Facts

10 Apps that will Make Your Life in Kampala Easier

You cannot fail to admit that technological advancements have led to so many improvements in the general daily activities for almost everyone in the world. When you look at living within the city years before and in this modern time, there is a huge leap. A lot can be found at a click of a mouse or even a call away instead of you moving miles for them.

One of the leading start-up hubs is Uganda, and believe it or not, techies are getting creative by the day. Lately, you will find an app for almost everything in the country. As long as you have Internet connection, these apps will make your life a little easier.

Uber
Maybe one of the newest on the market, Uber is an international transportation app owned by Uber Technologies Inc. The company joined the Ugandan market in 2016 and has been helping Ugandans acquire safe transportation options around Kampala and Entebbe at affordable prices. Uber is available on both android and iOS, and prices range from Ush5,000 to Ush80,000 — depending on the distance travelled.

Safeboda
Termed as the “uber of bikes,” is a transportation app for a company that came into business in 2014. The concept was to provide Ugandans with safe boda boda travel options and help reduce the many motorcycle related accidents and crime in the country. Safeboda boasts of more than 500 registered boda boda rides who are trained in first aid and adhere to traffic rules. The app is in its nascent stages and might have a few bugs here and there but it is an essential. Safeboda can be downloaded for both Android and iOS.

Yoza
The word yoza can be translated to mean “wash” in Luganda. This is a laundry app that connects users to someone who can do their laundry at a price within the user’s location. Yoza App prices are categorised in packages which range from Ush100,000 for four months to Ush1,000,000 for six months. Packages specifically meet the user’s needs, be it a family or just a student. You can download the app for free on your App store.
Yoza has been profiled by international media houses such as CNN and The Financial Times.

Jumia Apps
Jumia Group is an e-commerce group of companies with offices around Africa. In Uganda, Jumia has; Jumia Travel, Jumia Food, Jumia, Jumia Jobs, and Jumia House. All apps help you do everything from the touch of your phone and can be downloaded for free on both Android and iOS. Jumia Travel is a hotel and flighting booking website with travel packages, Jumia Food helps you order food from restaurants around Kampala to Lubowa. Jumia House will help you buy or rent real estate around the country while Jumia Jobs is a human resource services company that helps you find a job or hire someone.

Quick Taxi
Launched in January 2017, the transportation app is so far another cheaper option to Uber. The taxis are owned by the company so clients can get easy feedback on driver behaviour when they report. You can download the free app and try it today.

Pearl Guide
For travel and tourism, the Pearl Guide is one of the best go to Apps and even better they have travel campaigns every year that will take you around the Uganda for a small fee. The app gives you a guide of almost everything social happening within Kampala.

Uganda Hospitals
How about an App that helps you know locations of registered medical facilities within your vicinity? The free App is quite vital because we all do not know when an emergency might strike.
Uganda Hospitals app is only available for android.

Banking Apps
Over the years banking has evolved and in Uganda, many of the financial institutions have caught up. Banks like Stanbic, Centenary, Barclays among many other have apps that facilitate online transactions as well as other financial activities for their clients.

Teleco Apps
With the growth of technology has come apps that help you not stress calling your mobile carrier’s customer care every time you have a problem. All you have to do is download apps like MTN UG Assistant and you have your queries worked on.

TV Apps
You do not have to own a TV to follow up with local news or any other shows on television. You can now download free apps for NTV Uganda or NBS TV to keep you updated. Kindly remember it is not safe to use these apps while driving or walking on the street.

History of Uganda 
Learn more about the history of Uganda with this wonderful App and if you are history buff you know how useful this is. You can download this app for free on your App and lose yourself in a collection of events that predate the 1800s.

16 Things to Know About Chimpanzees in the Wild

Chimpanzees are among the great apes that live in the tropical rain forests. chimpanzees are known to exist in 21 countries of Africa including Uganda, Rwanda, Congo, Tanzania Senegal and Angola in the West. It should be noted that Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has the largest population, although chimpanzees have become extinct in some areas due to political instabilities, poaching, and diseases among others. There are many tours organised by tour operators to enjoy chimpanzee watching in Uganda. According to Vacation Safaris one of the active adventure operators, there are opportunities for chimpanzee tracking and chimpanzee habituation.

Here are 16 facts you should know about chimpanzees in the wild.

1. African chimpanzees grow to reach heights of 3 to 5 feet, and weigh up to 120 to 200 pounds. They are predominantly black, sometimes with gray color on their back after 20 years of age.
2. Chimpanzees are the most social of all the apes and live in communities or troops of between 15 and 120 individuals. Like fathers in homes, Chimpanzee troops are also headed by male chimps and elder chimps.
3. Their communities are often split into a number of subgroups with a male as the leader of the group.
4. Male chimps leave the community where they were born – they can form their own groups or join new troops.
5. Female chimps often migrate to a new community during an adolescent estrus period. In the process, they try to look for male chimps for mating and finally bare offspring.
6. Chimpanzees move mostly on the ground by knuckle walking.
7. Chimpanzees groom each other daily, and this activity has an important social function of calming and comforting individuals and solidifying their bonds with each other.
8. Mothers often move alone with their offspring.
9. Chimpanzees construct nests at night in which to sleep.
10. Chimpanzee males in the wild cooperatively hunt for meat.
11. Their diet is mainly fruits with regular amounts of insects, as well as birds and small mammals.
12. Chimpanzees are capable of using tools to gain access to food, such as fishing for termites with sticks fashioned for the job and cracking open nuts with anvil-like rocks. They use tools like sticks, stones and so on.
13. Females in estrus have a prominent swelling of the pink perineal skin that lastis two to three weeks and occurs every four to six weeks.
14. Females give birth every four to five years and their gestation period is eight to nine months.
15. Chimpanzees have a long mother-infant dependency period. Infants will nurse on their mothers for five years and stay with their mothers several more years learning to care for younger siblings.
16. The life span for chimpanzees is 40 to 50 years in the wild and over 50 to 60 years in captivity.