Exploring: Uganda - Sunrise over the River Nile

When my friend Amy texted me late one night and asked, "Do you want to go to Uganda?" I had the rare feeling that there was no yes or no answer, it just was. Amy is the administrator of a an orphanage called Okoa. Being that I'm a photographer, she thought I would be a good tag along, and could take some new photos for them and their social media. The wheels were in motion quickly, and less than a month away I was on a plane.

Amy and I were to have a week together hanging out at the orphanage, and myself photographing the facilities and especially all the fun-loving kiddos, but I have a really hard time traveling 20+ hours and just staying for a week.

So on a whim I chatted up a friend who I had recently reconnected with from high school, and passed along the "Do you want to go to Uganda?"

A day later I had a resounding yes from my friend Beth! Vaccinations were had, tickets, were bought, and I turned to the Google machine to do a little research.

I learned Uganda is roughly the size of Oregon, and that I could rent a car, it was possible to drive around the country as a whole. I've never driven in a foreign country, much less on the wrong side of the road. I was nervous but I knew that my preferred travel "style" was without a tour group and without restriction. I booked the car and dropped some pins on a map.

A few weeks later I landed in Africa. The humidity and smoke in the air felt nostalgic and I was excited. The following day, rental car received, I picked up Beth, and the adventure began.

Our first destination, Jinja. I had found an idyllic campsite raved about by other overlanders called The Haven. We tried our first hand at navigation, a combination of our paper map, open source maps on gps, and my phone. Many roads in Uganda may not appear on the gps. After a few forks in the red dirt roads, dodging chickens, goats and potholes, and trying to keep a smiling face for the kids yelling mzungu and running barefoot alongside the car (think gringo in Spanish), we came to the The Haven's entrance.

The gates parted.

My first real life view of the River Nile filled my senses.

It was as if the landscape opened, and a river made of liquid sky filled the great expanse between land. The world's longest river stretched before me.

The scent of the tropical flowers settled on our heads and shoulders, and the birds sang and flirted, dancing and jumping an arm's reach away.

Alien jumbo jack fruit hung heavy from the trees.

The cadence of nature picked up as dusk rolled in, the bugs much louder. We set up our tent and let them lull us to sleep.

I woke before sunrise and couldn't help but unzip the tent and peek. The first rays stretching from beyond the horizon filled the Nile with lava. It glowed a burning ember orange. I watched from afar as fisherman pushed their boats out. Silhouetted birds skimmed the water's molten surface. The mist from the far shore lifted with the rising sun.

Beth woke up and joined me. We couldn't wait to explore. What started us a little wander about had us following an unknown dirt road, still in our pajamas. After seeing the magic water from afar, neither of us could wait to touch it. We followed overgrown trails and eventually found a way down to the rapids. We sat on the cool rocks as the water rushed by with so much strength.

Later that day we sought to find the "Source of the Nile," apparently a topic of much drama in the early days. From the time of Alexander the Great, it was a known saying that those wishing to achieve any impossible task were, " More likely to find the source of the Nile." Such a saying proved to be a catalyst for explorers willing to brave malaria, flesh- eating parasites, and many unknown sicknesses pre-antibiotics. It was John Haning Speke who finally found the rumored big lake, which he named Lake Victoria, and as such the Victorian Nile's source was located. Apparently he jumped the gun a bit in his zeal to be the man who found it, as all of his survey equipment had been lost and "vitally important technical questions about the height and extent of the lake could not be answered." He did eventually turn out to be right.

Finally that evening we headed out in a tiny boat, our hearts full with the mighty river, feeling inspired, and watched the sun wane.

History lesson aside, from an in-person account, the Victorian Nile has been a source of eco-tourism for it's amazing rapids. Many are not aware that there was once a glorious waterfall (Ripon Falls), that has since been completely submerged by a dam built in 1954. The powers at be plan to build yet another dam, changing the geography of the amazing river yet again, and drastically changing the rapids, and also completely eliminating the rafting eco-tourism.

Source: in person placards at "the source of the Nile" and clarification of my foggy memory here: https://www.express.co.uk/expressyourself/270144/How-the-source-of-the-Nile-was-finally-uncovered