The Alexander Mackay Cave at Nateete, on the western edge of Kampala, is a dug underground room where the Scottish missionary hid and taught converts while Kabaka Mwanga II was killing Christians. An Alexander Mackay Cave tour takes about an hour, covers the cave, the well outside it and the Martyrs Church beside it, and is arranged through the Anglican parish rather than any tour desk.
Things to Do on an Alexander Mackay Cave Tour
This is a small site and a quiet one. Nobody has turned it into a visitor attraction, which is both the problem with it and the reason to go. Three things make up the visit: the cave itself, the well and the ground around it, and the church next door, which holds the harder part of the history and the objects Mackay made.
Inside the Cave: What the Tour Shows
The cave is a dug chamber rather than a natural one, cut into the hillside below where Mackay’s quarters stood. Accounts describe two tunnels running off it, one climbing back towards the quarters and one heading out towards the villages, with a way out at the far end. How much of that is passable now is another matter, and you should not go exploring a side tunnel because a guide says it once went somewhere.
Inside, the walls carry painted religious images. It is cramped, unlit and hot, so anyone uneasy in a confined space should look in from the entrance instead. Bring a torch rather than relying on a phone already low on charge.
The figure repeated for the cave’s distance below the quarters is a hundred and fifty metres. No survey stands behind it, and it is worth treating as a rough measure passed from page to page rather than a fact anyone checked.
The Well, the Tree and Why the Cave Faces Where It Does
Mackay dug where the water was. A spring rose here and people came to it, so the entrance was cut facing the well: he could see who was coming, and everyone fetching water came within reach of a man who wanted to talk to them. Local accounts are candid that the position was chosen for that reason, which is a better thing to be told than a story about pure refuge.
Outside stood a tall tree used as a lookout, watching the paths for anyone coming from the palace. The tree is gone. The well is still there.
The Martyrs Church: The Other Half of the Tour
Next to the cave stands a church remembering three young Anglican converts, Nuwa Serwanga, Yusufu Lugalama and Mark Kakumba, who were seized at this place and taken to Busega, where they were killed on Mwanga’s orders. They died before the larger executions at Namugongo and are counted as the first Christians killed in Buganda. Their deaths were deliberately public and deliberately cruel; the church does not dress that up and neither should a visitor.
Mackay designed the building, and the parish will tell you the original doors and their keys are still in use, made in his own workshop. Our religious heritage guide places Nateete in the wider sequence that runs to Namugongo, which is where most visitors meet this history first.
The Printing Press, the Bricks and the Workshop Tour
Mackay was an engineer before he was a preacher, and Nateete was a workshop as much as a mission. He made bricks. He built. He ran the first printing press brought into the country, a hand press on which he printed the Gospel of Matthew translated into Luganda, and that press is why the site matters to anyone interested in how the written form of the language spread.
He also taught carpentry, building and farming, and his exhortation to converts, temudda nnyuma, never turn back, is still carried as a motto by the schools that took his name.
Mackay himself did not stay to see the end of it. He was driven out with the other missionaries, worked on from a station south of Lake Victoria, and died there of fever in his early forties.
The Bulange to Naggalabi Walking Tour
The cave makes far more sense inside the walk it belongs to. A long established route starts at the Bulange at Mengo, runs down the ceremonial road to the Kabaka’s Palace, carries on past Kabaka’s Lake and Nateete, and finishes at the coronation site at Naggalabi Buddo, roughly fifteen kilometres in all.
In one go it is a long, hot day. Split over two mornings it is the best way to see this side of Kampala, because the kingdom sites and the mission sites are one story told from two directions.
Getting to Nateete and Fitting the Cave Into a City Tour
Nateete lies on the Masaka road out of Kampala, past Ndeeba and Busega, and the landmark to give a driver is the Mackay school junction. Traffic on this corridor is heavy most of the day, so go early. Twenty minutes from the centre at dawn becomes an hour by mid morning.
Wear shoes you can climb a rough slope in, take a torch, and carry water. Our Kampala guide sets out how the western suburbs connect and what a realistic half day covers.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Mackay Cave
Can anyone just turn up and go in?
Not reliably. There is no gate, no warden and no published opening time, and the cave is usually kept locked or simply unattended. The workable method is to go to the parish next door, explain why you have come and ask for whoever shows visitors round. A phone call ahead through a local guide saves a wasted trip.
Is there a fee?
No official tariff exists. What is expected is a donation to the parish and something for the person who guides and unlocks. Carry small shilling notes and offer without being asked, since nobody here will name a figure to you and the site has no other income.
Is it suitable for children or older visitors?
The church and the well, yes. The cave itself is a different matter: the way down is rough, the space is tight and the air is close. Anyone with knee trouble, breathing trouble or a dislike of enclosed spaces should stay at the entrance, which still gives the shape of the thing.
How does this connect to the Uganda Martyrs at Namugongo?
It comes before them. The three men remembered at Nateete were killed at Busega ahead of the executions at Namugongo, in the same wave of persecution under Mwanga II. Visiting Nateete first makes the Namugongo shrines read very differently, because you have already seen where it started.
Is the cave worth the detour on a short trip?
Only if you care about mission history, printing, or how Christianity began in Buganda. It is small, unlit and unrestored. Set beside the palace and the Bulange it adds a lot; visited alone, in traffic, it can feel a long way to see a hole in a hillside.
Is anything being done to protect the site?
The diocese has promoted it as a heritage centre and there have been repeated plans to develop it. On the ground, progress has been slow and the structure has been left largely as it is. Ask when you visit, because this is one of those sites where the answer changes from year to year.
Uganda Safaris lists safaris sold by independent Ugandan operators. We take no booking, handle no payment and charge you nothing. No operator sells the cave on its own, so the practical route is to ask one running a Kampala city tour or the Naggalabi walk to include Nateete, or to contact an operator through the enquiry route and say you want the mission sites alongside the kingdom ones.