Quick facts about Uganda
General information
- • Capital: Kampala
- • Population: around 50 million (UNFPA, 2025)
- • Official languages: English and Swahili; Luganda is widely spoken in the centre
- • Currency: Ugandan shilling (UGX)
- • Time zone: East Africa Time, UTC+3, no daylight saving
- • Airport: Entebbe International (EBB), about 40 km from Kampala
- • Power: Type G sockets, the UK three-pin standard
- • Dialling code: +256
Connectivity, without the varnish
- • Network our country plans use: Airtel Uganda (641-22), and only that one
- • Technology: treat a Uganda plan as a 4G product
- • Live retail mobile operators: MTN Uganda and Airtel Uganda
- • Outside the country: a Uganda country plan stops at the border
- • Where the signal ends: gorilla and chimp trekking areas, the Rwenzoris, much of Kidepo
- • Speeds: we publish no figure, because we have no measurement we can defend
Which network you actually get
Read this before you pick a network by hand
Every Uganda country plan we sell declares a single Ugandan network in its coverage data: MCC 641, MNC 22. That is Airtel Uganda. MTN Uganda is the country's largest operator and the one almost every travel article names, but our country plans do not roam on it. If your phone drops into manual network selection and you choose MTN, you will sit there with full bars and no data while the plan is working perfectly. Choose Airtel.
Airtel Uganda — 641-22
- • The network behind our Uganda country plans
- • Also the Uganda leg of Airalo Hello Africa and of the Discover Global plans
- • Runs 5G in Kampala and a number of regional towns
- • A roaming profile will normally attach to 4G
MTN Uganda — 641-10
- • The largest operator in the country
- • Launched Uganda's first 5G in Kampala on 28 July 2023
- • Reachable on the eSIMaccess Africa regional
- • Not reachable on our Uganda country plans
Africell Uganda — gone
- • Shut its Ugandan network down on 7 October 2021
- • Held roughly 5 per cent of the market at the end
- • Any guide still listing it as an option is out of date
- • You will not see it in a network list
Uganda has two live mobile brands, not three
An earlier version of this page listed Africell as a third choice with a “growing network”. Africell Group confirmed its exit from Uganda in September 2021 and terminated all Ugandan mobile services on 7 October 2021, telling subscribers to move to another provider. What remains for a visitor is MTN Uganda and Airtel Uganda. That matters here because it narrows the question to a simple one: our Uganda country plans are on Airtel, and if you want MTN specifically you are looking at a different plan family.
Uganda eSIM plans and prices
Loading current Uganda eSIM prices…
Uganda is one of the places where the country plan is not automatically the bargain. Ugandan wholesale data is expensive, so at most sizes a worldwide Discover Global plan undercuts the Uganda country plan for the same allowance, while the Hello Africa regional costs considerably more than either. Compare the names in the cards above rather than assuming. Most visitors spend seven to fourteen days here on a gorilla-and-safari combination, so pick a validity that covers travel days at both ends.
Crossing into Rwanda, Kenya or Tanzania
Hardly anyone flies to Uganda and goes nowhere else. Gorilla permits cost enough that most people build a longer East Africa trip around them, and the East Africa Tourist Visa actively encourages it: one USD 100 multiple-entry visa, valid 90 days, covering Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda. Tanzania is not part of that arrangement and needs its own visa. So “which plan survives the border” is the most useful question on this page, and it has a precise answer taken from our own coverage tables rather than a vague one.
Airalo Hello Africa: the one family that covers the whole circuit
A 36-country African regional. Its coverage list includes Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, so a single profile carries you across the classic gorilla-and-safari circuit. In Uganda it rides Airtel Uganda, in Rwanda MTN RwandaCell, in Kenya Airtel Kenya and in Tanzania Airtel Tanzania. If you are crossing borders, this is the family to look at first.
Burundi and South Sudan are not on the list, so a Uganda-to-Juba or Uganda-to-Bujumbura leg is not covered.
Discover Global: covers all four, at a worldwide price
Our Discover Global plans also reach Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. In Uganda they are often cheaper than the Uganda country plan at the same size, which makes them worth checking even for a Uganda-only trip, and they make obvious sense when East Africa is one leg of a longer journey off the continent.
The trap: the eSIMaccess Africa regional excludes Rwanda
This is the mistake worth avoiding. The eSIMaccess Africa package covers 29 countries and does include Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania — but Rwanda is not on that list. Buy it for a Uganda-plus-Rwanda gorilla itinerary, which is one of the most common ways this trip is booked, and you will have data in Uganda and nothing at all in Kigali or at Volcanoes National Park. Whenever you see a plan labelled simply “Africa”, open the country list and check Rwanda is really in it before you pay.
There is no esimfly “Africa” region
Our own regional families are Europe, Europe Max, Central Asia, Oceania, Asia, North America, Latin America, Gulf and Balkans. African regional coverage on this site comes from our partners — Airalo for Hello Africa, eSIMaccess for its Africa package — so when this page names one, it names the provider instead of pretending it is our own product.
Why an eSIM rather than a Ugandan SIM
The honest case is about paperwork and timing rather than about coverage. A local SIM from MTN or Airtel will give you a Ugandan number, access to mobile money and local bundle pricing, and for a long stay that combination is genuinely better. For a one or two week trip built around permits and park transfers, the friction is the problem.
You skip a registration step tied to your visa
UCC guidance for non-Ugandans is an original valid passport with a valid visa or residence permit, plus a passport photograph attached to the registration form — and the SIM is only active for the life of that visa. That is a service-centre visit, not a kiosk purchase. Biometric fingerprint verification is the rule for Ugandan nationals registering against a national ID; as a tourist you are in the passport-and-photo lane, which is simpler than some guides suggest but still a queue you did not plan for.
You are connected before the Entebbe transfer
Most Uganda itineraries start with a long road transfer or a light-aircraft hop within hours of landing. An eSIM installed at home is live the moment you switch on data roaming, which is the difference between confirming your driver from the aircraft steps and hunting for a shop.
You keep your own number live
Your home SIM stays in the phone for calls and bank verification codes while the eSIM carries data. On a trip where a tour operator, a lodge and an airline may all need to reach you, that matters more than the few dollars of difference.
One profile can cover the whole circuit
A physical Ugandan SIM is a Ugandan SIM. If the trip continues to Rwanda, Kenya or Tanzania, a regional eSIM profile keeps working across the borders where a local SIM would need replacing — as long as you check the country list, because one widely sold African regional leaves Rwanda out.
What an eSIM will not do for you here
- • It will not give you a Ugandan phone number, so mobile money stays out of reach
- • It will not create signal in Bwindi, Kibale or on the Rwenzori routes
- • It will not beat a local bundle on price if you are staying for months
- • It will not survive a border crossing unless you bought a regional or global plan
Installing your Uganda eSIM
Install the profile at home on wifi you trust. Entebbe arrivals is a poor place to be scanning a QR code, and on most phones a profile can only be downloaded once.
On an iPhone
- 1.Settings, then Cellular or Mobile Data
- 2.Add eSIM, then Use QR Code
- 3.Scan the code we emailed you
- 4.Label the line something obvious, like Uganda
- 5.On arrival, turn on Data Roaming for that line and set it as your data line
On Android
- 1.Settings, then Network and internet
- 2.SIMs, then the plus button next to eSIM
- 3.Choose Download a SIM instead
- 4.Scan the QR code and follow the prompts
- 5.Enable the profile and turn roaming on for it
Gorilla trekking and what your phone will do
The permit, and why Uganda is the cheaper trek
- • Price: the Uganda Wildlife Authority charges USD 800 per person for foreign non-residents, raised from USD 700 with effect from 1 July 2025
- • Rwanda comparison: the equivalent permit in Volcanoes National Park costs USD 1,500, which is the main reason many travellers trek in Uganda instead
- • Where: Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, across its Buhoma, Ruhija, Rushaga and Nkuringo sectors, or Mgahinga Gorilla National Park
- • Time with the gorillas: a strict maximum of one hour, after a walk that can last from under an hour to most of the day
- • Availability: permits sell out months ahead in the June to September and December to February peaks
Permit prices and park rules get revised. These are the figures published by UWA at the time of writing; confirm them with UWA or a licensed Ugandan operator on the day you book rather than treating any guide, this one included, as a price list.
Coverage on the trek: assume there is none
Treks start from a briefing point at a park sector and climb into steep, dense montane forest. Trekking areas are largely without usable signal, and the length of the walk is decided that morning by where the gorilla family moved overnight. Chimp tracking in Kibale, the Rwenzori routes and long stretches of Kidepo behave the same way. Lodges, sector headquarters and the towns you stage from — Kisoro, Kabale, Fort Portal — are a different matter and are usually fine.
Save offline the night before
- • The permit confirmation as a file, not as a browser tab
- • Your lodge address and your driver's number
- • An offline map of the park sector you are trekking from
- • Travel insurance details, including evacuation cover
Once you are in the forest
- • Your guide and the trackers carry radios: that is the real emergency channel, not your phone
- • Flash photography of the gorillas is not allowed
- • Plan to upload from the lodge, never from the forest
- • A phone hunting for a mast all morning will flatten its battery: airplane mode until you are back
Coverage detail
Expect a solid 4G connection
- • Kampala and its suburbs
- • Entebbe town and the airport
- • Jinja and the source of the Nile
- • Mbarara, Fort Portal, Gulu, Lira, Mbale, Masaka, Hoima, Kabale
- • The main tarmac highways between them
- • Most park-gate lodges and visitor centres
Expect nothing usable
- • Bwindi and Mgahinga gorilla trekking areas
- • Kibale forest trails during chimp tracking
- • The Rwenzori Mountains trekking routes
- • Much of Kidepo Valley, the most remote of the parks
- • Game drive tracks away from the main circuits in Queen Elizabeth and Murchison Falls
- • Lake Victoria islands and the smaller crater-lake roads
What we can tell you and what we will not
What we can state is which network our plans register on and what to size them as: Airtel Uganda, 641-22, as a 4G product. Both Ugandan operators do run 5G — MTN launched Uganda's first 5G in Kampala on 28 July 2023 and Airtel followed days later, saying in December 2025 that its 5G had reached 365 sites including Jinja, Mbale, Masaka, Mbarara, Gulu, Lira, Hoima, Fort Portal and Kabale — but a roaming profile normally attaches to LTE, so do not buy a Uganda plan expecting 5G. What we will not do is publish an average speed or a coverage percentage: we have no measurement we could attribute, and an invented number is worse than no number.
Travel recommendations
Pick the trip that looks most like yours. The honest summary for Uganda is that the expensive, memorable part of the itinerary happens exactly where there is no signal, so most visitors need far less data than they expect — and the decision that actually costs money is country plan versus regional plan, not 5 GB versus 10 GB.
Gorilla or chimp permit trip, Uganda only
Entebbe, the long drive south-west to Bwindi or Mgahinga, a trek, and back — often with Kibale chimps bolted on
Data needs
Low to moderate (3-5 GB)
What to buy
A Uganda country plan is the right buy here, though compare it against a Discover Global plan of the same size first: in Uganda the global plan is often cheaper. The headline morning of the trip has no usable signal anyway, so the data is for the logistics either side of it.
Practical notes:
- ✓Save the permit confirmation as a file, not as a browser tab
- ✓Download offline maps of the Kabale, Kisoro and Buhoma areas before you leave Kampala
- ✓Put your driver number in contacts rather than losing it in a chat thread
- ✓Airplane mode during the trek saves an enormous amount of battery
- ✓Upload photos from the lodge in the evening, never from inside the forest
East Africa circuit
Uganda as one leg alongside Rwanda, Kenya or Tanzania — how most gorilla trips are actually built, and what the East Africa Tourist Visa encourages
Data needs
Depends on the route
What to buy
This is the case where a country plan is the wrong buy. The Airalo Hello Africa regional covers Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania on one profile. The eSIMaccess Africa regional covers Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania but leaves Rwanda out, which is exactly the trap on this circuit. Read the country list before you pay.
Practical notes:
- ✓The East Africa Tourist Visa covers Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda — Tanzania needs its own visa
- ✓Install the profile at home: a land border crossing is a bad place to discover you have no data
- ✓Compare one regional profile against buying a country plan at every border
- ✓Leave the profile installed between countries instead of reinstalling it
- ✓Border days burn data fast: maps, bookings and messages all at once
Wildlife photography and video
Queen Elizabeth, Murchison Falls, Kidepo and the primate parks, with a lot of material to move every night
Data needs
High (10-20 GB)
What to buy
Go up a size or two, but be clear about what you are buying: the upload happens at the lodge in the evening, never in the field. A 10 or 20 GB plan is for emptying the day card, not for streaming from a game drive.
Practical notes:
- ✓Ask before photographing people — it is expected, not optional
- ✓Do not photograph military installations or government buildings
- ✓Set cloud backup to wifi-only so it does not silently eat the plan
- ✓Lodge wifi in the parks is often satellite-backed and slow; your eSIM may well be faster
- ✓Power cuts are common outside the main towns, so carry a power bank
Jinja adventure and the Rwenzoris
White-water rafting and kayaking at the source of the Nile, plus multi-day trekking in the Rwenzori Mountains
Data needs
Moderate (5-10 GB)
What to buy
Jinja is one of the better-connected towns in the country and a comfortable place to be online. The Rwenzoris are the opposite: a multi-day high-altitude trek where you should plan for no signal at all and treat the guide radio as the communication channel.
Practical notes:
- ✓Book and confirm Jinja activities before you leave Kampala, not on the riverbank
- ✓Leave a copy of your itinerary with someone before a Rwenzori trek
- ✓Waterproof the phone properly for rafting — a dry bag, not a sandwich bag
- ✓Download offline maps for the whole Fort Portal and Kasese corridor
- ✓Travel insurance with mountain evacuation cover matters more here than data does
Kampala and culture
The Kasubi Tombs, Kampala markets, the Uganda Museum and the Buganda sites, usually either side of a park itinerary
Data needs
Moderate (5-10 GB)
What to buy
Kampala is where the data actually gets used: ride-hailing, maps in serious traffic, translation and restaurant lookups. A mid-size plan covers a city-heavy week comfortably.
Practical notes:
- ✓Kampala traffic is severe, so live routing genuinely earns its data
- ✓Ride-hailing and boda-boda apps need data throughout the journey
- ✓English is an official language and widely spoken, so translation needs are modest
- ✓Our plans are data-only: you get no Ugandan number, so use a calling app
- ✓Mobile money needs a registered local number, so carry cards and some shillings
Work, NGO and long stays
Extended stays based in Kampala, Entebbe, Gulu or Fort Portal with real work to do
Data needs
High (20 GB or a global plan)
What to buy
Our largest Uganda country plan is 20 GB over 30 days and there is no unlimited Uganda plan in the catalogue. For a long stay, price the 20 GB country plan against a Discover Global plan of the same size — for Uganda the global plan often wins — and keep local office wifi for the heavy transfers.
Practical notes:
- ✓Plan video calls around 4G, not 5G: roaming profiles normally attach to LTE
- ✓Power cuts are frequent outside the main cities; towers usually have backup power, your router may not
- ✓Field travel to the north and east will have long gaps with nothing usable
- ✓Top-ups are simpler than juggling two profiles if you run out mid-stay
- ✓Keep an offline copy of your key contacts and addresses
Things worth knowing before you fly
- • Time zone: Uganda is on East Africa Time, UTC+3, with no daylight saving. That is one hour ahead of mainland Spain in summer and two in winter, and seven to eight hours ahead of US Eastern.
- • Gorilla permits: the Uganda Wildlife Authority charges USD 800 per person for foreign non-residents, up from USD 700 with effect from 1 July 2025. Rwanda charges USD 1,500 for the equivalent permit, which is the main reason many travellers choose Uganda for the trek.
- • Buying a local SIM instead: UCC guidance for non-Ugandans is an original valid passport with a valid visa or residence permit plus a passport photograph, and the SIM is only active for the life of that visa. Biometric fingerprint verification is the rule for Ugandan nationals registering against a national ID, not for tourists.
- • Mobile money: widely used in Uganda, but it needs a registered local number. A data-only eSIM will not give you one, so carry cards and some shillings.
- • Power: outages are common outside the main cities, particularly in the rainy seasons. Carry a power bank; masts usually have backup power even when your lodge does not.
Where people actually go
Wildlife and landscape
- • Bwindi Impenetrable National Park: the main mountain gorilla destination, trekked from four sectors; no usable signal on the walks
- • Mgahinga Gorilla National Park: gorillas and golden monkeys in the Virungas, on the Rwanda and DR Congo border
- • Kibale National Park: the chimpanzee park, staged from Fort Portal; signal at the reception areas, not on the trails
- • Queen Elizabeth National Park: the Kazinga Channel and the Ishasha sector, known for lions that rest in fig trees
- • Murchison Falls National Park: the Nile forced through a seven-metre gap, and the largest of the parks
- • Rwenzori Mountains: the Mountains of the Moon, a multi-day glaciated trek with no connectivity
Towns and culture
- • Jinja: the source of the Nile and the white-water rafting and kayaking centre, and one of the better-connected towns
- • Kampala: the Kasubi Tombs, the Uganda Museum, Owino market and the Buganda sites, in famously heavy traffic
- • Entebbe: the botanical gardens and the lakeshore, where most trips begin and end
- • Lake Victoria: the Ssese Islands for the slow days after a trek
- • Fort Portal: the crater lakes and the staging town for Kibale and the Rwenzoris
- • Kidepo Valley: the far north-east, the most remote park and the emptiest
The distances are the thing nobody plans for
Uganda looks compact on a map and is not in practice. Entebbe to Bwindi is a full day on the road, and Kampala to Kidepo is longer still. Most itineraries either absorb those drives or buy a domestic flight to skip them. Either way, the practical connectivity plan is the same: you will have data in the towns you stop in and long gaps in between, so download offline navigation for every leg rather than relying on live routing outside the main highways.
Troubleshooting
No service after landing at Entebbe
In order of likelihood: data roaming is still off on the eSIM line, the eSIM line is not set as the data line, or the phone has not finished registering yet.
Turn data roaming on for the eSIM line, put the phone in airplane mode for fifteen seconds, and give it a couple of minutes. If it still will not register, go into manual network selection and choose Airtel — not MTN, which our Uganda country plans do not use.
Full bars, no data
This is almost always a manual network selection that landed on MTN. Our Uganda country plans roam on Airtel Uganda only, so the phone can hold a strong MTN signal and still pass no traffic. Set network selection back to automatic, or pick Airtel by hand.
Data worked in Uganda and died at the Rwanda or Kenya border
That is a Uganda country plan behaving exactly as sold: it covers Uganda and nothing else. For a trip with borders you want Airalo Hello Africa or a Discover Global plan, both of which cover Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. You can install a second profile mid-trip as long as you have wifi to download it.
The signal vanished on the trek
Expected, and not a fault. Gorilla trekking areas in Bwindi and Mgahinga, the Kibale trails and the Rwenzori routes are largely without usable coverage. Save what you need offline the night before and leave the phone in airplane mode during the walk so it does not burn its battery hunting for a mast that is not there.
Slow or intermittent data on long drives
Uganda is hilly and the transfers are long. Coverage follows the main tarmac roads and the towns, and drops in between. Congestion in Kampala at peak hours is real too. Download offline navigation for the whole route before you set off, and tell your lodge roughly when to expect you rather than assuming you can message from the road.
Everything went dark, everywhere, at once
Two different things can cause this. Power cuts are common outside the main cities and can take local infrastructure down with them, though masts usually have backup power. Separately, Uganda has restricted internet access around election periods in the past. Neither is something an eSIM can route around, so if you are travelling during an election, build some slack into plans that depend on being online.
Emergency numbers
These are the numbers published by the Uganda Police Force and by the organisations themselves. Several numbers that circulate in travel guides — a separate fire brigade line and a tourist police hotline among them — could not be confirmed against any official source, so they are not listed here. If in doubt, the number to call is 999 or 112.
National Emergency Call Centre
- Emergencies (toll free):999
- Emergencies, mobile (toll free):112
- Emergency call centre:0800 199 399
- Counter-terrorism:0800 199 699
999 and 112 reach the same National Emergency Call Centre and cover police, fire and ambulance. An older version of this page split them into a police line and a medical line, which was wrong.
Parks and tourism
- Uganda Wildlife Authority:+256 414 355000
- UWA reservations (toll free):0800 100 960
- Uganda Tourism Board:+256 414 342196
Your lodge or tour operator is the fastest route to a private ambulance or an evacuation, and on a trek your guide's radio reaches the rangers long before a phone will. For a Bwindi or Rwenzori itinerary, travel insurance with medical evacuation cover is worth more than any phone number.
Save these offline before you head south-west. A number you cannot load is not an emergency number. Put them in your contacts rather than relying on this page, because this page will not load in the forest.
Entry rules and etiquette
The East Africa Tourist Visa is the one to look at
If your trip takes in more than Uganda, the East Africa Tourist Visa is a single USD 100 multiple-entry visa valid for 90 days across Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda. It is issued for tourism only and does not permit employment. Tanzania, Burundi and the DR Congo are not part of the arrangement, so a Serengeti leg needs a separate Tanzanian visa. If you apply before travelling, your first point of entry must be the country you applied through. Check the current rules with Ugandan immigration before you book, since visa arrangements change.
Worth doing
- Greet properly before getting to the point: it is expected and it is noticed
- Ask before photographing anyone
- Dress modestly outside Kampala and Entebbe
- Carry Ugandan shillings: cards work in the cities and much less well outside them
- Take malaria prophylaxis seriously; malaria is endemic across the country
- Expect to bargain in markets, and to tip guides and trackers
Worth avoiding
- Photographing military installations, police or government buildings
- Flash photography of the gorillas
- Public displays of affection, which are not well received
- Assuming a schedule will hold: transfers run long and road conditions decide the day
- Leaving valuables visible in crowded areas of Kampala
A few words go a long way
- • Oli otya — how are you, in Luganda
- • Webale — thank you
- • Yee / Nedda — yes / no
- • Ssente meka? — how much is it?
- • Asante — thank you, in Swahili, also widely understood
- • English is an official language and very widely spoken
Frequently asked questions
Which Ugandan network does one of our eSIMs actually use?
Airtel Uganda. Every Uganda country plan in our catalogue declares exactly one Ugandan network in its coverage data: MCC 641, MNC 22, which is Airtel Uganda. MTN Uganda is the larger operator and the one nearly every travel article names, but our country plans do not roam on it — MTN appears in a single esimfly coverage row, on the VIP Pay-As-You-Go package. If your phone ever drops into manual network selection, choose Airtel. Choosing MTN by hand will give you full bars and no data.
Does a Uganda eSIM also work in Rwanda, Kenya or Tanzania?
No. A Uganda country plan is Uganda only, and it stops at the border. If your trip is the usual East Africa circuit you need a regional or global plan, and the choice matters more than people expect. Airalo Hello Africa covers 36 African countries and its list includes Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, so one profile carries the whole gorilla circuit. Discover Global plans cover all four as well. The trap is the eSIMaccess Africa regional: it covers 29 countries including Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, but Rwanda is not on that list. Buy it for a Uganda-plus-Rwanda itinerary and you land in Kigali with no data.
Do our Uganda plans give me 5G?
