Entebbe is a relaxed Lake
Victoria lakeshore town 43 kilometres or half an hours’ drive
south of Kampala. It's on a road that is heavily developed, giving Entebbe
the feel of a backwater suburb of the capital city.
It was the original capital of Uganda, and the airport here still
serves as the gateway international airport to Uganda. Indeed, Entebbe
is best known for its airport, thanks to a 1976 drama when a hijacked
Israeli El Al flight landed here before being liberated by the Israeli
Secret Service. The hijacked plane and old bullet ridden airport terminal
are still there – abandoned for a new runway and airport building.
There’s even an old circa 1970s movie entitled Entebbe that
documents the incident.
Today, it’s a pleasant place with many old colonial buildings
on wide tree-lined boulevards. There is a fair spattering of good hotels,
restaurants, an excellent fruit and vegetable market, one of the few
golf courses in the country, and even a couple of internet spots.
There’s a 70-acre botanical garden that was laid out in 1898.
It has some fairly interesting botanical species thanks to its century-old
well-established gardens. There’s also a ramshackle zoo managed
by the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre. In recent years
they have made some attempt at revamping the enclosures, though there are more
rewarding places to view wildlife in East Africa.
Much more promising, and now Entebbe’s premier drawcard – unless you’re catching a plane from the airport
– is the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary. It is an innovative
sanctuary for orphaned and rescued chimpanzees 23 kms from Entebbe
on one of the Sese Islands.
Entebbe serves as the jump-on point for either a slow Sese canoe or
a faster motorised boat to Ngamba, which actually lies across the
equator a short distance from Entebbe. Jump out and swim over
the equator if you dare!
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