Give Entebbe one full day, two if you want the lake. Start with the shoebill at Mabamba at dawn, then the Botanical Gardens and the Wildlife Education Centre, which sit side by side. Spend the second day on the boat to the chimpanzees on Ngamba Island, and end both on a beach with grilled tilapia.
Entebbe is the peninsula town on Lake Victoria where Uganda's only international airport sits, and it was the colonial capital until 1962. Most travellers see it for a night. Give it a day and it repays you with gardens, chimpanzees and shoebills.
Laid out in 1898 on the shore of Lake Victoria, and the easiest place in Uganda to see black-and-white colobus and great blue turacos without a safari. Walk the lakeside path early, before the heat.
Entebbe's zoo, run as a rescue and education centre: lions, chimpanzees and a shoebill, in lakeside enclosures. It is where Uganda's confiscated and injured animals end up, and the best primer before the parks.
A forested island given over to orphaned chimpanzees, run by the Chimpanzee Trust. You watch a feeding from a raised platform along the fence. The boat ride across the lake is half the day.
The closest reliable shoebill in Africa: a Ramsar papyrus swamp where local guides pole you through the channels in a wooden canoe. Go at dawn. Cross from Nakiwogo, then drive about twenty minutes.
The town's liveliest strip of lake sand, with bars, grilled fish and music that grows louder into the evening. Come for the sunset over Lake Victoria rather than the swim: bilharzia is a risk anywhere in the lake.
The shore where the first Catholic missionaries in Uganda, Father Lourdel and Brother Amans, stepped off a boat on 17 February 1879. A monument marks it, and pilgrims walk here every year on the date.
A working fishing village where Nile perch and tilapia come off the boats, and the jetty for the boats to Banda Island. Buy a fish and have it grilled on the spot.
A small rescue centre, opened in 2002, for snakes, chameleons, monitor lizards and tortoises. Cobras and boomslangs are the draw. A guided hour teaches you more about Ugandan snakes than a safari.
A Ramsar-listed bay that fills with terns and gulls, including white-winged terns wintering from Europe. It is the easiest serious birding between Kampala and the airport.
Uganda's oldest course, opened in 1901, eighteen holes and par 71 on the lakeshore. Visitors can play on a green fee. The monkeys and the lake views are part of the round.
Pizza and whole fish on the sand, facing the lake. The expat default.
Site of the July 1976 hostage rescue, with bullet scars and a memorial to Yonatan Netanyahu. Military property: see it only with arranged access.
The research forest where the Zika virus was first identified in 1947. Visits go through the Uganda Virus Research Institute.
The president's official residence, the colonial governor's before that. Seen from the road only.
The largest of the Ssese Islands, by the daily MV Kalangala ferry from Nakiwogo. Stay the night.
Catholics walk to the landing site on 17 February, the 1879 arrival date.
The long weekend fills every beach from Lido to Garuga.
Birders count species in one day, and Mabamba is a standard stop.
On 3 June pilgrims fill the roads to the shrine at Namugongo.
9 October marks 1962, the year Entebbe stopped being the capital.
Grasshoppers swarm with the rains and sell fried at every roadside.
Terns and waders wintering from Europe gather on the bay.
Beach parties on the lake, and the town's busiest fortnight.
Uganda's main international airport and Uganda Airlines' hub, on the edge of town. Use a marked airport taxi or a pre-booked hotel transfer.
The four-lane toll road to Kampala, about 40 km from the airport to the city centre. Traffic, not distance, sets the journey time.
Shared minibuses run from Entebbe town to Kampala's taxi parks. Boda-boda motorbikes cover short hops; insist on a helmet.
The MV Kalangala leaves Nakiwogo for Bugala Island in the Ssese group daily. Check the timetable, since services pause for maintenance.
Lake fish grilled or fried whole, eaten at the landing sites.
The firm, meaty lake fish, best off a charcoal grill.
Meat or fish stewed in a tied banana-leaf parcel. Buganda's dish.
Steamed green bananas mashed soft, the plate under every sauce.
Groundnut sauce, the thick russet gravy most meals are about.
An omelette rolled in chapati, cooked to order at street stalls.
Goat or beef skewers grilled over charcoal, eaten standing.
Fried grasshoppers in the rainy months, crisp and salty.
Get our one-page Entebbe cheat sheet plus a fresh destination every Thursday.
Uganda 
