Living in Kampala: an expat guide

Housing can be surprisingly expensive if you are based in the city centre. If accommodation is provided by your organisation, then great. If not, then you will probably be given a limited amount of time in hotel accommodation while you find your own. There are many property agents who can help you find what you’re looking for including the Ugandan branch of the upmarket English agency Knight Frank.

Be careful to consider your or your spouse's place of work as well as the location of potential schools when choosing an area to live in as this may make a huge difference in the amount of time spent stuck in traffic on Kampala’s extremely crowded roads.

Availability of expat-type accommodation ranges from impressive houses and gardens in secure compounds to condo-style blocks, to small family accommodation with modest gardens — again, usually with their own compound.

If you are posted to Kampala through a business or organisation they will be able to inform you about house agents, medical facilities, and places to obtain essential items, and they may appoint a ‘buddy’ to show you around when you first arrive. This can help you to meet people and start those all-important networks of friends.

As far as lifestyle goes, Kampala does have pretty much everything you’ll need for a good standard of living.

Utilities

Plumbing and electricity tend to be erratic, depending on which area you live in so you may want to invest in an inverter to provide short-term back-up for power and a tank for water storage. These are not expensive.

It’s hard to find skilled electricians and plumbers. Ask well-established expats for their recommendations, otherwise, you will find yourself ‘supervising’ some rather dubious repair work. It’s best not to go for the cheapest repair option you can get, either. 

Phones and internet

Getting a mobile connection in Kampala couldn’t be easier and finding an internet connection is no longer an expensive and exasperatingly slow task. Internet speed is still nowhere near what you are probably used to back in the States or Europe, but it is tolerable. New cafés are also regularly springing up serving good coffee with, often, free wireless and good café style food.

Finding home help

Pretty much everyone has a nanny and/or housekeeper (depending on the number and age of your children and size of your house). The best way to find a trustworthy person is by word of mouth through friends or families who are leaving. Depending on the set-up of your house, if no one is there for long periods it may also be best to hire a guard or iskariya, either through one of the big security companies or personal contacts. 

Health and insurance

Health may be one of the main reasons people sometimes have reservations about coming to Africa. The threats of malaria, hepatitis, and other diseases and parasites are potentially high. However, you can significantly reduce the possibility of contracting any of these diseases by ensuring all your vaccinations are up-to-date before you arrive and by sleeping under a mosquito net. When travelling out of Kampala, which has a low incidence of malaria, to a more infectious area, take anti-malarial tablets as well as sleep under a net.

For an expat, with health insurance or the small amount of money needed to pay for general medical care, there are plenty of good clinics and hospitals in Kampala. Unfortunately, this is not always the case elsewhere in the country.

For the majority of adult expats and children living and working in Uganda, disease is avoidable and there is a high likelihood you will be healthy for your entire time here, bar the odd bout of food poisoning! Capable health professionals and clinics exist here, so if you are a normally healthy family you should have no cause for concern about coming to Uganda.

Driving

Driving in Kampala can be nerve-wracking at first if you are not used to driving in a developing country, but you will be surprised at how quickly necessity will force you to get behind the wheel. All driving is unpredictable although with the general pace being slow, it usually gives you time to react. Roads are often badly surfaced and potholed, although most in the city centre have tarmac.

Vehicles tend to weave around these potholes to avoid bone-shaking bumps, so get used to people suddenly heading directly towards you! Traffic is heavy and disorganised, lights and traffic wardens may actually exacerbate this. What may alarm you the most, however, is the way no one pays any attention to road rules.

If you really don’t want to drive, you can also make use of the local options — ‘boda bodas’ (the infamous but convenient motorbike taxis), or ‘taxis’ (vans converted to take around 14 passengers). Whatever your choice, you’ll eventually find the driving style here seems purely routine.

Meeting new people

Within the city, there are several mother and baby groups (initiated by expat mums but also joined by local mums) and playgrounds with clean sandpits, slides, swings, and climbing frames. These are good places to meet other families, as well as through work or at the school gate, of course.

Churches are a big focal point and many expats are connected with missions or church charities so this often forms the basis of all their social interactions.

Shopping

Supermarkets sell a good selection of imported food and toiletries. There are a couple of big shopping centres in town, with various clothing and houseware stores, and a large supermarket. Beef in particular is well-butchered and cheap. Fish (mostly tilapia or Nile perch) can be bought frozen from the supermarkets, or fresh from small stalls at the side of the road or by the edge of Victoria Lake, straight off the boats. Roadside markets also offer an excellent selection of cheap fruit and vegetables; in particular, you will notice an abundant supply of matooke, a green savoury banana steamed and eaten as a staple food in southern Uganda.

The biggest market in town for food and everything else is in Nakasero — it’s hectic but colourful. Nearby is Owino, a huge clothes market with second-hand clothes from Europe and the US, selling everything from shoes to hats to shirts — great value if you have the patience to comb through and haggle. New clothes shops in Kampala tend to be overpriced and with a limited selection, so Owino is a good option.

It can be a good idea to take cash with you every time you go shopping, preferably in small denominations, because no one in Uganda ever has change. 

Eating out and entertainment

There is a good choice of restaurants in Kampala ranging from five-star hotels to roadside ‘pork joints’. Like any major city anywhere you will also find Chinese, Italian, Indian, and French restaurants plus a wealth of other more unusual cuisines such as Ethiopian and Eritrean.

There are several cinemas, including multiplexes, ranging from the fairly basic (in terms of comfort and facilities) to the state-of-the-art, complete with air-conditioning and upmarket snacks. Language and culture organisations such as the Alliance Française have arts and cultural events and screen foreign films from time to time. Local theatres put on a mixture of European and African plays and dance.

Ugandans like to party, so bars, live music venues, and clubs abound, with the upmarket choice for the well-heeled situated in the industrial area, and a selection of small and extremely lively ones in the Kabalagala area. 

Wildlife and activities

While you are in the country you should make time to see some of the wildlife and beauty spots Uganda has to offer. Apart from safaris, there are plenty of activities such as visiting the zoo and boat trips a short drive away from central Kampala, in places such as Munyonyo and Entebbe which are both on Lake Victoria.

For older children, family rafting trips, horseback safaris, quad biking, hiking, and sailing are possible, again just a short distance from the town centre. For longer trips requiring a few days, camping is very popular and you can equip yourself from any one of the big stores. If that’s not your style then accommodation ranges from a few dollars at a basic hostel to hundreds of dollars at luxurious safari lodges.

You can organise your trip yourself, or sometimes going with a tour group can be good value. Whatever your budget, some time away from the city allows you to appreciate the beautiful and very different environment outside of it.

Whatever your reasons for coming to Uganda, and staying in Kampala, plenty of opportunity exists for you and your family to have an enjoyable, interesting, and rewarding cultural experience whilst not having to sacrifice the kind of conveniences you are used to at home.