Accommodation in Uganda can be quite expensive if you have a long stay or planning to travel on budget. If you want to travel cheaper while exploring deeper, you probably need to try the homestay accommodation around Uganda. Adding homestays provide some opportunity to keep the travel budget low. You will be paying one low price for the room, meals and some of the local activities, making it an opportunity to explore Uganda affordably.
Uganda has up to 56 tribes. Every different tribe means changes in dialect, food and cuisine, dressing code, music and dances, arts and crafts, housing style and different nature activities to participate in with the different national parks. If you choose to use homestays during your trip in Uganda, you will be able to live with different homes, in different locations with a different natural and cultural background making the trip less repetitive every other day. It is an opportunity to directly be involved in the Ugandan culture as you will be sharing your living experience with the village residents. Alongside the safaris and other arranged activities, guests have intervals of participating in the household chores and social economic activities as they truly happen on a daily basis. These include; farming, harvesting and cooking local food, craft making, tending to the domestic animals, tradition storytelling, herbal medicine preparation or mixing with the locals to share the trending gossip that goes around in the villages.
We have a list of homestays located close to different national park or tourist areas, in towns or along the tourist highways. These are homes that have chosen to provide their extra space to visitors. The family members are waiting to show you around their homes and villages any time of the visit. Uganda community tourism association (UCOTA) has been directly involved in the preparation of these homestays. Homestays have been further oriented on how to accommodate visitors, meaning your expectation of comfort, hospitality and welfare are well catered for by these local families. The safety and security of guests are assured as you stay in the comfort of the families as experts of the local areas. These are the seven homestays you can find close to the different national parks around Uganda;
Tanka’s homestay: – Kibale national park
Tanka’s homestay is located in a village next to Kibale national park. This park offers the wildest and best chimp tracking experience in Uganda. Likewise, it is in Tanka’s homestay you will find the local life experience of the people living with the chimps. Tinka has great experience of conservation, education and development in the neighborhood of the forest and is willing to share it with guests. His life story is the road of taking the local people from poverty to prosperity though sustainable tourism. The homestay offers traditional lunch, overnight accommodation and village tours. The homestay is located next to Bigodi bird sanctuary, locally called magombe swamp. In this award-winning community sanctuary, guests can participate in a walk looking for birds, primates, other mammals and a rich plants life.
Tuza homestay: – Mgahinga gorilla national park
Tuza is a local Rufumbira word meaning seat and relax. This homestay gives you an opportunity to stay comfortably in the local community of the Bafumbira people living around Mgahinga volcanic mountains. The homestay is located in Kisoro close to lake mutanda. It is also a good base for exploring Mgahinga gorilla national park. During the day, guests can participate in the coffee experience to sample the volcanic coffee. The rewarding scenery of the volcanos from the village is taken over lake mutanda, giving guests an endless relaxing moment. The host is pretty experienced of the local life and can organize gorilla trekking trips, golden monkey tracking or Mgahinga volcano climbing trips.
Judith Rutaro homestay: – Queen Elizabeth national park
Judith Rutaro homestay is located close to queen Elizabeth national park. It is in the crater lakes area of bunyaruguru. This family relays on the farming of coffee, bananas, fruits and livestock, for food and household income. They also process coffee to make an organic coffee drinking powder at home. Guests will be taken through the process of farming, harvesting and processing coffee themselves. During certain times of the day, guest can choose to take a guided walk with one of the family members to visit the various crater lakes in the area to be amazed by the great scenery and other local activities of the community members.
Rwenzori homestay: – Rwenzori mountains national park
Rwenzori homestay give a full experience of living in the Rwenzori mountain foothills. During the stay, guests live with this extended family to see how they meet their daily life. Guests can participate in farming and cooking processes. It is also an opportunity to relate with the family members and broader community by attending churches, visiting the schools or walking around the community to scale the local ways of life. This home is also a suitable stay for families with children as they have plenty of open area for playing. The home is built on a crop farm, showcasing the way crops such as bananas, coffee, vanilla, and other vegetables are grown locally. Guests who are planning to trek Rwenzori mountains national park, this home is ideal for you, on their night before and after the trek as it is located at the base camp. The view of the portal peaks is just in front of the home giving the impression of what it might be like to trek these mountains of the moon. For those staying longer, the home can arrange participation in other activities in the area, including forest walks, hill treks, local dance performances. The home offers up to three private rooms a night, that can take 6 people and secure parking for a car in the garage. With a large camping field away from home, large camping groups can use for camping if they wish to stay in tents and on their own.
Blue star homestay: – Mount Elgon national park
It is Located in a village setting nest to Sipi falls, the home is surrounded by banana plantations on the foothills of Mount Elgon, eastern Uganda. The visitors to this homestay have an opportunity to experience various local activities to understand the village life in this beautiful volcanic landscape. Beside the overnight accommodation, the host opens the guests to the participation in making local beer, handicrafts, gardening and participating in the processes of cooking local meals. The host can help guests arrange local community walks such as sipi water falls walk, the coffee experience, the sundowner tour, rock climbing and abseiling or trekking trips for those interested in scaling the high peaks of mount Elgon. The family has several bedrooms accommodating 7 people each night, sharing the same roof and meals with the family.
Mugyenyi homestay: Fort portal – Kasese highway
On the way from fort portal to Kasese, Mugyenyi homestay is located in Karambi village near kibito town council. It is a nice setting of banana gardens surrounding a small house with a hedge and nice lawn. They offer two bedrooms that can take up to four people a night. Mama mugyenyi the host is a very welcoming woman that we show guests everything while sympathetically involving them in some of the work around the home. Staying guests have an opportunity to participate in the farm activities which include poultry, gardening and harvesting, domestic animal rearing. The home location makes it a suitable overnight accommodation before visiting any park in the area including Rwenzori mountain, Kibale forest or queen Elizabeth national parks. Gusts shear meals with the family.
Toms homestay: – Lake Bunyonyi – Kabale
Tom has a story to share with visitors to lake Bunyonyi. It is story of the lake and the renowned culture of the Bakiga people living in the southwestern highlands of Uganda. Referred to as the Switzerland of Uganda, Kigezi is also the home of mountain gorillas, found in Bwindi impenetrable forest and Mgahinga gorilla national parks. Toms home stay is located on Habukomi island also called the pelican island, one of the 29 islands on lake Bunyonyi in Kabale district. The beauty of lake Bunyonyi is unbelievably magnificent. Tom has offered to show Lake Bunyonyi to the visitors using his lifelong experience of this area. Visit him at his homestay and make a deep connection. Toms homestead tours and activities give more value to the visit of this beautiful landscape when he shares his experience of the local foods, medicinal herbs, fishing activities and telling the story of his life on the lake community. Toms homestay can also be used as a base for tracking gorilla in Bwindi.
Since these are homes and may sometimes have no extra space due to the limited number of rooms, it is necessary to book in advance to ensure that the space is available. We can book these and more accommodations around the country. Just contact us and leave the rest to us to sort out your accommodation requirements. No extra fee is charged to arrange your bookings through us.
