Visit Fort Portal- Uganda Tourism – Things to do in Fort Portal : Located at the foothills of Mountain Rwenzori is the beautiful, most naturally-gifted, and cleanest town of Fort Portal. It’s about 300 kilometres in the western part of the capital of Uganda. With the statue of Sir Gerald Portal in the centre, it’s from his name that Fort Portal town derived its name. This gentleman was the British special commissioner for Uganda.
Fort Portal also serves as a gateway and access point to many tourist destinations in the western part of the country like Kibale Forest National Park which is about 30 kilometres away from the town as well as the route to Semuliki National Park. Still if one passed here, they can reach Queen Elizabeth National Park through Kasese and then to Transparent Lake via Ishaka, Bushenyi to Mbarara and finally to Lake Mburo National Park. This route is tourism-rich although it is farther compared to the Kasese-Fort Portal route.
The Tooro People
The people of Tooro are called Batooro. A single individual is a Mutooro; an adjective, Kitooro; and they speak, Rutooro as their language. Cattle keeping is dominant though farming is also carried out where tea is grown, matooke, and other food and cash crops.Fort Portal is under the leadership of the Tooro Kingdom ruled by the Omukama of Tooro. Rukirabasaija Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, (King Oyo) is the reigning Omukama of Tooro. He was born on the 16th April, 1992 to King Patrick David Mathew Kaboyo Olimi III and Queen Best Kemigisa Kaboyo. He is the second youngest monarch in the world after Her Highness Jetsun.
Attractions in Fort Portal
Amabere Ga Nyina Mwiru caves, waterfalls, and the cultural informative tales that led to their formation. These are found in the Kabarole district, just a few kilometres from Fort Portal town.
This has the embedded story about the rigged king who by all means had tried to safeguard his beautiful daughter from men to the point of cutting off some parts of her body just to make her the ugliest lady so that she could be ignored by any young man but he received a very huge shock when the person he always protected conceived. This angered him and did so many crazy things…. Book a trip for more stories from here info@jewelsafaris.com
The Tooro Palace
The glittering ancient-hill situated palace was repaired/rehabilitated by the Libyan government under the leadership of the Late Col. Muammar Gaddafi. The palace is beautifully standing on the outskirts of the town, viewed from all spots and attracts visitors to go and visit it. This happened in the 1960s after the abolition of monarchs by Dr. Apollo Milton Obote’s regime but when H.E Y. K Museveni revived monarchs; the Libyan government rebuilt it for the youngest Monarch then.
Sir Gerald Speke statue.
This gracefully welcomes each visitor to Fort Portal because it lies on the main road in Fort Portal town. Good for photography with the British special commissioner for Uganda during the colonial era.Karambi Tombs
Karambi Royal Tombs Located at a distance of 5kms from the city centre, these tombs are the burial grounds for the former kings like Omukama Kasagama and Rukidi III.The Crater lakes
Located in the eastern part of the Amabere caves and falls, these three crater lakes are so beautiful to view after a hike, one would feel like it’s a different planet discovered yet it’s still Kabarole/Fort Portal, just because of the amazing views of these crater lakes in a high altitude provided by some hills around them.Other attractions include Kyaninga Lodge and its surroundings and many more.
Dressing in Tooro
While other tribes dress in kanzu for men and gomesi for ladies, it’s a different story with the Batooro as the ladies’ wear what is called suuka as their traditional wear. However, men still maintain the Kanzu, dressed in a suit just like other tribes and this kind of dressing makes them look stunningly cute and handsome. Book a trip with www.jewelsafaris.com and learn about the Suuka traditional wear of the people of Tooro.
Nightlife in Fort Portal
With tight security provided by all security agencies known in Uganda, Fort Portal is one of the hubs to have a fun and relaxing nightlife without the worry of the wrong doers in the society who have criminal tendencies. A few fun-providing places at night include;
Gluepot Bar.
This nightlife hub is situated in the middle of the town and is accessible from all routes with ready transport on standby called Boda Bodas. The place is very cool to shake off stress by dancing to all genres of music at local, national, regional, or international levels. This is the place to be for party animals.
Mountains of the moon.
This is the guvnor of Fort Portal. It is a VIP nightlife facility in Fort Portal. The place is a must-be for all party lovers because everything is classy and to a VIP level so no complaints are expected while here. It’s only a few meters away from the city centre and can be accessed by all means of transport.Other fun-providing places include; Club Africana, Kalya Courts Hotel and many more.
Food time in Fort Portal
Millet bread (Oburo)
This is a real huge deal at any place where Batooro are present. They even plan for it as first priority in during any ceremony, making it an irreplaceable dish in the Batooro communities. It’s made from ground millet. Making millet flour that is in turn mixed with other flours then mingled to come up with the best millet flour enjoyed by thousands of people from Tooro.
Firinda
This recipe is made from beans, eggplants, onions, salt, and ghee. With no oils added, this is an amazingly delicious delicacy in Tooro and is an irreplaceable sauce served with Oburo though recently many eat it with Matooke and is still a yummy and an untampered authentic delicacy. Whereas many look for meat and other vegetables for vegetarians, the Tooro people have their own unique dish not anywhere in the world with a simple procedure of cooking it.To learn how to prepare it, please welcome to our inbox info@jewelsafaris.com
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