Thanks so much for the information!! Much appreciated! I stumbled upon your page while researching sustainable tourism! Excited to continue to follow along.

Hi Lily,
We traveled by bus from Kampala to Kigali and it was a pretty easy and straightforward journey. There were several options of bus companies to choose from, so we chose one that was a bit more expensive but had a bit of comfort (and wifi at different points). This was welcome as the bus ride was quite long (perhaps 8-10 hours?). The border crossing is pretty straightforward as well. So, I imagine it’s just as easy/simple to go from Rwanda to Uganda by bus.

While in Rwanda we traveled by public bus without any trouble. Information was relatively easy to find and there were often quite a few buses going each day. Hope this info helps!

Tina, couldn’t agree with you more about the importance of sharing good stories and the great feeling one has when others react and respond to them. Have many more stories from Africa to share now 🙂

Elaine, we just returned from East Africa so can provide some perspective on costs. Traveling through East Africa is more expensive than most of Central/South America (with the exception of perhaps Chile/Argentina) and Asia, but there are ways to do it on a budget. If you’re interested in going on safari then that will increase your budget, of course.

Uganda: We were on an overland truck tour for most of the time there, so our costs were skewed a bit by that. When we were traveling on our own in Kampala double rooms at a hostel were about $25-$30/night + $4-7/meal. Street food in Kampala was more like $2-3. White water rafting at Jinja was $125/day.

Rwanda: Kigali is expensive with a double room at a hostel costing around $40+ and a dorm bed costing around $17. However, we found a great place at Lake Kivu called Home Saint Jean that was $12/double room (shared bath). Meals were around $4-7. At Masunze the guesthouse (Amahoro) was $30/double room. Public buses/boats are pretty cheap at just a few dollars for the transfers we did between Kigali – Kibuye – Gisenyi – Musanze. Activities in Rwanda are quite expensive though as National Park fees are $75/person for the Volcanoes National Park and private boat trips around Lake Kivu were pricy (e.g., $15-$20/hour).

Ethiopia: We were on a tour that took care of our accommodation and transport, so I can’t speak firsthand to the price of those. Food was often $3-5 for a huge meal in a nice restaurant. And the food was SO good.

Kirsty, so glad that we were able to meet up during our brief Kigali visit. Do let us know if you hop over to Berlin during your European adventures this summer!

There’s always next time 🙂

If you are interested in a deeper look at Ethiopia, check out our last article regarding our Ethiopia travel impressions:
https://uncorneredmarket.com/ethiopia-travel/