Jinja Sightseeing and Source of the Nile River Day Trip

Leave your Kampala hotel after breakfast and drive along Jinja road from Kampala toward Jinja on one of the busiest roads in Uganda, you will pass through Lugazi which is a sugar cane town meeting sugar cane trucks with their ware on them.

Our first stop is Ssebizwa Falls – a favorite place of rest and healing for the Kabakas of the Buganda Kingdom – it is still a place where people come to seek the old ways. Old or new, the falls will leave a peaceful imprint on your heart.

We come by some of the fast-food dispensers of chicken and beef on a stick, also drinks and cassava before reaching Mabira Forest. We pull off and soon reach the place where we will take a walk in the forest. This is one of the few rainforests in the central region of Uganda. A portion of which is now being cut down for power lines, while another portion has been threatened to be given away to sugar companies for more sugar plantations, that decision has and is an off – on situation.

Besides the lovely forest there are over 300 species of birds and over 218 kinds of butterflies. There are over 312 tree and plant species. You will also find lots of monkey and other mammals in Mabira Forest walking underneath this canopy of an African Rainforest is an almost spiritual experience.

You will love the silence only to be broken by the call of a bird, or the shriek of a monkey.
Uganda is the one of those places where the West African Rainforest meets East Africa resulting in beautiful places such as Mabira Forest and it is simply breathtaking.

Afterwards we get back into the vehicle and drive the Sunset Hotel where we sit inside a lovely restaurant perched on a hill over the Nile. The food is very good and they have a stuffed chicken breast stuffed with spinach that is my personal favorite. You can order Ugandan, Chinese, Indian or Italian dishes. Most of all enjoy the food.

After lunch we take a short ride to where we visit the source of the Nile, a quiet Park, nowadays there are some souvenir sellers there, but otherwise it is quiet and beautiful, filled with palm trees, fantastic tropical plants and as you walk down the steps toward the Nile you can smell of the flowers there.

As you stand on the Nile, you can hear the gurgling water, watch fishermen throwing their nets, taking in the longest river in Africa, a river that flows from south to north toward the Mediterranean Sea, you can close your eyes and sense history. Oh John Hanning Speke coming to this river and being the first Westerner to discover the source of the Nile as to being Lake Victoria.

Take a Boat Ride to the source of the Nile and beyond the lake, great picture opportunities for you.
Then it is off to town, which at one time was the industrial capital of Uganda, now-a-days it is a sleepy town filled with lots of old Indian styled homes, reflecting the many Indians who lived here in the pre-Amin area, some of which have returned to reclaim their old properties, while most Indians today in Uganda and in Jinja came from India in search of success.
There are many shops along the main road and also a place to buy Ugandan crafts, you can have some time to do so. After our visit to Jinja town. We used to drive to Bujagali Falls but was now transformed into a power dam.

Transportation, Entrance fees, trip to the source of Nile River, lunch, driver/Guide subsistence allowance and government taxes The package to exclude expenses of personal nature like: drinks, laundry, tips, telephone, etc