Crater Lakes Hike in Fort Portal

On a sunny afternoon, we embarked on a hike to the top of one of Fort Portal’s best attractions. The amazing thing about Fort Portal is that there is so much to see and do, on this day we decided on an afternoon hike to the crater lakes in Fort Portal. The iconic Crater Twin Lakes welcome a significant number of visitors each year who are drawn to the beautiful views one enjoys from the top.

We started our journey from Fort Portal town at around 1:00 pm, Fort Portal is one of the popular tourist towns in Uganda and is a 5-hour drive from the capital city – Kampala. The journey to Rweihamba where the crater lakes are situated is a scenic one as we drove through the small village towns while taking in the views of the lush landscape. Fort Portal which is located in Kabarole district receives a lot of rain during the two rainy seasons per annum so you will notice that the areas are evergreen. The road that leads to Rweihamba is a bit bumpy but that did not affect us in any way because our excitement was focused on getting to the crater lakes.

On arrival, we started the hike up to the Crater Lakes with our guide for the day. The guide is a local who gave us a short story about his upbringing growing up in the hilly Rweihamba. He reminisced on spending his younger years climbing up the hills, grazing his father’s cattle, playing with friends, and climbing up to the crater lakes almost daily. That made the hike up even more interesting and we almost didn’t notice how quickly it took us to get to the top. The views along the way are amazing and you get to see the local gardens, the houses built on a hill, and farms for locals that keep cattle.

Getting to the top was a highlight. Being up there was so magical, it’s quiet, it’s peaceful and one cannot get enough of the views. I simply wanted to take in all the beauty.

View of Lake Nyinambuga from the top

The crater lakes are 3 in number. On this day we were able to see two of the crater lakes clearly. The 3 crater lakes are named Lake Nyinambuga, Lake Kifuruka, and Lake Lyatonde. The ones we were able to see from this side of the hike were Lake Nyinambuga and Lake Kifuruka. Lake Lyatonde is best viewed from Papaya Lake Lodge which is one of the top luxury lodges in Uganda.

Lake Nyinambuga is a beautiful crater lake surrounded by lush vegetation and it’s famously known for appearing on the 20.000 Ugandan Shilling note. If you look closely at the note you will notice a photo of Lake Nyinambuga on it. The lake is calm with not much activity happening, on this day however we were able to see two fishermen on a canoe fishing on the lake. Further ahead we saw some Cattle Egrets perched on a section of trees around the lake.

We spent a good time at the top taking photos, enjoying the scenery, and capturing some videos. Lake Kifuruka which is on the other side offers a stunning view as well with the rolling hills further ahead. On the hike, you notice that Rweihamba is generally a hilly area so some of the locals’ houses are built on the hills, and their gardens as well are on the hills. Our guide informed us that the locals are used to the hilly areas and rarely find difficulty navigating the area.

View of the hilly landscape as we hiked up

The water at Lake Kifuruka is green in color which I found rather odd however the guide informed us that the government was trying to get rid of the water weeds which later must have died and their rotting turned the water greenish. Lake Nyinambuga and Lake Kifuruka are close to each other and are by some considered twin lakes because of their proximity to each other. After spending ample time at the top we then started our journey back down stopping mid-route to take some photos and talk, we came across a group of Black-crowned waxbills along the way – very beautiful birds!

Lake Kifuruka in Fort Portal

The Crater Lakes hike is an activity I highly recommend for visitors to Fort Portal, everyone I have visited this place with is always in awe of the stunning views from the top. The entire activity takes between 1 hour to 2 hours depending on your physical ability and time spent at the top. It’s a great choice for a 1 Day tour.

Distance between Fort Portal City and Rweihamba – 30 minutes.

A selfie I took while hiking up

Part of the team hiking ahead of me

At the top with Lake Nyinambuga in the background

Lake Nyinambuga (Crater Lake in Fort Portal)

 

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