Jinja- the source of the Nile

Brian and I have just returned from a wonderful trip to Jinja about 90 minutes or so outside of Kampala. What makes this town so special? It is in fact the great source of the Nile. So Brain and I arrived in the late afternoon and incredibly found our hotel without needing to ask anyone for directions. With great pleasure we discovered they had a swimming pool and charter boat rides to the source of the Nile. The ride was short but interesting. The water from lake Victoria rushed along and then at the point of the source there was a noticeable shift in current on one side. The two bodies of water did not seem to merge. It was the true source our guide explained.

The glorious source of the River Nile.

Further up the Nile is where a lot of tourists are led and told to be the source of the Nile but in fact it's just a convenient location for restaurants and shops. Our guide then offered to show us where some monkeys lived. Well, we had seen monkeys and though we wanted more of a ride we wished to see something else. That is when we discovered that Gandhi's ashes were scattered near the source. It seemed many years ago he had visited Uganda, namely Jinja, and had seen this source of the Nile and the surrounding beauty and was so overcome he decided then and there that when he died his ashes would find their home there. We saw the monument erected in his honor and to commemorate the event. It was a surprise and pleasure to discover this fact.

Cruising on the Nile.

Afterwards we went swimming and then after watching some news and music videos (we are TV starved out here) we enjoyed some yummy Mexican food. Yes that's right I said Mexican food, only one place in Uganda has Mexican food and we were so lucky to find it.
Saturday we ventured out the see the Falls. I was picturing Niagara falls or something along those lines but these would be more accurately called rapids. Still, very beautiful and we got to go on another boat ride with a guide who charmed Brian with his adorable pronunciation of certain words such as island. We even hiked a bit as the small islands the guide took us to has some steep hills to see various falls.

One of the many rapids at Bujagali Falls.

Afterwards we made our way back on a boda boda that we would never ride in Kampala as we would surely die but in Jinga it is much less hectic and so we made it back safely. If we haven't mentioned it before a boda boda is like a moped or sometimes even like a motorcycle. If we had had a choice, we would have taken a taxi there and back. Unfortunately this was not available. It was kind of fun though...
So that was our great Jinga adventure. It was quite relaxing and a enjoyable experience, especially the hot showers and flushable toilets.

Oh and Muammar El-Gadhafi was in town. We walked right past him on his way to a Muslim rally. It was weird.

--Renee