Jinja- the source of the Nile River

Jinja


Thanks to Tim, we met a Danish family that is living in Masaka and running a children’s home there. We mentioned that we would be going to Jinja, and we were planning on staying in a backpacker’s hostel. The father of the Danish family, Carston, offered his home in Jinja. They have a second home here so we are able to stay for free. The house-or more accurately- cottage is awesome. It’s very quiet and peaceful and it overlooks the River Nile. Here in Uganda we say “River Nile” instead of “Nile River.”

View from the cottage

We’ve had a full and exciting day in Jinja. After we stopped by Carston’s house and dropped our stuff we headed to Ozzie’s Café for lunch. Pastor Kintu warned us that the lady that owns it is one tough lady. We didn’t know what he meant but we soon found out. I don’t think we ever saw her smile, but her food was good!

The little old lady in the left corner is Ozzy.

After lunch we went to Lake Victoria where we got in a boat and headed to the very beginning of the Nile. I took a video, but that will have to come later on. Uploading is way too slow here. We saw the exact spot where the Nile River starts.

This is where the calm waters of Lake Victoria start to turn to the rapidly moving water of the Nile.

After seeing the source of the Nile, we went to Bujagali Falls.

Our adopted son, Shammer (pronounced "Shamma")

Bujagali Falls is listed on Trip Advisor as the #1 thing to do in Uganda and the # thing to do in Africa. After seeing Murchison Falls, Bujagali wasn’t that spectacular but the thing that makes it most famous is the jerry can guys. I don’t have a picture because Taylor took a video of the event, but basically you pay a guy about $2 to risk his life going over the falls with only a jerry can. We did pay a guy, despite Tim’s warning that our consciences might not be able to handle it. And we are happy to say that he lived through the event!

After Bujagali Falls, we headed back to the house for some great sunset views of the Nile. As we were walking down to the banks, we saw monkeys in the trees above us, but they wouldn’t come close enough for a picture.


We’re gonna buy some bananas tonight and hopefully lure them close.

Tomorrow we head to Sipi Falls in the Eastern part of Uganda to celebrate our 2nd anniversary about a week or so early. We have yet to spend an anniversary in America. Our first anniversary was spent in Korea. Our second will be in Uganda. Maybe on our 3rd we’ll be in America.