Our room was overlooking the ridge which had excellent views, just enough room to store all our things and a large bathroom with a good and hot shower. So this was we we expected, nothing more and nothing less. The pool also overlooks the ridge. During our stay we had buffet diners which were very poor, only the fruit and the soup were worth eating, most of the food was already cold and we were there when the buffet was ready. Our packed sandwiches for breakfast were very nice. I would recommend only to stay and not eat diner.

So you've come to Uganda and you need a place to stay while visiting Queen Elizabeth National Park. This place is a very nice, economical option. I researched some of the other lodging in the general area (most are on a ridge overlooking the park). Katera Lodge for example, was going to be $330 dollars a night for my family. Even though this includes meals, it was still way too high. Then I found Kingfisher. I got the family suite (two bedrooms, two baths, with a connecting parlor in between). I have six children, but the staff was very accommodating. They had beds for everyone and a crib for the baby already in the rooms when we arrived. Even though there was 7 of us and an infant, there was still plenty of room. This cost approximately $107 a night, which includes breakfast and dinner. If you are at the lodge for lunch, you can order off the menu, and the prices are really cheap (average $7 for an adult meal, all kid's menu items are $2.45). This is much more reasonable than the other lodges I looked at. Their website gives the details: http://www.kingfisher-uganda.net/en/kichwamba-en/

I realize you may have seen reviews for their sister lodge in Jinja. I have not been there personally, but this lodge is great. The rooms are spacious. The bathrooms are nice. There's always plenty of hot water. It's quiet and peaceful (always something I look for when choosing a vacation destination). Uganda is on alternating days, 12-hour load shedding at the moment, but when the power is off, they run a generator. Meals are buffet style, and there's always plenty, and excellent food to eat. Breakfast is from 0630 to 0900. When we were there, the breakfast was cereal, lots of fresh local fruit (pineapples, mangoes, bananas), toast, fried sausages, and omlettes made to order. There was also plenty of pineapple or mango juice, hot tea, and coffee. Dinner is from 1830 to 2200. Usually, it was salad and fruit, along with 7 other dishes including soup and a variety of local and Indian dishes, all very good. If you order off the menu for lunch you also have a wide variety of dishes, including western foods like steak and hamburgers. The website indicates pizza, but the brick oven for making pizza was not working when we were there, so there was no pizza. The food was so good however, that this was not a dealbreaker. I'm just informing you so if you were anticipating pizza and there is none, you won't be too disappointed. When converting currency, just type your conversion into Google, like so: 7000 UGX to USD.

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Kingfisher Lodge Kichwamba
A la carte menu

Starters (appetizers)

Chicken and pepper salad 10000 USh
Tuna fish salad with toast 10000 USh
Avocado vinaigrette 4000 USh
Filled Avocado (with cubes
of vegetables and mayonnaise) 6000 USh
Avocado plain 1000 USh
Avocado Victoria 7000 USh
Soup (Tomato, potato or vegetable)6000 USh

Snacks

Toasted sandwiches:

Chicken sandwich 8000 USh
Bacon and cheese sandwich 8000 USh
Beef sandwich 8000 USh
Cheese sandwich 7000 Ush
Tomato and cheese sandwich 7000 USh
Vegetable sandwich 8000 USh

Club sandwich
(chicken, tomato, bacon, boiled eggs, lettuce,) 10000 USh

Other Snacks

Grilled sausages 4000 USh
1 Plain chapatti/black tea/coffee 5000 USh
Plain chips 6000 USh
Plain omelet 4000 USh
Rolex 5000 USh
Assorted fruit platter 5000 USh
Fruit salad 5000 USh
Fruit salad with vanilla custard 5000 USh
Plain fish fingers 7000 USh

Main courses

Chicken curry
Sauté chicken in mild or hot curry sauce
Accompanied by either chapatti (a fried corn flour tortilla), rice, boiled or mashed potatoes,
Garnished wish seasonal vegetables
18000 USh

Grilled chicken
A quarter grilled chicken
Served with either chips (french fries), rice or roasted potatoes
18000 USh

Chicken in the basket
A quarter breaded chicken
Served in a basket with chips
18000 USh

Chicken goulash
Cooked boneless pieces of chicken
Accompanied by either chapatti, rice, boiled or Potatoes croquets,
Garnished with seasonal vegetables
18000 USh

Chicken masala
Sauté chicken in masala sauce
Served with your choice of either rice, chapatti, roasted potatoes or chips
18000 USh

Fish curry
Marinated and spicy cubes of fish fillet
Served with either rice, chapatti, roasted potatoes or chips
18000 USh

Whole Tilapia (local, freshwater white fish - very good)
Deep fried whole tilapia, fried and served with tartar sauce
Accompanied by either chapatti, rice, chips, boiled or Potatoes croquets,
18000 USh

Fish fillet
Seasoned, breaded fillet of tilapia
fried, served with tartar or dill sauce.
Accompanied by chips, roasted potatoes or rice.
18000 USh

Fish kebab
Cubes of tilapia deep fried and skewered with vegetables
Served with rice or chips
18000 USh

Fish stir fry
Sautéed strips of fish fillet with vegetables
Served on rice in authentic stir-fry sauce
18000 USh

Grilled pork chops
Garnished with seasonal vegetables.
Accompanied by chips, rice or roasted potatoes
18000 USh

Pork medallion a la crème
Slices of pork fried with onions and mushrooms
Finished off with a crème sauce
Served with rice or Potatoes croquets
18000 USh

Pork muchomo
Grilled skewered pork and vegetables
Served with chips, rice or roasted potatoes
18000 USh

