Our Home Fort Portal Tourism City: Fort Portal City located in Western Uganda (Kitara) region about 300km from Uganda’s Capital Kampala was launched as the Tourism Capital of Uganda on 1st July 2020.
Uganda’s tourism increased highly in the 2018/2019 financial year whereby 1,505,669 International tourists were registered and over $1.6 billion was received from international tourists, making the country’s tourism sector the top foreign exchange earner. Of this total number of tourists, over 70% visited Kitara, a region that accounts for 75% of Uganda’s Natural Tourism destinations. Over 60% of the tourists visited more than two districts in the region. Beautiful people, beautiful nature, unique environment and serenity are some of the descriptions that spark people when they set foot in Fort Portal.
Fort Portal Tourism City at the foot of Rwenzori Mountains is currently known to be the cleanest town in Uganda and a gateway to various nature destinations including National Parks such as Kibale, Queen Elizabeth, Rwenzori, Toro-Semuliki Wildlife reserves, Lake Mburo, Bwindi Impenetrable and Mgahinga. It is famous for the stalagmites and Nyakasura waterfalls linked to the rich Chwezi culture.
Lying in mid-western Uganda, Fort Portal also Tooro kingdom’s capital is at the central position to the most beautiful sceneries and unique environment nature has to offer on earth giving you access to numerous crater lakes, hills, mountains, endemic fauna and flora and one of the most beautiful, serene and hospitable people you can find, the Batooro that comprise the majority of the population.
Fort Portal has in the last couple of years been sought as Uganda’s pearl of Tourism since it’s strategically located in the heart of most of the major tourism sites and activities in Uganda found in the Albertine region prompting the government to consider it in the National Development Plan as that. Fort Portal is now a tourism or tourist city. In simple terms, a city is a place where people live that is larger or more important than a town or an area where many people live and work. Many people in Fort Portal engage in tourism related (tourism supported or supporting tourism) work.
The true definition of Fort Portal as a city entirely lies in “Tourism” thus the Tourism City title. By nature, location, environment and people, Fort Portal is unrivaled as being the heart of most of Uganda’s tourism sites and activities. Fort Portal is in other words the Tourism Capital of Uganda due to its natural instatement.
Fort Portal is strategically located in the heart of major tourism sites including the snowcapped mountains of the moon, commonly known as Rwenzori Mountains, Semuliki national park, Uganda’s largest Queen Elizabeth National Park, is home to gorillas and chimpanzees and a host of other primates, is a Centre of over 60 incredible crater lakes, the Mwenge and Kibaale natural forests, hills and rocks featuring over 400 species of birds, other animals and 1000s of flora species.
Fort Portal beholds of the most complete and all-inclusive climate with balanced weather throughout the year favoring stable farming and human settlement all year round.
Serenity and hospitability are the phenomena that make up tourism; all these are completely by nature found in Fort Portal on top of the Batooro people who are naturally hospitable, beautiful and the most peaceful ethnic group in Uganda creating a whole exciting welcoming tourism environment capped by the endless and numerous tourist activities and sites.
Fort Portal due to its tourism city phenomenon will over the years be a unique metropolitan area with a blossoming hotel and hospitality industry holding hundreds of thousands of tourists at any single time from across the world boosting lots of other local businesses including majorly the transport and agriculture/food sectors;
Fort Portal is expected to be a fully-fledged tourism city by 2040 according to the government’s national development plan will be easily attained with increased government financing and focus on infrastructure development and providing incentives to intending tourism investors both local and international.
Fort Portal stands out to be unrivaled as the tourism destination in Uganda which provides huge potential for employment of the young workforce hence increasing the per capita income of the local households.
Amenities that make Fort Portal a special tourism applause include;
1. All major Roads from Fort Portal to other major towns and tourism sites are tarmacked namely; Fort portal-Kasese, Fort Portal-Ntoroko, Fort Portal-Bundibugyo, Fort Portal-Kampala, Fort Portal-Mbarara and Kamwenge road making those places easily accessible from Fort Portal.
