Is Uganda safe for tourists?

The trek is the risk: steep, muddy, at 1,500-2,500m altitude, and harder than most people expect — take it seriously and hire a porter. Across 1 guides Uganda averages 3.5 out of 5; no place is rated very safe. Every guide names the comfortable areas and the ones that want care, with the reason.

Which parts of Uganda need the most care?

None of the 1 guides in Uganda is rated below 3: the usual big-city attention — bags in front on transit, phones away at the kerb — is the whole of it.

Is Uganda Safe? Safety by City — 1 Destination Rated

Is Uganda safe?

1 guide, each rated 1 to 5 with the reason — and two lists per place, where you are comfortable and where to pay attention. Nowhere is called dangerous; the specific thing is what helps.

3.5 average across 1 guide · Reasonably safe

Bwindi Reasonably safe

The trek is the risk: steep, muddy, at 1,500-2,500m altitude, and harder than most people expect — take it seriously and hire a porter. Gorillas are habituated but wild, and the rules on distance and on not going when you are ill are absolute, because they catch our diseases. Uganda is generally safe for visitors and this corner is well policed for tourism; the border areas with the DRC are a different matter and are not somewhere to wander.

Comfortable: Buhoma · Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

Trekking without the ranger group, which is not permitted and not survivable as a plan
The DRC border area west of the park, which carries a standing advisory
The trek itself, which is steep, wet and up to eight hours — the fitness requirement is real

The ratings are this site's own, from the guides' authors and the corrections readers send in; they are not an index. Read the general advice in travel safety tips.

Is Uganda safe?

Bwindi Reasonably safe

The guides in Uganda