Kampala on Foot For 8km Of History, Faith and Tourism.

4 days ago
3 min read

On Sunday, 16 August, Kampala’s familiar skyline offered a different invitation: walk through it slowly and see the city beyond its traffic, commerce and daily bustle.

The fifth edition of the Kampala Tourism Walk brought more than 400 people onto an 8.1-kilometre route beginning at the SSDM Hindu Sanatan Temple, as government and private-sector tourism players sought to turn the capital’s religious heritage into a tourism product visitors can experience, understand and ultimately buy.

The walk was flagged off by Minister of State for Tourism, Hon. Susan Nsambu Nakawuki, alongside tourism entrepreneur Amos Wekesa and Dr Jackline Nyirachiza Besigye, Commissioner qin charge of Museums and Monuments at the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities.

For the Minister of State Nakawuki, the initiative fits into a broader tourism agenda that requires government and the private sector to work together. She reaffirmed government’s commitment to supporting private-sector players and strengthening collaboration for sector growth.

From the over 100-year-old traditional Hindu stone temple, built without metal fasteners, nails or steel, using precisely cut and interlocking stones and ancient construction techniques, participants moved through sites that revealed Kampala’s unusually layered history.

At Fort Lugard, they encountered a site associated with the beginnings of British colonial administration and the location of Uganda’s first museum. Nearby, the Uganda National Mosque, popularly known as Gaddafi Mosque, stands as one of Kampala’s most recognisable landmarks and a major symbol of the country’s Muslim heritage.

The route also brought participants to the Muteesa II Museum, associated with the former residence of Buganda’s King Edward Muteesa II during his Makerere years and St Matia Mulumba Church, which marks the place associated with the martyrdom of one of Uganda’s most revered Catholic figure, St Matia Mulumba who didn’t make it to the site in Namugongo.

The nearby Ismaili Jamatkhana added another layer, reflecting the long history of Uganda’s Asian Ismaili community and its contribution to the country’s commercial, educational and social development.

Guided by Ivan Lugya, Achan Phiona, Elvis Ssekibuule from the Buganda Heritage and Tourism Board and several other guides, these were no longer simply buildings and places on a map. They became stories of faith, kingship, colonialism, migration, martyrdom and nation-building.

Dr. Nyirachiza Besigye linked the exercise to the responsibility of protecting Kampala’s historic fabric. The Museums and Monuments Act, 2023 provides for the protection and management of Uganda’s cultural and natural heritage, including historically significant buildings and sites. She called on authorities like that of Kampala Capital City and other cities to enact bi-laws aimed at protecting the life span and longevity of these sites.

For Wekesa, however, preservation must ultimately translate into visitors and economic activity.

“It’s activities like these that bring in the numbers. It’s okay to organise for Kampala people to enjoy, but the goal should be a national and international event,” he said.

Allen Iryn Namisango, proprietor of the walk, sees the numbers as proof of what is possible. Last year’s 87 participants grew to more than 400 this year. The next target is over 100,000, with an eventual ambition of attracting people from across the world.

The bigger idea may already be taking shape: a Kampala Religious Trail linking the city’s Hindu, Christian, Muslim and other sacred heritage sites.

And perhaps that is the real significance of the walk. Kampala did not need to invent another attraction. It only needed to invite people to look again at what was already there.

GALLERY