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Fort Portal - town in Western Uganda

Fort Portal is an important town and centre of the Kabarole District in Western Uganda.

Get in

View over Fort Portal, showcasing the lushness of the city.

Link Bus and Kalita Bus have connections from Kampala to Fort Portal which go via Mubende (5-6 hours). The road has a good asphalt surface, Mubende is found about half way between Kampala and Fort Portal and you can fill up on petrol and buy food and drink there.

The Link Bus leaves from the bus station near the new Taxi Park in Kampala whenever a bus is full and there is also a Link bus park in Fort Portal. The ticket price from Kampala to Fort portal is USh 25,000 from Fort Portal to Kasese the Link bus cost USh 5,000. The first Link bus from Fort portal to Kasese is at 10AM. A van from Fort Portal to Kasese cost USh 6000 and the 1st van goes at around 7AM.

Get around

Fort Portal is a small town and it is easily possible to just walk. If you need to go further, there are Boda Boda motorbike taxis everywhere in town. For about USh 1,000, you can travel about 2-3 km. But beware, they drive fast and are not very safe, and there are no good hospitals around in case you have an accident.

You can also take a "private hire" (taxi cab) which you can find on the corner of the main roundabout in the centre of Fort Portal and some other locations.

See

Fort Portal's on the edge of Uganda’s equatorial rainforest. It's an enchanting land full of lakes, grasslands, marshes and forests on the lower slopes of the Rwenzori Mountains in western Uganda. There are many wonderful lodges within Kibale forest where you can spend a night or two in a tree house experiencing the sounds of the forest's inhabitants including 8 species of monkey, chimpanzees, the forest elephant, bush pig and giant forest hog.

  • Tooro Botanical Gardens, 0.6668°, 30.2854°. Open daily 8:30AM-6PM. Established in 2001, they’ve replaced 100 acres of eucalyptus trees with native species. The only real sight in the town itself, and well worth an hour to explore. Entry USh 20,000, includes guided tour 2022-07-05

Do

Visit Queen Elizabeth National Park (dead link: January 2023) which is less than an hour's drive from Fort Portal on the way to Mbarara. The wide bio-diversity of habitats means that Queen Elizabeth National Park contains the most astonishing number of species - almost 100 types of mammal and 606 different birds! The Kazinga Channel alone is said to contain the world's largest concentration of hippos, but interestingly enough not many crocodiles! Other wildlife includes warthogs, buffalo, rare aquatic sitatunga antelope, giant forest hog, beautifully horned Uganda kob, topi, waterbuck, elephant and leopard.

This is a wonderful national park, sometimes dubbed 'the Pearl of Africa or Switzerland of Africa'. Quite simply this fertile equatorial area is especially scenic, with two lakes connected by a channel overlooked by a high peninsula. You will also find volcanic craters, grassy plains and tropical forest. As a result it has one of the highest biodiversity ratings in the world. Hunting exhibits such as stuffed lions, leopard skins, deer heads and elephants tusks may still be found adorning some hotels and lodges, but the emphasis is certainly more on shooting with a camera these days. Many of Uganda's safaris were poached out in the past, especially elephants, but now the area is protected and elephants numbers are boosted by those entering the park from the Congo, where poaching is still a problem.

There is also a really funny statue of Sir Gerald Portal on the main road of the town. Yes, he does have a gun in his pocket and yes, he is pleased to see you.

Golfing: The town has a nice golf course, just on the main road. Entrance is USh 30,000, and you'll probably have to find someone there to rent you their set of clubs.

Buy

Fort Portal is famous for its tea. This area is gifted by nature with a cool climate which ensures a relatively slow plant growth rate. This naturally makes the tea a high grown, high quality tea.

The consumption of this tea is associated with many health benefits. These include anti-allergy, anti-oxidation, anti-hypertension, anti-viral, anti-obese, anti-cancer, anti-bacterial, enzyme inhibition and many other human health problems. You can buy the tea in any local shop or even better visit one of Fort Portal's tea plantations.

  • Stanbic Bank, Lugard road. Has a MasterCard/Visa ATM. 2015-04-18
  • Kenya Commerial Bank. Has a MasterCard/Visa ATM. 2015-05-25
  • Andrews Supermarket. Sells fresh bread. 2015-09-08

Eat

The two "foreigner" restaurants in town are the Gardens Restaurant just opposite the Shell petrol station on the main Lugard Road, and the Dutchess Restaurant (and hotel) on Mugurusi Road, right after the Uganda Human Rights Commission building. Both places have good pizza and other Western and local dishes, starting around UGX10,000.

There are also many good local restaurants in Fort Portal, and they are much cheaper. But go early, as food preparation in Uganda takes time. Half an hour for some simple fast food is not uncommon.

  • Sweet Aromas Bakery, Malibo Road, +256 790-91615. 9AM-9pPM. Sells cakes, tea and coffee. Cakes from USh 2000 2015-12-08
  • Little Rock Cafe, Kasese road, +256 483422814. 8AM-8PM. Home of hamburgers from USh 6000, chips USh 3000 and pot of tea USh 2000. 2015-12-08
  • Momo Tea Room. 6AM-9PM. A good place for breakfast: eggs USh 2000, chips USh 2500, bread USh 1000, black tea USh 700, milk tea USh 1000, soft drinks USh 1500. 2015-12-09

Drink

The many varieties of tea, fresh fruit juices including pineapple, passion fruit and mango. And for the less health conscience Uganda have some excellent beers, Nile, Bell, and Pilsner.

Sleep

There is accommodation everywhere in Fort Portal town. If your interest is not being as close as possible to the national parks, you can just head to Fort Portal and find a place that suits you upon arrival.

Go next

Fort Portal

Date Time:Please wait...Timezone:Africa/KampalaCoordinates:0.66, 30.28

Kabarole District

2nd-order administrative division

Western Region

Primary administrative division

Uganda

statehouse.go.ug
Population:42.7 MDial code:+256Currency:Shilling (UGX)Voltage:240 V, 50 Hz