Closer Than You Think: How Air Travel Is Opening Up Uganda’s Wild Places

Partner Content

By Raymond Kakuba

It is just after sunrise, and a family that landed at Entebbe the night before is already in the air. By mid-morning, they are checking into a lodge on the edge of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, with the afternoon free and their gorilla trek booked for the next day. The same journey by road takes most of a day. For a visitor with one week in Uganda, that difference decides how much of our country they will see.

Tourism is one of Uganda’s great success stories. The Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities’ Statistical Abstract 2025 shows that international arrivals rose to more than 1.6 million last year, earning the country about UGX 5.8 trillion. The sector contributes an estimated 5.9 percent of GDP and supports more than 876,000 jobs. As we mark World Tourism Day on 27 September, one question matters more than most: how do we help those visitors travel further, and stay longer?

Distance is the hidden cost of a safari

Uganda’s greatest treasures are spread across the whole country. Kidepo Valley sits in the far north east, close to the borders with South Sudan and Kenya. Bwindi and Mgahinga lie in the south west. Murchison Falls, Queen Elizabeth and Semuliki are each several hours apart by road. A visitor who wants to see mountain gorillas, tree-climbing lions and the mighty Murchison Falls can easily spend three or four days of a holiday inside a vehicle.

Government wants to change that. Under the fourth National Development Plan, Uganda aims to grow the average tourist’s stay from 7.6 nights to 14, and to multiply what the country earns from tourism. Longer stays only appeal when the time is well spent. Every hour a visitor saves on the road is an hour they can spend in a park, at a lodge or with a local community.

This is where aviation earns its place in Uganda’s tourism story. Since 2008, we at Kampala Executive Aviation (KEA) have flown visitors, tour operators and lodge guests to airstrips close to Uganda’s national parks, including Bwindi, Kidepo, Murchison Falls and Queen Elizabeth. A flight to the gorilla country of the south west takes around an hour and a half. Kidepo, which can take well over ten hours to reach by road, is under two hours away by helicopter.

Flying also makes it easy to link parks in a single itinerary. A guest can trek gorillas one day and cruise the Kazinga Channel the next, without losing a day to the road in between. Our helicopter safaris go a step further, setting guests down beside remote rivers, crater lakes and hilltops for a private lunch with a view few people will ever see.

Every flight lands in a community

A flight is only the beginning of what a visitor spends. Each guest we carry goes on to pay for park permits, lodges, guides, porters, meals, crafts and local transport. Much of that money is spent in rural districts far from Kampala, where tourism is often one of the few sources of steady, formal work. Park fees also help to fund conservation and, through revenue sharing, support the communities living alongside our parks.

This year’s World Tourism Day theme, set by UN Tourism, is “Digital Agenda and Artificial Intelligence to Redesign Tourism”. UN Tourism has warned that, left unchecked, technology can funnel travellers to the same few places and platforms. Aviation helps do the opposite. When a remote park is two hours away instead of two days, it stops being a place visitors skip and becomes a place they plan around. That spreads the benefits of tourism to more districts, more businesses and more families.

When a remote park is two hours away instead of two days, it stops being a place visitors skip and becomes a place they plan around

Protecting what visitors come to see

Uganda’s wildlife and landscapes are the reason most holiday visitors come, and protecting them is in everyone’s interest, including ours. Our crews fly with respect for the parks and the animals in them, and we operate within the guidance of park authorities. Safety sits at the heart of everything we do, and we are proud to have maintained a 100 percent accident-free record since we began operations in 2008.

The same aircraft and experience that serve tourism also support medical evacuation, aerial survey and humanitarian work across the region. For visitors heading to remote corners of the country, knowing that experienced aviation support is close at hand brings real peace of mind.

Technology with a human touch

Digital tools are changing the way people discover, plan and book travel, and we are building them into how we work, including a dedicated agent portal on our website for tour operators. But no algorithm can replace a pilot who knows the afternoon weather over the Rwenzori, or the feel of a short airstrip in Karamoja. The future of Ugandan tourism belongs to those who combine smart technology with local knowledge and genuine care for every guest.

Looking ahead

As Uganda works towards more visitors, longer stays and higher value tourism, we remain committed to making the country’s most remarkable places easier, safer and more comfortable to reach. We are grateful to the tour operators, lodges, conservation partners and government agencies we work alongside, and to every guest who has chosen to see Uganda from the air.

Happy World Tourism Day. Uganda is closer than you think.