Vaccinations, medication, Healthy risks to consider while visiting Uganda

 by Ivan Wassaaka

Information about vaccinations, immunization and medications you need to consider as yo plan to travel to Uganda and Rwanda for your Holiday

What vaccinations do I need?

A yellow fever vaccine is essential – bring your certificate with you.

Hepatitis A and B, meningitis, polio, tetanus and typhoid vaccinations are also recommended.

A Rabies vaccination is recommended for anyone who expects to be in close contact with animals or in a remote area.

Be aware that some of these require a course of injections, and others take several days to take effect. So you should visit your doctor or travel clinic as soon as possible before you travel.

Should I bring any other medications?

Anti-malarial tablets are recommended throughout Uganda – visit your local travel clinic to determine which type is best for you. Note: Chloroquine does not protect against malaria in Uganda.

Bring all prescription medications with you – they may not be readily available in Uganda.

Be sure to purchase travel insurance before you begin your trip, including medical evacuation in case of an emergency.

What Other Healthy Risks Are There?

Even if you are taking anti-malarials, you should still wear an insect repellent, long-sleeved shirts, long trousers and closed shoes. This will also help protect you from other diseases carried by mosquitoes, and other insects such as tsetse flies.

All accommodation in high-risk areas will have mosquito nets  - be sure to use them.
Avoid swimming in Uganda’s lakes – they carry a high risk of bilharzias.

Tap water is not suitable for drinking, though bottled water is readily available throughout the country.

Foreign currency exchange, Using credit cards, Bargaining/ Shopping in Uganda

What is the Currency?

The Ugandan Shilling. This cannot be purchased outside the country.

How do I Exchange Cash?

US Dollars, UK Pounds and Euros are accepted by UWA for gorillas/ chimp tracking  permits and park entry fees. Many larger hotels will also accept US Dollars and Euros – though you should check in advance.

Note: All US dollars notes must be printed post-2003, and should not be damaged in any way. Higher exchange rates are given on larger value notes ($50 and $100). Banks and Forex bureaus will exchange cash, alternatively us can use ATM machines – common in the major towns. They should accept Visa Debit and Credit Cards.

Can I use Credit or Debit Cards?

Visa is more widely accepted in city hotels and stores, followed by Mastercard. Other Credit cards are unlikely to work.

Alert your bank before using you card abroad to avoid it being blocked.

Can I bargain When Shopping

Prices are fixed in shops, but food and craft markets will be more flexible. You stand a better chance of getting a reduced price if you purchase several items from the same seller.

Prices are generally very low – so do consider if what you are asking for is fair.

Agree on charges for minibuses (matatus) or motorbike taxis (boda-bodas) with your driver before hiring.

Uganda Travel Tip -Use a Visa Card for ATM machine-
Americans can use Bank of America Debit Cards at Barclay and pay no fees, you can withdraw at most banks about 190 usd in shillings 500,000 shillings- at Barclays Bank take out 400,000 reinsert card and another 400,000 - 350 360 usd depending on exchange rate given by bank.

Do not use your card at a bar where ATM machines are showing up- you will be a target of one kind or another.

What is the Weather Like in Uganda?

Uganda enjoys a tropical climate, though the heat it tempered by the altitude, as much of the country is more than 1000m above sea level.

Rainy seasons are from March to May, and September to November.

Dry seasons are from December to February and mid- June to mid August.

Average temperatures range from about 16˚C (61˚) in the southwestern highlands to 25˚C (77˚F) in the northwest; but in the northeast, temperatures exceed 30˚C (86˚F).

Uganda Tourism Earnings shoot to $805m (Ush2, 000b)

Uganda’s foreign exchange earnings from tourism have increased from $662m (about sh1,655b) to $805m (about sh2,012.5b) over the last one year, the outgoing tourism minister, Prof. Ephraim Kamuntu, has said.

Kamuntu also said the contribution of tourism to Uganda’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) had increased from 7.6% in May last year to 9.2% today.

Kamuntu, now water and environment minister, revealed this while handing over office to the new tourism minister, Maria Mutagamba, on Wednesday. Mutagamba has been water and environment minister for close to 12 years.

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Surviving in Kampala - How people live in Uganda's Capital city

The first time I tried to use that popular saying ‘Kampala sibizimbe’ (Kampala isn't just the towers), I got it wrong. I said Kampala sizimbe, much to the amusement of my mean relatives. 

Things are hard and you’ve got to be creative to survive. My version of ‘sizimbe’ also works, if you open your mind up a little but you know, whatever. 

I like people who hustle. Let me rephrase that for honesty. I like men who hustle. I’m pretty ambitious myself (although not as rabidly as say, two years ago) because I’ve already realised my childhood dream; which was to write in the same ‘paper area’ as Ernest Bazanye. 

If you’re my age (and as sharp as I am), your mind started to flower just about when he started writing, so you can understand how glorious and unattainable that goal seemed to me. Whatever hustling that had to be done for me to achieve it got done and now I’m relaxing a bit.

Give me a man with good hustle-sense and you can keep the dowry. Dowry exists mostly to show a girl’s parents that the family she is marrying into can take care of her in as grand a way as she’s accustomed to or even grander.

If he can chase deals and dream up businesses, he’s a good enough substitute. I’m supportive of every kind of hustle until it infringes on my own. If, for example, I were in a hurry to get to a meeting on the other side of town, I wouldn’t expect my boda man to behave the way my friend Roger did. 

I would react with a lot of annoyance in fact. Roger once flagged down a boda to take him from Greenland Towers to Kamwokya. He hadn’t even finished stating the amount he was willing to pay when the man started riding at a high speed.

It is only when they reached Wandegeya that he turned and asked,“Mpozzi where are you going?” When Roger said Kamwokya, he killed the engine and told him to get off. 

Eyo sigendayo. Asked why he’d allowed him to board in the first place, the man replied:

“They beat people at that Greenland stage! If you stop nga you don’t belong there? I stopped for you because banange, Kampala sibizimbe. I also need money!”

And it’s not only boda types that have taken hustling to insane levels. Even not so desperate people with steady allowances are capable of hitting you over the head with the silliest schemes. My cousin once tried to sell drinking water to members of the household.

He took the jerry cans off the dining table and held them hostage, smiling smugly at everybody who came from the kitchen with a cup. He demanded a sum, any sum the thirsty person was willing to pay. Later, he tried to pretend that he’d been trying to teach us life lessons, to make us really think about capitalism and how it has turned humanity’s most basic of needs into a thing to be exchanged for money, but we were on to him.

Tiny children and their mothers flooded Kampala’s streets a few years ago. No longer contented with just chasing after you in the hope of making a few hundred shillings, they threaten. Some say they’ll spit, and others even wave handfuls of feces in your direction, to inspire your generosity. 

This is terrible, but also impressive. They’ve turned begging into an art, a real hustle.

Adopted from the New Vision