2. Located in the centre; all the major tourism sites are not more than 4 hours away from Fort Portal at an average of 80KM/hr making it possible for most sites to and fro journeys daily from Fort Portal
3. Serene, peaceful and tranquil; Fort Portal has not experienced any form of violence and threats in many years making it the most secure place to settle for any tourist in Uganda.
4. The welcoming and hospitable nature of the Batooro people keeps any visitor comfortable giving a home away from home feel to tourists and volunteers from abroad spending days or months among the Tooro communities
5. With Fort Portal’s nature and environment, lots of fun activities can be created in different places in addition to the usual clubbing, bar going, ball games, motor games and athletics.
6. Fort Portal is geographically located in the windward side of Rwenzori mountains hence the most favorable weather there is
7. Fort Portal is also located on a high rise making it a no flood zone despite heavy rains evenly distributed throughout the year making it even safer.
8. Fort Portal is located in Kitara region with a long historical background raising from the time of the Batembuzi Dynasty, Chwezi dynasty to the current Bito Dynasty the rulers of Tooro Kingdom
9. Fort Portal and Tooro as a region has an exciting cultural background hosting over 15 tribes of natives and a vast religious background with over 7 religious denominations hence a rich area for both cultural and religious tourism.
Fort Portal due to its tourism city phenomenon will over the years be a unique metropolitan area with a blossoming hotel and hospitality industry holding hundreds of thousands of tourists at any single time from across the world boosting lots of other local businesses including majorly the transport and agriculture/food sectors;
Fort Portal is expected to be a fully-fledged tourism city by 2040 according to the government’s national development plan will be easily attained with increased government and private sector financing and focus on infrastructure development and providing incentives to intending tourism investors both local and international.
Fort Portal stands out to be unrivaled as the tourism destination in Uganda which provides huge potential for employment of the young workforce hence increasing the per capita income of the local households.
Tourism is potentially a huge investment in the area ranging from Training institutes for tourism and hospitality to real establishment of tourism attractions. Development of training institutes offers training to the youth on how to tap opportunities in the tourism industry. A recent survey in Uganda, Rwanda and DR Congo showed that inadequate skills significantly hamper local community participation in tourism within the region. Uganda alone has more than 400 tour companies, over 4,000 accommodation facilities, over 35,000 restaurants and eating houses as well as other enterprises in the entire value chain.
Fort Portal Tourism City needs to train its youths to become pragmatic to initiate their own enterprises and be able to fit in the labor market and make impactful contribution. The market for the graduates exists in tour and travel companies, accommodation establishments, transport industry and development of tourist attraction sites among others. In order to generate effective results, training institutes can train learners to become specialists in certain areas like food production, pastry and bakery, food and beverage services, housekeeping, events management, tour guiding and driving, hotel operations and marketing.
Fort Portal City enjoys a unique location in the Tourism Capital in the heart of the Pearl of Africa. This position gives Fort Portal a strategic commanding base for regional trade and investment. The people of Fort Portal –the Batooro are the friendliest you can find. The economy in the area also offers high returns on any investment thus making Fort Portal a preferred investment destination.
Tourism is a fast-growing sector supported by the fact that Uganda is ranked as a top tourist destination and one of only three countries with about 50% of the world’s known population of endangered mountain gorillas. (Source: Lonely planet 2012 and CNN 2016, which ranked Uganda among the top 16 holiday destinations in the world). Fort Portal is more privileged to have been crowned as the only tourism city known in the country, thus most tourists who come to Uganda admire to reach Fort Portal even before going to other tourist destinations.
Fort Portal Area and Tooro Region has a rich history of culture which is unfortunately fading out and may soon be forgotten. History and culture still play a great deal in shaping the future of Africa. We encourage especially youths to invest in preserving the cultural heritage and history of their area and can make profitable gains. There is great potential for partnering with government and other bodies in this area in establishment of museums and monuments in Fort Portal and the entire region.
