Hansens in Uganda: Our Visit to the Source of the Nile

The Area Director of Public Affairs, Sean Donnelly, came to see us for one last visit prior to our departure next Wednesday. He is an avid bird watcher so we took him to Jinja for an African long boat ride to the source of the Nile. We had a wonderful time and had invited a friend and Church member, Godfrey Lufafa, who is also a "birder" to join us and add some more detail to our tour. The boat Captain , also named Godfrey was also very knowledgeable so we learned a lot about the area and the birds of Africa. One of the major points we learned is that the name JINJA means ROCK. The two main Kingdoms of the area are the Buganda Tribe from west of the Nile and the Busoga Tribe from east of the Nile. They would meet at Jinja (the Rock) to trade and deal with issues. We also learned that 30% of the water at the source of the Nile bubbles up from underground and the rest comes from Lake Victoria. At the source, you see a definite rippling effect of the bubbling water and we were told that before they built the Owens Dam, there was a cascade falls of water down to the lower part of the river below the dam. The area at the source of the Nile is the most populated area for different varieties of birds in all of Africa, over 900 different species. Africans have not discovered it yet but there is an ever-growing number of birders that will come in the future to see this wonderful area. It is a long way from Entebbe (where the airport is) and travel is congested so it remains a rather difficult place to visit. Here is some of what we saw: