Although it’s a bit further from the centre, it hosts some of Kampala’s oldest and best tourist sites, including the Kabaka’s palace, Gadaffi mosque, Kasubi tombs and the cathedrals of Namirembe and Rubaga. Being surrounded by hills, this area also boasts some great views of the city as well as an insight into Kampala’s rich history.
Just up the road from Old Kampala, Mengo is a bustling hub of shops, and the local Mengo market. Sprinkled with some of Kampala’s most impressive cathedrals, Mengo offers a range of options. If you head on to Mengo hill from downtown, you will find the Buganda parliament and it’s ‘Royal Mile’ (named after the road of the same name in Edinburgh, Scotland) leading to the Kabaka’s (Buganda king’s) palace, an impressive building.
This is a great place to learn about the history and culture of the Buganda Kingdom, guided tours take you inside the parliament building, providing interesting stories and details about the 56 different clans. The Buganda Parliament is held twice a month on Monday mornings, though it is conducted in Luganda. At the other end of a ceremonial Royal drive leading from parliament, is the Lubiri Palace which was constructed in 1922. In the 1970s, during the reign of Idi Amin Dada, the palace was converted to army barracks, while an adjacent site became a notorious underground prison and torture-execution chamber. Guided through this terrifying site, a dark concrete tunnel with numerous dark, damp cells separated by an electrified passage of water to prevent escape with argony messages written with blood on the inside walls by the prisoners. At the gate of this palace is a traditional fire source that has never burnt out since the inception of the Buganda Kingdom and shall never stop burning not until the kabaka dies. Here is a representation of all Baganda Clans and their respective role in this Kingdom.
A mile away but directly positioned gate to gate is the Bulange, a parliament in which the Kabaka and his ministers have since old days sat to deliberate upon issues concerning Buganda Kingdom. The architectural design of this building has proven a spectacular Uganda tour site to many local and international visitors. Walk the mile as you learn about Buganda cultural norms and the city of Kampala.