How Should I Spend A Couple of Weekends Alone in Africa?

April 15, 2008 3:57 PM

How should I spend my upcoming weekends in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire; Kigali, Rwanda and Kampala, Uganda?

In May and June I'll be in Africa for work. One week in Abidjan, a few days in Kigali and a week in Kampala. During the week I'll be busy, but I'll have a couple of weekends free where I won't be traveling and I'm looking for things to do. I know I'll have one weekend in Abidjan, but its not been finalized where the second weekend will be (either Kampala or Kigali).

What should I do in Abidjan during my weekend?

I'd also welcome any advice on Kampala and Kigali and pros/cons of spending the weekend in one place vs. the other (or even somewhere nearby).

Here are the parameters: I'll be alone, I can't afford to spend big bucks (a $1000 luxury safari is out of the question), the only language I speak is English. I'm not looking for clubs/nightlife kind of things, more along the lines of cultural, entertainment, culinary, artistic, or scenery/wildlife.

Any other advice for these three cities would be welcome, especially for Abidjan (since there's been a couple of useful general posts on Kampala and Kigali previously)

posted by cptspalding to travel & transportation (1 comment total)

Kololo's comment int he Kampala thread pretty much covers most of what's to be done / seen in Kampala. I enjoyed wandering around downtown, and you can get a bit of a tour for cheap on the back of a boda-boda (motorcycle taxi), but keep close tabs on your stuff - I had my camera lifted right off the case on my belt, whilst tramping to a taxi from the bus station downtown (just last month, f-er).

If I were in your shoes, I'd lean towards more time in Kigali than in Kampala - I haven't been to the former but I've heard good things, and Kampala didn't particularly jump out at me as a great place to hang out (unlike a lot of other great African cities I've been to). If you are in Kampala, though, the day trip to Jinja might be nice to see the surrounding areas and the Nile, once there.
posted by allkindsoftime at 12:15 AM on April 16