I travelled to Jinja, Uganda, to see the Source of the River Nile, ‘The World’s Longest River’.
The River Nile begins its remarkable 4,000-mile journey towards Egypt at this spot on Lake Victoria:
I arrived in Jinja, having crossed the Kenya-Uganda border at Busia. I was here to visit the Source of the River Nile, the world’s longest river. Though there seems to be some dispute as to which is longer, the Nile or the Amazon.
But whether it’s the longest or the second longest, it is one of the world’s mightiest rivers.
And many don’t even consider Jinja as being the source of the Nile. Some say that the true source of the River Nile is in Burundi. And just for the record, I went there too; The Southernmost Source of the River Nile.
Though it seems that water from all these possible sources ends up in Lake Victoria.
And I was here to see that.
In Khartoum, I once stood at the confluence of the White and Blue Niles. The Blue Nile originates at Lake Tana (I also went there in 2016) in Ethiopia (where it is called the Abay River).
From Jinja town, it’s about a 30 or 40-minute walk to the Source of the Nile Recreational Park.
As in Kenya, the price to enter for foreigners is much more than the local price.
A boda-boda guy suggested I ask for a discount.
So I used my charm (do I have charm?) and asked if they could let me in at a lower price.
“I can let you in for half price”.
I was thirsty from the hike in the sun, and the money I’d saved on the entrance fee allowed me to drink a couple of beers at the bar “Source of the Nile”.
Video at the Source of the River Nile:
Meeting locals in Jinja:
Who found the Source of the River Nile?
The British explorer John Hanning Speke (1827-64) became the first European to visit Lake Victoria. Having travelled around the lake, on August 3, 1858, he identified a point near Jinga as the Source of the Nile.
Mahatma Gandhi, Indian lawyer, politician, social activist, and writer who became the leader of the nationalist movement against the British rule of India.
He was assassinated in Delhi in 1948. Some of his ashes were taken to the Source of the River Nile at Jinja.