Fillet steak
A lean piece of fillet steak fried
Served with either chips, rice or roasted potatoes and sauce
20000 USh

Pepper steak
A lean piece of fillet steak spiced with pepper and fried
Served with either chips, rice or roasted potatoes and pepper sauce
20000 USh

Fillet “café de Paris”
Grilled fillet of beef
Prepared with sautéed mushrooms and onion rings and garlic butter
Served with rice or chips
20000 USh

Shish Kebab
Spicy fillet cubes fried and skewered
Served on a bed of rice
20000 USh

Hamburger (with chips)
18000 USh

Cheeseburger (with chips)
20000 USh

Spaghetti bolognaise
12000 USh

Spaghetti Napolitana
10000 USh

Deep fried vegetables
Served with white sauce
10000 USh

Vegetable cutlets
Served with rice and tartar sauce
10000 USh

Mixed vegetable curry
Accompanied by either rice chapatti or potatoes croquets
10000 USh

(Please note that meals are prepared on order and might take 30 – 60 min.

DESSERTS

Assorted fruit platter 6000 Ush
Fruit salad 6000 USh
Fruit salad with vanilla custard 6500 USh
Pancake with honey or jam 6500 USh
Pancake parisienne 8000 USh
(filled with fruit salad, mixed with honey and sprinkled with icing sugar)
- a pancake is essentially a flour tortilla, wrapped around other ingredients like a burrito
Pineapple or banana fritters 6000 USh
(with honey syrup or custard)
Pair of Muffins 3000 USh

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CHILDREN'S MENU

Tomato/rice soup with toast
Potato soup with sausage pieces
Vegetable/pasta soup
Beans with chapatti or posho
Vegetable cutlets
Spaghetti Napolitano
(all 5000 USh)

Cheese sandwich with chips
Tomato sandwich with chips
Hamburger plain
Cheeseburger plain
Spaghetti Bolognaise
Fish fingers with chips or rice
Fish fillet with chips or rice
Fish stir fry with chips or rice
Pancake filled with minced meat
Meatballs in sauce with rice of mashed potatoes
Sleeping Shepard (minced meat under mashed potatoes
Beef, pork or chicken stew
(with rice, chapatti, chips or mashed potatoes)
Grilled skewered pork with chips or rice
1/8 grilled chicken with chips
Chicken risotto
(all 7000 USh)

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Keep in mind, all food is prepared to order and everything is made from scratch, so it usually takes about 40 minutes or so to get your food. What we did was place our order, give them our room number, and they would inform us when it was ready. You can eat in the restaurant, or in your room and they will bring it to you. If you eat in the restaurant, you have a beautiful view of the park while you eat.

Drinks are extra (not included with the room), so keep that in mind at mealtimes.

The pools are awesome. There are two. One is a children's pool, which is an upper pool about 3 feet deep connected by a water slide to a lower pool about a foot-and-a-half deep. The kids loved this and played in it a lot. The other pool is an adult pool, approximately 5 feet deep. This overlooks the park and has a gorgeous view. They are currently constructing a lower, deeper pool that also connects to this pool with a slide, just like the kid's pool. They appear to be constructing what will likely be a hot tub. Very cool. There is an observation deck overlooking the park where you can lay out and get some sun, relax, or sit and watch wildlife (you will want to bring binoculars). The equatorial sun is very strong, so remember to use sunscreen if you burn easy.

The grounds are gorgeous, well landscaped with lots of tropical trees and flowers. Be sure to spend some time watching the local birds, including one large tree near the entrance that is absolutely loaded with weaver birds.

Ugandans are extremely friendly and courteous. They speak English with a British accent, modified a bit by their own local accent. It's a little hard to follow if you're not used to it, but listen hard and you'll get the hang of it pretty quick. In Uganda, they say 'pick' instead of 'get', 'pick up', or 'understand' (I went to town to pick some food from the store). Chips is the word for french fries. Where we would say 'move' or 'move over', they would say 'extend'. We say 'done' or 'all gone', they say 'finished'. Ugandans are generally soft spoken, so you may need to politely ask them to repeat themselves if you didn't pick them (understand them) the first time. Ugandans also tend to stare. The people in the lodge know better, because they are around foreigners a lot, but in the towns they WILL eyeball you. This will make probably make you uncomfortable, but remember they stare at everybody, including each other, so don't let it bother you. The children will mob your car if you stop anywhere and press right up to the glass. They don't mean any harm - they're just curious.

You pass through Kasese on the way to the lodge, which is the best place to shop for souvenirs. There is also some shops in the small town you pass on the way to the park. Although the Mweya information center inside the park has a gift shop, the selection is not great, and the items are a bit pricey. You can get the same things near the park for less money. You may want to get your souvenirs from the International Theatre in Kampala before you leave the country. They have stuff from all over East Africa and it's usually the cheapest. Ask the vendors for their 'best price' or their 'last price'. Haggling is the norm here, and they will always try to overcharge you. This is just part of the game. Pitch them a low price and see what they do. Usually, you will meet somewhere in the middle. Don't be afraid to walk out if you don't like the price. Once you 'have agreed' however, be prepared to pay.

If you intend to see animals, especially lions, you will want to get to the park entrance (about a 30 minute drive) near sunrise, around 0630. You can hire tour guides at the front desk. They have maps of the park for sale. The main park will cost $35 for adults and $20 for children. If you visit Kyambura gorge, it costs the same. You can hike here, and hire a guide to see chimpanzees (a guide is required to enter the gorge, since the chimpanzees can be dangerous).

Have fun in Uganda! It's a beautiful country with lots to see.