Plan for 4G. Both Ugandan operators do run 5G — MTN launched first in Kampala on 28 July 2023 and Airtel followed days later, with Airtel saying in December 2025 that its 5G reached 365 sites including Jinja, Mbale, Masaka, Mbarara, Gulu, Lira, Hoima, Fort Portal and Kabale. But a roaming eSIM profile normally attaches to LTE, and the honest way to size a Uganda plan is as a 4G product. We are not going to publish an average speed figure, because we have no measurement we could stand behind.
How much data does a Uganda trip actually need?
Less than most people buy. The expensive, memorable days are spent exactly where there is no usable signal: a Bwindi or Mgahinga gorilla trek, chimp tracking in Kibale, a Rwenzori climb. For a typical week built around Entebbe, Kampala, a park or two and a trek, 3 to 5 GB is comfortable. Go to 10 GB if you upload photos or video every night, or if you are working from Kampala. Our Uganda country plans run from 1 to 20 GB and there is no unlimited Uganda plan in the catalogue.
Is there signal during a gorilla trek in Bwindi?
Assume there is not. Treks start from a briefing point at one of the Bwindi sectors or at Mgahinga and climb into dense montane forest, and how far you walk is decided that morning by where the gorilla family moved overnight. Trekking areas are largely without usable signal, and the same is true of most of Kibale, the Rwenzori routes and long stretches of Kidepo. Lodges and the sector headquarters are a different story and are usually fine. Download everything you need the night before: the permit confirmation, the lodge address, the driver number and an offline map. Your guide and the rangers carry radios, and that is the real emergency channel on the mountain, not your phone.
What does a Uganda gorilla permit cost, and why is it cheaper than Rwanda?
The Uganda Wildlife Authority charges USD 800 per person for foreign non-residents, an increase from USD 700 that took effect on 1 July 2025, for one hour with a habituated gorilla family in Bwindi Impenetrable or Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. Rwanda charges USD 1,500 for the equivalent permit in Volcanoes National Park. That gap is a genuine reason travellers pick Uganda for the trek, and it is also why Uganda trips are often longer: the money saved on the permit goes into the drive and the extra parks. Permit prices are revised periodically, so confirm with UWA or a licensed operator on the day you book rather than trusting any guide, this one included, as a price list.
Do I still have to pay a daily tax to use WhatsApp in Uganda?
No, and you never did as a visitor on a roaming eSIM. Uganda introduced an over-the-top tax in 2018 that charged 200 shillings a day for access to social media apps, but it was abolished on 1 July 2021 and replaced with a 12 per cent excise duty on internet data. That excise is built into the price of data bundles sold inside Uganda by Ugandan operators; it is not something a visitor pays separately, and it is not something you pay on an eSIM bought abroad. Any page still telling you to buy a daily social media tax token is years out of date. Uganda has, separately, restricted internet access around elections in the past, which is worth knowing if you travel during an election period.
Can I use mobile money with one of these eSIMs?
No. Our Uganda plans are data-only: they give you a connection, not a Ugandan phone number. Mobile money is tied to a registered local number, and UCC rules require every SIM to be registered — for non-Ugandans, against an original valid passport with a valid visa or residence permit plus a passport photograph, with the SIM only active for the life of that visa. That registration requirement is exactly the friction an eSIM saves a visitor, but it also means mobile money is not available on it. Carry cards and some Ugandan shillings.
Is a country plan or a regional plan better value for Uganda?
Check both, because Uganda is unusual. In many countries the country plan is comfortably the cheapest way to cover that country. In Uganda, a Discover Global plan is frequently cheaper than the Uganda country plan at the same data size, and the Hello Africa regional is considerably more expensive than either. The live prices on this page come straight from our catalogue with the plan names attached, so you can compare the families yourself rather than taking our word for it.
Sort the data out before you fly
Compare a Uganda country plan against a global plan if the trip stays here, and buy a regional plan if it crosses into Rwanda, Kenya or Tanzania. Either way it is three minutes at home instead of a queue on your first morning.