02/01/22: a brief trip to Jinja

A very happy new year to all my readers, may 2022 bring peace, happiness and fresh purpose. Thank you for your support, look forward to keeping in touch in the new year.

Between Christmas and new year I took myself off to Jinja for a few days. Jinja is, I think, the closest tourist resort to here, certainly there’s a strong sense of getting out of Kampala which is really nice.

So, how to get there? There’s no system of public transport here, instead there are vast numbers of taxis as they’re called – 15 seater minibuses with 5 rows of 3 seats, the 3 middle rows having a fold down seat which needs to be up to allow people behind on and off. Below is a picture from the Internet.

You can see in the picture the conductor, one thing which becomes apparent when on the taxi is how hard the conductor works! Constantly on the look out for new passengers, helping people with their luggage – which sometimes is voluminous in the extreme. When full they are a little crowded, with children there may be more than 15 people. But the price is extraordinary – a journey of 80km or 50 miles costs UGX 15 000 which is just over £3. So you can’t really complain if at times things are a bit slow or it gets a bit crowded. I looked at an alternative on the way back and was being quoted a price 8 times this. No, let’s stick to the taxi, that’s what I think.

Of course, Jinja is best known as the source of the Nile, the scenery is just stunning, not sure that my pictures does it justice:

The last picture shows the island which is where the River Nile is deemed to begin, nearer the camera is the Nile, beyond the island is Lake Victoria.

I was also able to visit Itanda Falls, about 27 km north of Jinja:

As I hope this

I’m told that a number of other white water areas have disappeared over the last few years due to damming raising the water level. Not in a position to comment on this, if this is so, then I would wonder not just about the beauty but also the environmental impact of destroying local phenomenon.

Whilst at the falls I engaged in the ancient art of ‘make an idiot of the tourist’, please enjoy!

Getting to the falls required a lengthy ride on the back of a boda (motorcycle acting as a taxi), I left some of the dust on the road, honest!

Another thing I was able to do in Jinja was visit the Commonwealth War Cemetery in the centre of Jinja:

Looking round made me realise that I know nothing about the African involvement in the First and Second World Wars, but I would say this. As far as I can make out, having been born 20 years after the Second World War, there was, from a British point of view, a very clear rationale for the conflict, a definite sense of fighting for freedom over tyranny. Which I hope brought comfort and peace both to those fighting and their friends and families left behind. Did Private Abel Ayo know that sense of purpose, I wonder?

Or – was there a sense of fighting other people’s conflicts? I really don’t know, I may revisit this issue in future. Or do please write a comment if you know more about this than I do.

So, back in Kampala, full teaching day on Wednesday so need to get head in gear for that. Pleased to be able to get away for a few days, let me finish with perhaps my favourite picture from near the source of the Nile. Thank you for reading!