Traveling around Uganda presents visitors with flexible opportunities, including vegetarian/vegan travelers, as they explore their destinations. Uganda is a vegetarian paradise, thus providing tourists multiple choices of a vegan diet. While there are abundant options to choose from for vegetarians on a Uganda safari, it is essential to inform your local tour operator in advance such that proper planning can be done.
Informing your local tour operator in advance can enable him/her to let the accommodation management know about the special arrangement you require when it comes to meals. The meal plans often come in varying options and are served depending on the visitor’s order. With advance information, the lodge management can be in a position to secure the kind of vegetables to suit your dietary meal plan.
Useful Tips for vegetarians and vegans on Uganda tour
Initiate and ask for what you want in advance
When planning to travel to Uganda as a vegetarian or vegan, the first step you must take is to ensure that you communicate your dietary needs in advance. Do not wait till the last minute. The local tour operator may organize a trip, and the meal plan covered may not favor you completely. When you communicate in advance, it enables the lodge or hotel management to also plan for the kind of vegetables to prepare for you.
Take note that not all local safari companies/tour operators understand what vegetarians and vegans mean or desire. It is through your early communication that they can be guided and you have something better. Do not assume everyone knows otherwise such can result in last-minute disappointment.
In some places, you shouldn’t expect the staff to anticipate what you need. Some lodges provide breakfast for vegans and vegetarians and are often restricted to fruit, coffee, and bread. To some guests, this can work for them, but in case you are interested in something else, please be open to the manager or the nearby staff.
Be specific
When making any order, try to be specific to avoid being served what you do not need. When you place the order, the lodge staff provides exactly what you ordered. Often, some visitors do not require certain fruits to be mixed in their breakfast or lunch menus. To avoid the whole scenario at the end of it, you should be specific about your order.
Inform the lodge
When reserving a trip to Uganda, whether on self-drive or guided safaris, you should let your tour operator, who is on the ground, know of your travel needs as a vegetarian or vegan. The tour operator is usually more in touch with the safari lodges or hotels where you will be staying for a night during the entire safari in the particular destination in Uganda. On arrival at the respective lodge or hotel, your safari guide can provide last-minute advice to the kitchen staff concerning your meals.
Expect a combo
Depending on the destinations you have visited before, in Uganda, usually some vegetarian dishes may come along with animal-based products. But you can be as specific as possible to avoid any mix that can ruin your day.
Food enhancers
Be aware of the food enhancers that may contain MSG-based additives, often found in salts like Aromat. Try as much as you can to avoid such enhancers and also communicate your meal preference to the management in advance, specifying the exclusion of MSG or any food additives.
How to survive as a vegetarian/vegan in Uganda
When you decide to visit Uganda as a vegetarian or vegan, expect a lot. Uganda is a vegetarian hub, and usually, breakfast options come with a fruit platter. Some clients enjoy this combo while others do not.
Luckily, Uganda has everyone covered thanks to a variety of delicious and juicy fruits often harvested freshly from the gardens. Even as you connect to your destinations, you can come across fruit stalls in the markets as they sell pineapples, mangoes, bananas, and more.
What is remarkable about Uganda is that the quality of its fruits is outstanding. With abundant fruit options, surviving as a vegetarian/vegan is possible. You can walk in some of the local markets with a guide and purchase your preferred fruits and vegetables at a friendly rate.
Take your snacks.
Be aware that dairy products in Uganda are a big deal, and if you are not a fan, you may feel out of place. But well, you can embark on a journey when fully set with a pack of your snacks.
Go camping with a mobile chef.
If you are not comfortable with the lodge/hotel provisions, hire a car with camping gear in Uganda, and you can go on a camping trip together with your professional chef. There are campsites for guests who desire to go on a camping safari in Uganda. Book a safari through the local tour operator and be guided to suitable camping destinations in Uganda.
