Jinja and the source of the Nile

I am not sure many people have heard of Jinja... I have no problem in admitting that I had never heard about it until I got here and started wondering what is there to see in Uganda, and Jinja was one of the places that came up most of the times. It is probably because Jinja is, after all, quite close to Kampala (approx 1 hour and a half on the way out, much longer on the way back because of Kampala's traffic!).

But of course, a lot more people have heard about the Nile... we know that it is one of the longest and largest rivers around the world. I have come to realise that there is apparently a bit of controversy around where is the source of the Nile... People have either never wondered about it or were never too concerned about it... we know much more about the part of the Nile which flows across Egypt.

So we started our trip to Jinja with the promise of seeing the source of the Nile. On our way out we stopped at Mabira Forest for breakfast. Mabira Forest is a pretty big rainforest in the middle of the land on your way from Kampala to Jinja. A friend of ours who was acting as a bit of a guide on the day tends to join a group who comes once a month to do walks across Mabira Forest with one of the national guides. It was very nice to see the forest, apparently it is full of some little animals like tree snakes, and our friend has seen monkeys and baboons also during the walks... although we didn't see any of all those, I was quite happy not to see any of the snakes specially. We had breakfast at The Rainforest Lodge Mabira, which was beautifully built and decorated, nice African style, check http://www.geolodgesafrica.com/the_rainforest_lodge.htm, it was peaceful and very relaxing, would be lovely to stay there to disconnect from the world. I loved the reception, very cool, and the swimming pool against the backdrop of the forest.

Our friend was telling us how Mabira Forest is a bit under pressure by some companies and people to gain land from the forest to convert it into agricultural land. That would be a shame as this is a wonderful rainforest with invaluable biodiversity.

So after our big (and expensive) breakfast we continued our way to Jinja. I had read that Jinja has become somehow a weekend retreat for expats, aid workers and missionaries, resulting in some pockets of sophistication. Well, that's what my guide was saying... I am not sure I would have called it 'sophisticated' but was nice enough. The town is very 'flat' in the sense that there are no high buildings at all, I was impressed by some of the colonial style houses and buildings which are well preserved.













We immediately set off to go and discover the source of the Nile. This was an interesting one, because I had read beforehand that this was not, how should we say... it is not spectacular... but my husband and our friend I think were expecting something different. Basically you need to take a boat to take you to the place where Lake Victoria finishes and the Nile starts, of course it is highly advisable to negotiate harshly down the initial price that the guys give you... we ended up reducing the price around 60% of what the guy had suggested initially. As you go into the river, they take you to a place in between two small islands, where the only thing that you can see nowadays is actually some currents flowing strongly from underground and then towards the river.














So of course, my husband and friend were so disappointed... I think they were expecting to see some kind of beautiful spring or waterfall from where the river would then flow... I was not too disappointed, for me it was the first time on Lake Victoria and Nile waters, so still a nice experience. I have found out later that the problem is that the Ripon Falls now lie under the river, buried behind the Owen Falls Dam. In fact, going up river, you can see the Bujagali Falls, and somebody told me that there is a new dam being built towards that side, which is likely to end up covering those falls too... Never a better example of how man is changing the landscape... on one side it is good to be able to retain all that water for human consumption, but at the expense of covering some beautiful natural spots.


The anecdote of the day, and something that I didn't know previously, is that close to the Source of the Nile, at the Ripon Falls Leisure Centre, there is a statue of Gandhi. When Gandhi died his wish was that his ashes were divided to be scattered in several of the world's great rivers, including the Nile in Uganda.






Later on we then went up river to see some of the rapids and the place where you can do bungee jumping. Our friend is from Zimbabwe and she has done both rafting here and the bungee jumping too... but she said that compared to Zimbabwe these rapids here were really small... well, I suppose if one takes into account some places down there like Victoria Falls ;)

So in summary for me highlights of the day... some beautiful places, which could be somehow organised a bit better from a touristy perspective, a great biodiversity that not many people would pay attention to and which is coming under pressure by human action... But all in all a charming visit to one of the greatest lakes and one of the greatest rivers in the world.