Our Operation Area- Kitara Region: Kitara area lies across the Equator right in the heart of East Africa. The history of Kitara dates as far back as 1889 when Uganda was still a British protectorate and this region was nicknamed ‘the Switzerland of Africa’ because of the hilly nature and its unique vegetation and weather.
Kitara lies entirely between the two arms of the Great Rift Valley in East Africa. To the far west it borders Zaire (former Belgian Congo). This border concedes with the western Rift Valley occupied from north to south by Lakes Albert, Edward, George and Kivu. On this border with Zaire exist also, the Rwenzori mountain ranges, the highest point of which (Mt Margarita) is 5,119 meters high. Further south west between Lake Edward and lake Kivu, there is the volcanic Muhabura range protruding from the rift Valley between 3,500 meters and 4,000 meters high.
On the other side Kitara borders Tanzania (former German East Africa). Boundary adjustments in 1910 between the British, the Belgians and the Germans fixed the southern limit of Uganda by including in Uganda, Kigezi which was formerly part of Belgian Congo and Bufumbira, formerly part of Germany East Africa. Kigezi was formerly part of Rwanda which together with Burundi and Tanganyika, formed German East Africa.
Generally, Kitara is a land of plateaus though in some areas there are hills which are 200 to 500 meters high. In most places, the hills are heavily eroded. In the extreme west, the ancient tabular areas still remain.
The Equator crosses Kitara region and the climate is equatorial but moderated by the altitude. In the region two dry seasons occur in the year. The highest temperatures occur on the Lake Albert flats while the lowest temperatures occur on the glaciated zone of Mt Rwenzori.
In the higher regions, the vegetation groups itself in levels such that the thick vegetation forest with under growth of liana appears at the bottom on the lower slopes. Mountain forest extends to about 3,200 meters and above this; there are bamboo groves and air pine prairie.
With its huge diversity of nature, culture and wildlife, Kitara Region (Western Uganda) offers ideal conditions for a strong tourism sector.
Its landscapes range from rainforests and volcanic crater lakes to vast savannahs, snow-covered mountain ranges, tropical waterfalls and the hot springs. With over 10 tribes in the region, Kitara has a variety of cultures, languages and dialects, local cuisines, traditional clothing, foods, customs and beliefs.
Kitara is a unique destination for wildlife watching. It is home for the ‘Big Five’ (elephant, lion, rhinoceros, leopard and buffalo) and over 1,000 different bird species, Kitara is home to chimpanzees and more than half of the entire population of mountain gorillas still living in the wild. This makes Kitara one of the few places in the world where you can still encounter these endangered primates in their natural habitat.
Kitara is a unique destination for wildlife watching. It is home for the ‘Big Five’ (elephant, lion, rhinoceros, leopard and buffalo) and over 1,000 different bird species, Kitara is home to chimpanzees and more than half of the entire population of mountain gorillas still living in the wild. This makes Kitara one of the few places in the world where you can still encounter these endangered primates in their natural habitat.
The earliest man in Uganda lived around 60,000-50,000 B.C. This was the early Stone Age man known as Homo erectus. Traces of Homo erectus in Kitara were found at a place called Nsongezi in Isingiro District. The early man had the knowledge of making and using stone tools, especially the hand axe. Between 50,000 and 15,000 B.C, there emerged the middle Stone – Age man. During this period, man invented fire and more stone tools and began to become widely distributed. In Uganda, sites of the Middle Stone – Age man can be traced only at Nsongezi and Sango Bay in Rakai District.
The development of the present man is said to have taken place during the period 10,000 to 1,500 B.C. This falls within the Late Stone – Age period which is said to have lasted between some five hundred to six hundred years but traces of which still exist in most African societies. Between A.D. 500 and 1,500, other people began to migrate to Uganda from different parts of Africa. The first and largest group of such people was the Bantu. The earliest surviving inhabitants of the Bantu found in Uganda are the pygmean, Batwa and the Bambuti mostly found in Kitara region.
