Why Igongo is a better stopover to the gorillas.
From Kampala, the trip to the mountain gorillas of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga National Park takes nine to ten hours. In between visitors have to make a stopover for relaxation, stretching, and smokers can take use of this opportunity to smoke a stick of cigarettes. Usually leaving Kampala for gorillas around seven am, tourists go to Mbarara town, which offers few choices we should discuss in this post.
Igongo Cultural Center
Agip Motel has been the top spot in Between Kampala and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park where visitors stop for lunch breaks and to ease themselves till recently. Most tourist vehicles are now split on whether to stop at Agip Motel or Igongo Cultural Centre with the opening of the latter.
One benefit of the Igongo Cultural Center stop for the gorillas is the abundance of sights to observe. If not in Uganda, Igoongo has a museum that is by far the finest in south western Uganda. This museum is very orderly, and the interpreters at Igongo are quite knowledgeable about the anthropological items there. Walking around this museum during lunch break is rather fulfilling.
Visitors may buy curios from various artisan stores run by Igongo. This makes lunch, shopping, and leisure one stop shop for everybody. These stores show shirts, purses, and so many curios for purchase.
For the Banyankole, Igongo Cultural Center usually holds traditional celebrations every weekend. There are gardens there where rituals are conducted and tents are set. If one wants to see wedding or give away ceremonies, Igongo offers numerous options for you as long as you have adequate time.
The government is building a bypass branching off from igongo culture to link the Mbarara-Kasese major route with the Mbarara-Kabale high way. Therefore, tourists who want to escape traffic congestion in mbarara town would choose to have lunch in Igongo cultural center and then utilize the bypass to go either Kabale or Kasese. This so puts Igongo cultural center a head of Agip Motel and other dining places when it comes to visitors heading to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and other National Parks situated in the west and southwest Uganda.
Aglip Motel
For visitors driving from Bwindi Impenetrable National Park or Queen Elizabeth National Park, this is the customary halt for coffee or lunch. Their quality of service right now is and has been really excellent. Agip is in town, hence it is strategically adjacent to Shell petro station where cars can refuel.
It is also easily accessible for visitors to visit banks and shopping centers at the entrance of Mbarara town. The only benefit is that the bypass under development could lose some customers as well as competition from what to view during your lunch break.
On way to mountain gorillas, one stops at numerous points. The first one is at Mpambire Royal drum manufacturers to see how locally built drums from animal skins and tress. If time permits, you will be able to view this on your Kampala-Masaka route; many visitors have never seen anything like this.
