3 Days Kampala and Buganda Heritage Tour

Day-by-day itinerary

1. Day1
   

   Uganda Museum, Kasubi Tombs and the Kabaka’s Palace

   Our guide collects you from your Kampala or Entebbe hotel after breakfast. The first stop is the Uganda Museum on Kitante Hill, founded in 1908 and the oldest museum in East Africa. Its galleries hold stone tools from the country’s earliest sites, iron-working finds, royal regalia and a room of traditional instruments you are invited to play. From there, drive to Kasubi Hill and the Kasubi Tombs, listed by UNESCO in 2001. The great thatched house, Muzibu Azaala Mpanga, was built as the palace of Kabaka Mutesa I in 1882 and became the burial place of four kings of Buganda. Fire destroyed it in 2010, and after years of rebuilding with traditional thatching skills, the site reopened to visitors in 2026. A guide from the royal household explains the bark-cloth screens, spears and the role of the widows and keepers who still live on the site. After lunch, visit the Mengo Palace, the Lubiri, and the man-made Kabaka’s Lake, linked by a royal mile. Dinner and overnight at Kampala Serena Hotel, Sheraton Kampala or similar.

   • Uganda Museum and Kasubi Tombs
   • Kampala Serena Hotel, Sheraton Kampala or similar
   • Lunch, dinner
2. Day2
   

   Namugongo Shrine, Wamala Tombs and an Evening of Music

   After breakfast, drive east through the suburbs to Namugongo, about 15 km from the city centre. On 3 June 1886, Kabaka Mwanga II had a group of young Christian pages, among them Charles Lwanga, burned to death here, and the Catholic basilica and the Anglican shrine nearby now mark the place. Every year on 3 June, pilgrims walk here from across East Africa, some for weeks. Our guide explains how the arrival of Arab traders, Anglican and Catholic missionaries and colonial agents shook the kingdom in the 1880s. Later, drive north-west to Wamala Hill near Nansana, where the Wamala Tombs hold Kabaka Suuna II, who died in 1856. The thatched tomb house is smaller and quieter than Kasubi and is cared for by descendants of his wives and officials. Lunch in town. In the evening, head to the Ndere Cultural Centre for a performance of music and dance from across Uganda, from the Kiganda drum orchestras to the leaping dances of the north and east. Dinner and overnight at your Kampala hotel.

   • Namugongo, Wamala Tombs, Ndere show
   • Kampala hotel
   • Breakfast, lunch, dinner
3. Day3
   

   Katereke Prison Ditch, Buddo Hill and Departure

   On the last morning, drive west on the Masaka road toward Nsangi to the Katereke prison ditch, a deep ring trench cut into a hilltop around 1888, when Kabaka Kalema held rival princes and princesses there during a war of succession; many of them died in the ditch. It is a stark place and our guide tells its story plainly. A short drive brings you to Naggalabi Buddo, the hill where Buganda’s kings have been crowned for centuries. According to tradition, the first Kabaka, Kintu, fought and defeated Bemba the snake-king here, and each new Kabaka must climb the hill to claim the throne. The coronation site, the shrine and the bark-cloth trees around it are looked after by clan keepers. On the way back, stop at a bark-cloth workshop to see how the inner bark of the mutuba fig tree is beaten into cloth, a craft UNESCO recognised in 2005. After lunch, we transfer you to your hotel or Entebbe International Airport, about 45 minutes from Buddo. End of the tour.

   • Katereke and Buddo
   • Breakfast, lunch