What is there to do for fun in Kampala? Or in Uganda for that matter? We have been asked that question many times and so I thought I’d highlight a small city called Jinga. We stayed in Jinga last Saturday night as a treat for the family after Tim’s sickness and a boring week off at home for the girls. We also went to escape the craziness of Kampala which was hosting 5000 people including the Queen, Prince Charles and our own Stephen Harper for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings, called CHOGM pronounced like a word – CHOGUM. 

 

Jinja is an easy 1 ½ hour drive straight east of Kampala. Easy is a relative term of course, definitely not easy like driving in Canada, but easy by Ugandan standards. You drive east on one straight, almost fully paved, fairly un-congested road for about 1 ½ hours until you hit the Nile River and you will be in Jinga.  As we started our journey on Jinga Road, a man walked right into the middle of the road and pointed a banana at us as if it was a gun, you don’t see that everyday. The rest of our drive was uneventful.

 

 It is a beautiful drive, hilly and scenic with land covered in forest, palm trees and coffee plantations. There are a few road side towns to pass through and many trucks full of sugarcane on their way to the Lagazi sugar mill. If you are hungry on the way, there is a large area to pull over where at least 30 people in blue lab coats run over to your windows to sell you BBQ’d beef and chicken on a stick. The beef is cubed like a shish-ka-bob and is 60 cents and the chicken comes as one big leg or the full breast and wing and is $1.25. We tried them both, they were a little tough but had a yummy smoky, salty taste and no one got sick so that’s a bonus. After all, when was the meat cooked and how long has it been on the stick in the hot sun? Sometimes it’s better not to know and just not think about it, mind over matter seems to work with food here, I haven’t had a problem yet!

 

Jinga is very different from Kampala, it is much smaller, quieter and pretty in a warn-down old British colony kind of way. I think it was a beautiful downtown years ago, it almost looks like the Caribbean or one of those quaint old southern towns in the southern united states, but more “rustic” due to lack of maintenance, civil wars and poor economy.  The beginning of the Nile River is in Jinga, it flows all the way to Egypt!

 

We crossed over the dam (where Kampala gets its power) and drove another 10 minutes alongside the Nile to a spot called The Nile Porch. The Nile Porch is a “luxury” campsite, kind of an oxymoron don’t you think? We met up with our friends Jordan and Dave and their friend visiting from Australia, Brett.

 

We checked in and were taken to #4 of 8 large tents covered by a larger structure with a thatched roof, containing the outdoor shower and toilet (no doors on either but totally private from the other tents) and a little porch with chairs and a hammock facing the Nile River. The view and sound of the rushing water was amazing. The four of us shared two small double beds which meant lying completely straight, but we slept well under mosquito nets and to the sound of the rapids. The rate included a buffet breakfast of toast, baked beans, fruit, sausages, scrambled eggs and coffee and tea. 

 

Other accommodations at The Nile Porch are dormitories and small tents for the many rafters and backpackers and two large cottages for families that sleep 8 and have self-contained kitchens. The rates are between $35 and $120 depending on where you sleep and how many people you have.

 

The Nile Porch has a small swimming pool, a common room with picnic tables for playing games and cards, a big BBQ area, steps down to the water and a restaurant (where we had our breakfast) called The Black Lantern that is known for its ribs. You can sit outside to eat and watch the little monkeys jumping around in the trees.

 

Next door, there is an ATV (4 wheelers) company where you can book ATV rides for 1-8 hours. Emily went with our friends for two hours, came back completely covered in mud and dust and loved every minute of it. Oli and I swam and enjoyed the sun and did some reading and Tim fished in the Nile, catching 6 mudfish which he gave to a local guy to eat. 

 

The same people that own The Nile Porch and Black Lantern also own Nile River Explorers, a white water rafting company. Rafting is definitely the most popular thing to do in Jinga and there are many grade 5 rapids (the big scary ones!). 

 

You can also pay $25 to fly from one side of the Nile to the other on a zipline, go bungee jumping, horseback riding, hiking or kayaking.

 

There are many other places to stay in Jinga from guesthouses and campgrounds to a 4 star hotel where Prince Charles stayed for part of his stay during CHOGM.

 

 Jinga is a great place to relax and do nothing or try a variety of new adventure sports, we will go back for sure. Oh, and our plan to escape CHOGM didn’t work out very well, we got stuck in a traffic jam forever, the kind where everyone turns off their cars and gets out and starts walking around talking to everyone. Turns out Prince Charles wanted to see Bugagali Falls on the Nile and we had to wait for his helicopter to come in (yes, we saw it right overhead, one of the big military ones), tour the falls and leave Jinga.   I put some pictures of The Nile Porch on the photos page of the website.