Uganda Packing List

Most packing advice for equatorial Africa is interchangeable. Uganda has two rules that are not, and both of them are laws rather than suggestions.

Camouflage is illegal, and the penalty is not a fine

It is illegal for anyone in Uganda, including children, to dress in military style clothing. That covers camouflage, red berets, and clothing carrying marks, badges or symbols associated with the Ugandan military, as well as accessories.

The FCDO records that the offense carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment on conviction.

Camouflage prints turn up constantly in outdoor and safari clothing, in children's wear, and in daypacks and hats. Go through the bag before you fly rather than discovering this at an airport. This is not a rule that travelers are widely warned about, and it is the single most consequential packing fact in this cluster.

Vapes and shisha are illegal

Electronic cigarettes and shisha are illegal in Uganda, with penalties including fines and prison sentences. Smoking is separately banned in public places, workplaces, transport, and outdoors within 50 meters of a public building.

If you vape, this is a trip you do not bring the device on.

The certificate that is a travel document

Your physical yellow fever certificate is required to enter the country and should be packed with your passport rather than in a bag that might go astray. Treat it as a travel document, because for Uganda that is what it is.

Also carry a copy of the photo page of your passport at all times: officials may stop you and ask for identification.

Weather, altitude and forest

There are two rainy periods, roughly March to May and October to November, and it rains in every month regardless. Kampala sits high enough to be mild rather than hot; the Rwenzori reaches glaciers, and altitude sickness is a risk in parts of the country.

Gorilla and chimpanzee tracking is hours of walking on steep, wet, uneven ground through vegetation. Boots already broken in, gaiters and gardening gloves are the difference between a good day and an endured one. Malaria is present; bring repellent and cover up at dusk.