When people think of celebrity holiday destinations, Uganda doesn’t always top the list. But here is what the glossy magazines don’t tell you: some of the world’s most famous people have quietly, and in some cases very publicly, made their way to the Pearl of Africa. And most of them left changed.
From Oscar-winning actors filming on location to royalty opening the Commonwealth, Grammy-nominated musicians falling in love with the Nile to Hollywood stars trekking mountain gorillas, Uganda has hosted a remarkably starry guest list. Here are eight celebrities you probably didn’t know have visited.
1. Queen Elizabeth II: Royal Seal of Approval, Twice Over
Uganda’s most distinguished visitor first came in 1954, when a young Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh arrived in East Africa. The Duke returned again in 1964. Then in 2007, Queen Elizabeth II came back to Uganda for one of the most significant events on the country’s calendar, the opening of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kampala.
The 2007 visit drew global attention to Kampala as a host city and to Uganda as a country of growing international significance. For a nation Churchill had called the Pearl of Africa, hosting the Queen, twice, is a chapter in Uganda’s story that speaks for itself. Royalty has always known what the rest of the world is only beginning to discover.
Fun fact: To commemorate the historic visit of The Queen to Uganda in 1954, Kazinga National Park was renamed Queen Elizabeth National Park.
2. Kanye West and Kim Kardashian: The Visit That Made the World Look Up
In October 2018, Kanye West flew to Uganda on a private jet, booked out the entire Chobe Lodge at Murchison Falls National Park, and set up a recording studio in the wild to work on his album Yandhi. Kim Kardashian, their daughter North, and fellow rapper Big Sean came along for the trip.
Kim shared footage from the lodge terrace overlooking the Victoria Nile. Then the couple met President Yoweri Museveni at State House in Kampala, gifted him a pair of white Yeezy sneakers, and they discussed promoting Uganda’s tourism and arts. Museveni tweeted personally, calling Uganda ‘the true Pearl of Africa.’ Uganda’s Information Minister called the visit an endorsement of the country’s tourism resources. It was the most high-profile international spotlight Uganda’s tourism had ever received.
3. Maisie Williams: Arya Stark Meets the Mountain Gorillas
Best known globally as Arya Stark from Game of Thrones, British actress Maisie Williams visited Uganda in April 2026 in her role as a global ambassador for the World Wide Fund for Nature. Her destination was Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, home to roughly half of the world’s remaining mountain gorillas.
Williams was visibly moved by the experience. She spoke publicly about how the visit had reshaped her entire view of wildlife tourism, praising Bwindi as a global model for how conservation and responsible tourism can work together. Uganda Wildlife Authority’s strict protocols, limited permits per family per day, minimum approach distances, no entry if unwell, impressed her as a genuine conservation framework. For one of the most-watched actresses of her generation to call Uganda’s gorilla tourism a world-class model: that is a recommendation no budget can buy.
4. Akon: The Singer Who Came to Build, and Stayed to Trek
Senegalese-American singer, producer and pan-African entrepreneur Akon arrived in Uganda in April 2021 on a four-day visit with his wife Rozina Negusei. The trip was centred on investment discussions, Akon met President Museveni at his country home in Rwakitura to explore opportunities in energy, tourism, and infrastructure, including ambitious plans for an Akon City development and luxury accommodation near the Equator.
But it wasn’t all boardrooms. Akon and Rozina took a safari tour of Uganda’s wildlife parks, visiting Bwindi Impenetrable National Park for gorilla trekking and Queen Elizabeth National Park for game drives. By the end of the trip he had fallen for Uganda the country as much as Uganda the opportunity. He returned for a further visit in 2022, this time more quietly, staying with business partner Hamis Kiggundu to celebrate Eid.
5. Lupita Nyong’o: Oscar Winner, Ugandan Storyteller
In 2015, Oscar-winning Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong’o came to Uganda to film Queen of Katwe: a Disney production directed by Mira Nair, telling the true story of Phiona Mutesi, a young girl from Kampala’s Katwe slum who became an international chess prodigy. Lupita played Phiona’s mother, Nakku Harriet.
Lupita spent weeks in Kampala preparing for the role, meeting the real Nakku Harriet and Phiona to understand their lives from the inside. She spoke about how the smells and textures of the Katwe neighbourhood made it easier to find and stay in character. The film was shot almost entirely in Uganda, making it one of the most significant Hollywood productions ever filmed on Ugandan soil. Lupita’s presence brought global attention to an Ugandan story that deserved to be told, and she told it with extraordinary grace.
6. Jidenna: Classic Man Meets the Pearl of Africa
Nigerian-American rapper and singer Jidenna, best known for his hits Classic Man, arrived in Uganda in December 2019 for two performances: the Abryanz Style and Fashion Awards and Blankets and Wine. But Jidenna didn’t come for the shows alone. He came with a week set aside to actually explore Uganda.
The Uganda Tourism Board and Talent Africa gave him three days at Murchison Falls National Park, game drives, a bike safari, a boat cruise on the Nile and a hike to the top of the Falls. He came back stunned. The trip to Murchison Falls was magnificent and euphoric, he said. I was in awe and struck by the power, force and finesse of the waterfall. Uganda will definitely be a country I visit again really soon. That is not a celebrity soundbite. That is someone who genuinely did not expect what they found.
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7. Don Cheadle: From Hotel Rwanda to the Pearl of Africa
In 2004, Oscar-nominated actor Don Cheadle delivered one of the most powerful performances in Hollywood history, playing Paul Rusesabagina, the hotel manager who sheltered over 1,200 people during the Rwandan genocide, in Hotel Rwanda. The film shook the world. And in the summer of 2005, Cheadle came to the region himself to see it.
During a two-and-a-half-week visit to East Africa, Cheadle attended the premiere of Hotel Rwanda in Uganda and toured displaced-person camps in the country’s northern provinces — at the time still deeply affected by the LRA conflict. It was a visit rooted in conscience and curiosity, the kind that only someone genuinely invested in the region would make. Cheadle went on to co-author two books on ending Africa’s most serious human rights crises and testified before the US Senate on the Darfur conflict. Uganda was not a backdrop for him. It was part of a deeper engagement with a continent he had come to care about profoundly.
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8. Forest Whitaker: Three and a Half Months in Uganda, One Oscar
Forest Whitaker spent three and a half months in Uganda researching and filming The Last King of Scotland, the 2006 historical drama in which he played Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. It was his very first visit to Africa.
He didn’t just act there. He immersed himself. He spoke to Ugandans who had lived through the Amin era, learning the story from people who had experienced it emotionally and internally. The film was the first Hollywood production to shoot on location in Uganda, and when it was finished, Whitaker returned for the East African premiere in Kampala — welcomed by traditional drummers and received by President Museveni himself. He won the Academy Award, the BAFTA, the Golden Globe, and the SAG Award for the performance. He also became a supporter of Hope North, a school in northern Uganda for former child soldiers and orphans, whose founder he met during filming.
The World Has Already Discovered Uganda. Have You?
From Queen Elizabeth opening the Commonwealth to Forest Whitaker earning an Oscar on Ugandan soil, from Kanye recording albums at Murchison Falls to Spice putting on a gomesi at Bulange — the Pearl of Africa has been quietly collecting famous fans for decades. Each one arrived not knowing quite what to expect. Each one left with something they hadn’t found anywhere else.
You don’t need to be famous to have the experience they had. You just need to book the trip with us!
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