We Paid $8 for a $150 Safari Tour

In Uganda, if you are not black, you are white – or mzungu as the locals call it in the Swahili language. 

I am Asian, so – I am white.

Every time I go into a travel agency, whether it is in a big city or a small town, the staff will say, “since you are white, the fee is (this much).”  

Apparently, they charge tourists more than the locals.  But how much more?  

Read on to get an idea.

Gorilla trekking for “white people”

I was asked to pay $600 just for entering a gorilla sanctuary (extra for transportation and food and stuff).  When I checked with my Ugandan boyfriend at the time (let’s call him Ex) how much it would cost him for the same thing, he said he didn’t know because it wasn’t something the locals would spend their money on.

His business was just starting out, so he was very careful with his spending.  I was also very mindful of how I spent my money so I didn’t appear to be wasteful.

One day, when our friend told us that we could go to Katwe to see the wildlife for free, Ex and I decided to go check it out.

Katwe was a very remote fishing village that lay within the famous Queen Elizabeth National Park.  From Kampala, we switched between bus, taxi and boda boda (motorcycle taxi) and got to the village in about 6 hours. 

We could have explored the place on our own, but since we didn’t want to waste time finding our ways, we decided to go into a travel agency to hire a guide.

“Because she is white, I will charge $50 for one attraction.  I can take you to three and that will be $150,” Trevor the tour guide said to Ex.

“She is not white, she is my wife,” Ex came prepared after gorilla sanctuary experience.

“But she is white,” Trevor insisted.

“No.  She is my wife, a Ugandan citizen.  So don’t give me the price for the whites.” 

“How about $100 for all three attractions?”

“No, that’s still too expensive.  We can’t afford that.”

“How much do you want?”

“We only have 30,000 shillings.”  

“I really want to do business with you.  Let’s make our wife happy.  I will take you for 30,000 shillings.”

I was so proud of Ex!  Not so much because he made me “their wife,” but because he saved us a lot of money. 

30,000 shillings were like 8 US dollars!

He was never good at bargaining, but the fact that he managed to negotiate down from $150 to $8 in just minutes, that impressed me big time.

The 2-hour tour

Hippo Watching – Trevor first took us to Kazinga Channel to find hippos.  It was an early afternoon and the mammals were already hiding deep in the water to avoid the heat.  All we could see from far far away were a few hippo noses occasionally raised above the water to breath. 

Lake Katwe – It was a salt mining lake formed through volcanic eruption 10,000 years ago.  We were up in a hill for a bird’s-eye view only because no one was mining during rainy season.  As we entered the village on a boda boda, Ex and I already had a very good look of the lake, so this stop wasn’t very exciting to us. 

Katwe Crater Lake Area – It was one of the crater lakes in the national park where many different species of birds reside.  Flamingos were always a major reason for people to go to the crater lake, but we didn’t see any at the time of our visit for the birds hadn’t yet migrated from Europe.  

As we walked alongside the lake, Travor spotted a herd of elephants up in the hills.  It took me some time to find them as they were again very far away. 

Ex and I were thrilled – we finally saw something that we came all the way to see!  We wanted to run to get a closer look at the elephants, but Trevor warned us not to do that because it could be dangerous.  They were fast runners and could kill us if they were scared. 

We followed his advice and only walked quietly towards giant animals, and stopped when he told us not to get any closer.  They were still quite a distance away, but the experience was enough to get us excited for a long time. 

Was it worth the trip?

Depends. 

If you are really into animal watching and have the time and money, definitely join a real safari tour.  You can easily book one in any travel agency or online, but definitely do your research first so you can compare reviews and prices. 

If you are an adventurous budget traveler, taking a trip to Katwe is not a bad idea, but I highly recommend you make some local friends that can help you find your way there before you go. 

From Kasese, it took us 45 minutes by taxi and another 30 minutes by boda boda to get to Katwe.  I enjoyed the boda boda ride – it took us through a small bamboo forest where there were lots of small butterflies, and I got to see many baobabs (madagascar trees) on the way.  Ex didn’t like it so much because the paths were bumpy and made his butt hurt. 

Best time to go

Things are pretty straightforward once you enter the village.  You can find Lake Katwe on Google Maps, and Katwe Crater Lake Area is just on the other side of the hill from Lake Katwe. 

If you want to see hippos, make sure to go early in the morning.  You can find them around Kazinga Channel which is just behind the market.  

Flamingos are in Uganda between October and April, and the peak seasons for salt mining are from January to March and July to September.