Equator Line Restaurant – Kayabwe, Uganda - Gastro Obscura

Equator Line Restaurant

Kayabwe, Uganda

This small roadside eatery exists in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres, as the equator runs right through it. 

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Order a coffee from a barista standing in another hemisphere at this photogenic geographical oddity.

A yellow line is painted across a busy village road chock full of motorcycle taxis, thundering buses, and trucks. The line passes through a pair of bright white circular structures, bearing the words “Uganda Equator.”

This simple stripe marks the globally significant parallel at 0 degrees latitude. The equator passes through the center of these large, selfie-hotspot hoops on either side of the busy thoroughfare and goes straight through the main entrance of the Equator Line Restaurant.

Inside the eatery, the line of the equator crosses the cool tiled floor, passes a bar area, and continues as a yellow painted strip up the wall. Here, in this popular restaurant 6,025 miles from the North and South Poles, the division of Earth’s hemispheres is clearly marked for all to see.

The equatorial establishment offers visitors the chance to undertake a series of “water experiments,” one in each hemisphere, and a third directly on the equator itself, after which they are awarded an “equatorial certificate.”

In addition to all the the geographical fun to be had, visitors shouldn’t forget that the Equator Line Restaurant is also a place to dine. The eatery serves wonderfully aromatic, freshly ground Ugandan-grown coffee, and the rolex, a favorite Ugandan snack that’s a kind of mixed vegetable omelette wrapped in chapati bread. This local dish is complemented on the menu by a range of food and drink from all over the globe, upon whose principal dividing line the small eatery proudly sits.

Know Before You Go

The restaurant is in the village of Kayabwe, a little over halfway between the Ugandan capital, Kampala, and the busy city of Masaka. Many tours operating from Kampala or the lakeside resort of Entebbe, bound for the national parks of Bwindi, Queen Elizabeth, and Lake Mburo pass through Kayabwe, and most will stop at the equator line for an unmissable photo opportunity. Public transport is also available from Kampala in the form of regular buses bound for the west of the country and Rwanda.

In partnership with KAYAK

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