Kampala: Walking Tour Markets, Mosque & City Life Stories

4.92

(147 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

Someone was singing — or maybe chanting — as we squeezed past a pyramid of mangoes at Nakasero Market. The air smelled sharp and sweet, like green bananas and dust after rain. Our guide, Moses, waved to a woman balancing tomatoes in a kitenge wrap; she grinned back and called something I couldn’t catch. I tried to count the colors in that market but gave up after ten. We’d barely started the walking tour of Kampala and already my head was spinning (in a good way).

I didn’t expect to climb 304 steps at the Uganda National Mosque, but Moses said it was “the best view in town” — he wasn’t kidding. My legs burned but the wind up there felt cool against my sweaty shirt, and you could see all seven hills of Kampala rolling out under the haze. Someone pointed out Makerere University’s tower far off. It made me wonder how many stories this city holds just under the surface.

We wound through Kisenyi Slum next — busy doesn’t even cover it. Kids darted between boda bodas, men shouting over sacks of rice, women selling chapati by hand. It felt overwhelming for a second but then two little boys waved at us and laughed when I tried to say “Gyebale Ko.” I probably butchered it (Moses just shook his head). There’s something about being welcomed by strangers that sticks with you longer than any monument.

Somewhere near the taxi park (it’s chaos — horns everywhere), we ducked into a Hindu temple built without any metal at all. The marble was cool under my palms; incense floated around us, softening the noise outside for a minute. After that we stopped for fruit again — pineapple this time, so sweet it almost hurt my teeth. I kept thinking how every corner here has its own rhythm.

I still think about that view from the mosque tower sometimes, or the way people in Kampala look you right in the eye when they talk to you — open, curious. This day trip through Kampala wasn’t always comfortable but it felt honest, like seeing someone’s real face for once instead of just their smile.