most expensive road ever constructed in the world. Kampala isn’t only the largest but also the busiest city in Uganda with most of the companies having their headquarters here. Sitting on an area of 8451 km with a population of more than 2 million people makes it one id the most densely populated cities in entire Africa. Popularly known as the city of many hills because it’s strategically located with over 7 hills. The name Kampala was derived from the Luganda words of “kasozi ka impala” meaning hills occupied by impala. Previously the hills of Kampala were a habitat to these animals hence giving birth to the name Kampala.
Kampala was first gazette in 1891 when the Kabaka of Buganda has his executive on two hills of Mengo and Rubaga. Even Entebbe was the capital during colonialism, many of the Europeans in Uganda settled in Kampala. The city is said to have been designed by a German man called Ernst May between 1934-1954 during the British colonial times. Currently, it is divided into five different divisions including Kampala Central, Kawempe, Makindye, Nakawa, and Rubaga division which also double as the administrative thresholds of Kampala. The city is glowing with contemporary skyscrapers and developing infrastructure including roads, school institutions, and business hubs. Transport around the city has been revamped with taxi matatus, special hires, and Boda Bodas. The taxis are minibusses that ferry people around and out of Kampala on particular routes. The people gather at different stages depending on their desired destination then they are collected by these vehicles. Different companies like Safe Boda, Taxify, and Bolt give people rides around the city on Bodas. Bodas are the quickest means to transverse the city its dense population makes traffic a daily hustle. One can also get a special hire which usually parks on roadsides with signposts attracting customers or order for one using Uber.
Culture in Kampala
Despite being located in the Buganda Kingdom, Kampala is a very versatile place that attracts people from all over the country. So there isn’t a definite culture in Kampala however Luganda is the most spoken language in the country’s capital. For effective communication moreso in a public place it’s important to know some basic Luganda. The glance at sunshine in Kampala is an opportunity to go ahead and hustle the day out and all roads are filled with traffic as everyone tries to make it to their area of work. Kampala like most urban places in the world it is filled with con men and picks pockets who also wake up to hustle the day out. While moving downtown is important to be mindful of your personal belongings because a new day in Kampala is to a new fresh hustle regardless of having fatigue from the previous day. When the day finally closes, Kampala is one of the places with interesting nightlife. The party nature of Ugandans has made the leisure enterprises thrive greatly because people hit club after club the entire night. The vibrant nature of Ugandans has made many international musicians that visit always want to come back, party after party is the notion of Uganda’s nightlife.
Kampala’s temperature is between 15.15- 29.3 degrees Celsius and receives rainfall between 204-669 mm/month making a good tourism hotspot. It is home to great historic sites like the Kasubi Tombs, The Bahai Temple, the lubiri, and the Gadaffi mosque. There are also good local and international restaurants where one can dine a sumptuous meal from, also home to great hotels like The Sheraton Hotel by Marriot and the Kampala Serena hotel for five-star accommodation. Home to the county’s Supreme Court, parliament, and statehouse nakasero. Kampala is a great spot for all.