Apart from being known to be the home of the stout and majestic, bold, and hardworking Bantu ethnic groups, Kitara is also defined by green, interlocking and heavily-cultivated hills that range from 1,219 metres (3,999 ft) to 2,347 metres (7,700 ft) above sea level especially in far southwest Kigezi.
The region is home to the highly endangered animal species such as mountain gorillas in Bwindi National Park, and of the world’s most endangered birds such as the African hill babbler, cinnamon bracken warbler, chubb’s cistocola, doherty’s Bush shrike, malachite sunbird, Yellow belled waxbill, olive thrush, streaky seed eater, common stone chart, and grauers rush warbler.
The region is uniquely characterized by the African Great Lakes, which include Lake Bunyonyi, Lake Edward, Lake George, Lake Albert, Lake Mutanda and Lake Kyahafi. Kitara region is also the location of the volcanic mountains known as Muhavura Mountains. There are very high mountain ranges, particularly in Kabale district, Kisoro and Kasese. In the intervening valleys, often one finds expansive swampy areas, some of which, particularly those in Kigezi region and Ankole region, Butuku and Busongora have been reclaimed for pastureland.
Margherita Peak is at 5,109 metres above sea level on Mt Stanley in the Rwenzori Mountains and is Africa’s third highest mountain, however the real beauty is in the climb up the Kilembe route, the forests and valleys, the flora is diverse from giant heather trees and valleys of ferns. Climbing Margherita Peak is now technical due to the ever increasing number of crevasses. However, scaling the actual peak is more of a hard scramble than a climb and when it snows it is difficult, however the rewards and exhilaration of reaching the top is enormous as you look across Albert Peak to the DRC (Congo) then east across the spectra of the Rwenzori Mountains. This is a journey of 120km going through 5 different vegetation zones.
Apart from Tourism being a source of economic development, there are other positive effects on the region and its inhabitants. In the last two decades, visitor numbers in Uganda have risen rapidly – while 205,000 arrivals were recorded in 2001, as many as 1.5 million were registered in 2018. In 2018/19, the tourism sector turned over USD 1.6 billion, contributing an estimated 7.7 per cent to GDP and creating around 667,000 jobs both directly and indirectly.
Despite the sector’s rapid development in recent years, Uganda has not yet been able to make the most of its potential as an attractive, diverse travel destination. Potential for growth is particularly to be found in product development and marketing, infrastructure, practical training and continuing professional development, sector regulation and regional cooperation/integration.
Western Uganda is a rural community, with dirt roads that turn to sticky mud in the rainy season and dust in the dry season. Boda-Boda or taxi bikes share the road with bicycles, pedestrians and animals. As in most parts of Uganda, the community members struggle to meet their basic needs and strive to put their children in school. Main jobs include agriculture, hand craft making, brick making, selling fruits and vegetables, small-scale animal rearing and other manual labor jobs. All these make what Volunteers from abroad are looking for.
Major Tourism Potentials in the Region include;
1. Tourism sites development (Community tourism, religious tours, cultural tours, historical tours, canoeing/boat cruise, craft shops, agricultural tours, health tours, education tours, sports tours, nature tours eg. mountain hikes and nature walks)
2. Hotel industry (hotels, lodges, guest houses, restaurants, coffee shops, snacks centers, bars and night clubs)
3. Tour Guidance to various tourism destinations (transport and tour guides)
Other opportunities in tourism range from: –
1. Operating tour and travel circuits (bicycle tours, air balloon travel, marine activities on crater lakes
2. Development of specialized eco and community tourism facilities and faith-based tourism
3. Luxury tented camps and cottages
4. Walking Safaris in the wilderness areas and the volcanic craters
5. Canopy Walkways and sky trams
6. Abroad volunteer hosting is another lucrative business
7. Nature walks, game farming, game ranching and sport hunting
8. Mountaineering packages for Rwenzori mountains and Muhavura
9. Hot springs baths in Rwagimba and supporting facilities
10. Stop over facilities en-route to the national parks along major tourism circuits
Kitara Foundation for Regional Tourism 