In order to see more of the country and do some activities that weren’t centered around animals, we selected other areas to see. One place was Murchinson Falls where the most powerful waterfall in the world is (as defined by most concentrated force of water through the narrowest gap). The Nile River goes through a rock slot/gorge of only 7 meters wide. The force of the water was incredible and you “felt” it through the ground as soon as you got close to the waterfall. We also did a boat safari on the Nile to see the Falls from the water and we were fortunate to see many animals and birds in the water and on land – turned out to be more than just another boat ride!
While Uganda has pretty good road infrastructure compared to other countries we visited, it still doesn’t have a real highway – multi-lane road where people and animals are not allowed to cross or walk next to, have stalls or markets next to. And there are so many varied sizes of vehicles – donkey-drawn carts piled extremely high with some crop, bicycles carrying long steel pipes, motorcyles carrying a live cow (yes we saw that) or a family of five, local mutata buses that make stops all the time, tourist vehicles (vans or jeeps), sedans, small trucks, large trucks, large buses. Being in the midst of the chaos on the roads is the scariest experience we have had – by far! We thought we would take public buses between places but Uganda doesn’t really have “luxury” buses for tourists with good safety records. So instead, most people traveling around the country, hire drivers. Which is what we had to do. And the traffic in almost any city/town we went through, sucked. Too many people, animals, and checkpoints, made it all very chaotic!
We had booked a hotel online for our Murchinson Falls excursion that looked like a good place to relax, possibly go running and enjoy the area. We learned how different a place can look online to the actual place. We first realized it wasn’t what we expected as we drove through an extremely poor area of Uganda where people live in mud huts without electricity or easy access to water – they carried it from the Nile River. And these people stared at us like they had never seen white people before – it was very off the beaten path! Then we get to the decrepit hotel grounds situated right next to the poor villages. The whole vibe made me want to not venture outside at all – it is a hard feeling to describe and one I hadn’t experienced in the previous 2+ months in East Africa. Our room was tolerable but the food was not very appetizing and there were really no restaurants nearby. We stayed there 2 nights and couldn’t have been happier to leave a place.
The next place in Uganda we visited is Jinja – where the source of the Nile River is – at least it is the source of the Victoria Nile which then becomes the Albert Nile which then becomes the White Nile and then merges with the Blue Nile which is what Egypt is famous for. As my brother pointed out, shouldn’t it be the Light Blue Nile – get it?
In Jinja, we stayed at a beautiful resort hotel with a gorgeous view of the Nile river. How we ended up staying there for free when we were supposed to be in a VRBO rental is due to Mike’s magic (you can read the short Insta post by searching for freetraveljunkie).
In Jinja, we went white water rafting on the Nile. We booked with a Ugandan-run outfit and they were so appreciative that we took a chance on them. As the very young crew was introduced to us (one was 13 years old) I started to have my doubts. That coupled with them telling us that we would be on Class 1 through 4 rapids but the Class 5 rapid was far too strong and dangerous for anyone to go on. After thinking that they were inflating the danger just to make it seem more exciting, I calmed myself. It helps that both Mike and I have done a good deal of white water rafting. Then we got our wooden paddles and helmets (not wooden) and set off in our raft with the 13 year old and his older brother. There were 2 rescue kayakers and one photographer in a kayak, accompanying us. It was fun although we wished there had been more rapids along the way. To my delight, we saw otters!!!
And yes, we flipped – after walking around the Class 5 rapid (that looked a lot more hairy than Class 5) and putting into the Class 4 rapid called Overtime right below the Class 5. We were near the end of the large waves that were pelting us and then we were all thrown into the River Nile (not the kayakers, though). One kayak got to us and we held on to it after the raft was flipped back to upright. Mike’s legs scraped rock a little bit and I didn’t hit any rocks. It was exhilarating fun and felt good to support local companies.
One last note on Uganda. We were here on December 1st which is when Christmas decorations, music and signs start showing up. We are enjoying seeing all the decorations and hearing the Christmas song classics (Jingle Bells is playing as I am writing this). I hope all of you are getting into the Christmas or Hannukah or <<fill in your holiday>> spirit! We are blessed to have this opportunity to be world travelers and see how other cultures embrace the holidays.