Entebbe Top Attractions
Entebbe offers the opportunities of a big city, while retaining the convenience and charm of a small town. You’ll find sandy beaches, parks, a zoo, botanical gardens all a walk or bicycle ride away from the town centre.
Entebbe Botanical Gardens
Laid out in 1898, these expansive gardens are perfect for a leisurely stroll. The highlights are its pockets of thick rainforest, which locals claim some of the original Tarzan films were made in, and excellent birdwatching with 115 species (USh10,000 per guide). You’ll see plenty of monkeys, including black and white colobus, and tree squirrels too.
Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary
This sanctuary in Lake Victoria is home to around 50 orphaned chimps that have been rescued from elsewhere in Uganda and are being rehabilitated as much as possible on this thickly forested island. Day trips to see the residents are superb. Plan ahead and you can join the overnight experience and a forest-walk with the chimps, who’ll climb all over you. It’s a 50-/90-minute speedboat or motorised canoe ride from Entebbe to get here.
Uganda Wildlife Education Centre
While it functions primarily as a zoo, this centre is actually a world-class animal refuge that has benefited from international assistance in recent years. Most of the animals on display were once injured or were recovered from poachers and traffickers. Star attractions include chimpanzees (a good alternative to pricier Ngamba Island), southern white rhinos, lions, leopards and shoe bill storks. Keep an eye out for the baby elephant wandering about too.
Uganda Reptiles Village
Get up close to some of the world’s deadliest snakes, including mambas, cobras, puff adders and vipers, as well as chameleons, crocs and lizards, all of which are rescued or injured. Come see over 50 reptiles with 20 different species on display from cobras,boomslangs, skinks, monitor lizards,tortoises and the most poisonous snake in Africa the Gaboon Viper. One enclosure is an open basin, as the species hosted there are non-climbing. Another basin is home for four different species of tortoises, your children will love watching these slow but fun animals eat their vegetables. It’s around 3km off the Entebbe–Kampala road, about a 20-minute drive from Entebbe.
Entebbe International Airport
Entebbe International Airport, the largest in Uganda, was opened in 1929. Entebbe airport was the scene of a hostage crisis and rescue mission on July 4th 1976; when soldiers from an elite unit of the Israeli army rescued over 100 hostages following hijacking of Air France flight 139 by a group of Palestinian and German militia.
It was also from this airport that Queen Elizabeth II departed Africa to return to England on February 7th 1952 after concurrently learning of her father King George VI’s death and the news of her ascendancy to the British throne as Queen of England.
Mabamba Swamp
Mabamba Swamp is the natural habitat for the elusive Shoebill Storks in Africa Bird watching is mostly via canoe, where you will navigate waterways comprising lily pads and papyrus swamp. It takes about 1 hour to drive on dirt roads from Entebbe to Mabamba Swamp, Mabamba Swamp is an extensive marsh stretching through a long narrow bay, fringed with papyrus towards the western main body of Lake Victoria. You will then access the swamp in local fishing boat / Canoe with a local guide. Reaching Mabamba by boat, rather than by car, gives you an opportunity to see many of the birds that you may otherwise miss. Sometimes even the shoebill may elude you in the canoes only to be seen as you approach, or leave, by the bigger boat.
Victoria Shopping Mall
This is home to first class outlets like Nakumatt Supermarket, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Bata Shoe outlet, Café Javas and a lot more. Enjoy a 5-Star experience with its adjacent Hotel, eateries and shops. A Nakumatt supermarket comes in handy for groceries as well as camping equipment. Other niceties include fashion, dining, leisure and entertainment. Shoppers can expect the best. Several brands like MTN, Orange, Eye Care Center and Vine Pharmacy have a presence in this mall.
Beaches in Entebbe
Uganda is endowed with attractions that lure visitors to its shore lines every year-thanks to Lake Victoria, which is highly endowed with several beaches. More than 80 percent of the Beaches in Uganda are situated in Entebbe or along the Entebbe – Kampala stretch. At these beaches; clean and beautiful white-sand, celestial sunrises, remarkable rare birds are but a few of the treats that await anyone. Here below are beaches that rank best.
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