The new face of Kampala

by kiwanja

Today, the Kampala skyline is broken by quality four and five star hotels and high-rise office buildings. Mobile phone masts take pride of place on the surrounding hills. The towns are littered with mobile phone shops and kiosks, and a splattering of Internet cafes.

It’s hard to imagine, but when I first came to Uganda in 1995 there was no Internet to speak of, no mobile phone shops, the Sheraton was pretty-much the only place for high-end tourists to stay, and there were few high-rise buildings that I remember. I was also yet to own my first mobile phone.

Imagine.

13 comments

1 changefeed { 11.10.10 at 8:57 am }: ->@kiwanja: The new face of Kampala http://bit.ly/cnAFT7
2 Fr@nthro { 11.10.10 at 9:01 am }: #anthro blog post: The new face of Kampala: Today, the Kampala skyline is broken by quality four and five star h… http://clct.me/uc6V2
3 Lisa Richardson { 11.10.10 at 9:11 am }: The new face of Kampala: Today, the Kampala skyline is broken by quality four and five star hotels and high-rise… http://bit.ly/aXbGZs
4 The new face of Kampala | Global Health Hub { 11.10.10 at 9:26 am }: [...] View post: The new face of Kampala [...]
5 bankelele { 11.10.10 at 12:04 pm }: Nice meeting you this a.m., Kampala looks much nicer than two years ago (except for the ubiquitous campaign posters of a certain budding rapper)
6 Ken Banks { 11.10.10 at 1:09 pm }: When I first came to Uganda in 1995 there was no Internet to speak of, and I was yet to own a mobile phone. http://bit.ly/cnAFT7
7 Ken Banks { 11.10.10 at 1:09 pm }: When I first came to Uganda in 1995 there was no Internet to speak of, and I was yet to own a mobile phone. http://bit.ly/cnAFT7
8 Deborah Elzie { 11.10.10 at 1:37 pm }: The New Face of Kampala – post by @kiwanja http://bit.ly/cnAFT7
9 mythomobile { 11.10.10 at 7:39 pm }: When I first came to Uganda in 1995 there was no Internet to speak of, and I was yet to own a mobile phone. http://bit.ly/cnAFT7
10 Ken Banks { 11.11.10 at 2:20 am }: When I first came to Uganda in 1995 there was no Internet to speak of, and I was yet to own a mobile phone. http://bit.ly/cnAFT7
11 Michael { 11.13.10 at 10:24 pm }: It’s also hard to imagine… how many of the “medical” and other missions stay at these lavish hotels on donor funded trips. If the donors only knew…
12 Eugene Adogla { 11.21.10 at 8:49 am }: Hehehehe HOW times change…
13 tumwijuke { 12.10.10 at 5:26 am }: What is nice is that architects are looking past the horrid rectangular monstrosities that dot the city.