Home » Uganda » Overlanding across Afica in our Land Rover Defender: Uganda

20th november - 8th december

Overlanding across Afica in our Land Rover Defender: Uganda

Andy Lees
2006-05-14 18:47:09

Displayed times (last time: )

seen, but there was no time for photos, only stolen glances between pot holes. at the road-edge, families emerged from their mud brick houses as the heat of the day eased, women wearing the most outrageous, but seemingly fashionable brightly patterned dresses with huge pointy shoulders, and children playing in the dirt. it gave the impression of happy families despite the apparent simplicity of their dwellings. we kept driving, passing through rice then banana plantations, it was totally tropical - so different from the landscape on the other side of the border.

we didn't make jinja by nightfall, and an hour later we were still dodging craters, bypassing roadworks, squinting through clouds of dust, overtaking the incessant stream of eighteen-wheeled trucks and narrowly missing the oncoming traffic.

it was a relief to reach jinja, and we were surprised by its quiet streets and leafy suburbs. the storm clouds hadn't yet broken and we decided to walk to the resaurant through the warm tropical night. it was a long time since we'd strolled anywhere, maybe not at all on this trip. it was refreshing.

jinja lies on the shore of lake victoria, at the point where the river nile (called the victoria nile at this stage) begins its journey northward and is, to some extent, considered to be its source. the river is mostly wide and meandering, but when constricted by rocks or islands it rears up into some big, fast, frothy grade 5 rapids. it's these rapids, and the traversing of them in blow-up rubber dingies (or rafts, as they like to call them), that are the main attraction at jinja. with this tentatively in mind, we headed upsteam to a rafting centre and campsite at bujagali falls.

the campsite turned out to have a stunning location, high on a forrested bank overlooking the river with the rushing water of bujagali falls audible in the background. we put off the decision about rafting for three days and just enjoyed the ...