Visit To The Source of The Nile

We have had problems with the Internet in our apartment for the past few weeks.  If it is working, it is very slow and almost impossible to download pictures.  We finally went to the office to finish our post about our trip to Uganda.

On the Friday morning, July 24th, we took a little adventure trip to search for the source of the Nile River, just as explorers did a couple hundred years ago.  This time though, we had a small advantage because there were signs everywhere in Ninja pointing the way.  We left at 9 and drove to Jinja (rhymes with Ninja). There were 7 of us, the Howards, Kinghorns, Petersons and our driver Godfrey.  


Godfrey, our driver for the trip to Jinja

Shanty on the bank of the Nile



Shacks on the opposite bank

Mahatma Gandhi asked to have his ashes scattered in the Nile River. 

We hired a little boat and a guide, and set out on the Nile River.  We started about 1 mile below where the Nile River begins as it leaves Lake Victoria there at Jinja.  We rode up to the point where the river actually leaves Lake Victoria. 

Sign on a hotel property proclaiming the "Source of the Nile"



Sign out in the river channel itself, at the supposed exact spot of the Nile's source

 There are signs all around talking about that being the source of the Nile, the longest river in the world.  If flows from there 4,000 miles to where it empties into the Mediterranean Sea from Egypt. The sign also says that it takes the water 3 months to make that trip.


 The trip was really interesting.  We saw so many different kinds of neat birds. 




Two beautiful Eagles

I believe this is a type of Crane



A bunch of Storks 

 

 

 We saw a lot of black storks that eat 4 pounds of food daily and poop every 5 minutes. 

 

 

 

Bird poop in foliage beneath trees

 Besides birds, we saw river otters, monitor lizards and some huge spiders. 



Some cute monkeys

Two pictures of a well disguised Monitor Lizard
 

 It is quite heavily populated near the river so there really aren't a lot of large animals around.  Our guide also said the river is too deep for crocodiles, but there are lots of snakes along the banks, although we didn’t see any. 

Lake Victoria is the second largest freshwater lake in the world (after Lake Superior), and there are thousands of smaller rivers and streams that feed into it.  Some people say that you must go to the source of the longest river/stream that feeds Lake Victoria to find the true source of the Nile.  But everyone in Uganda claims this to be the true source of the Nile.  It makes for good press and also tourist dollars.

So it’s at Jinja, Uganda where the River Nile starts.  Even at that point, it’s a huge river.  It’s between ½ to 1 mile wide already there at its source.  It’s actually called the White Nile there in Uganda.  Many miles downstream at Khartoum, in Sudan it meets up with the Blue Nile.  At that point, the Blue Nile contributes more water than the White Nile, but because the White Nile is longer, the source of the Nile is traced back from the White Nile.

All of the following pictures were taken from the window of our van as we drove back to Kampala from Jinja.

A truck loaded with sugar cane

A truck loaded with baskets

No wait!  They're actually all tied to the bicycle this guy was pushing up a hill
 

The weather in Kampala was spectacular.  About 80 degrees.  Kampala is almost exactly on the equator so the temperature stays the same all year round.  It’s high enough in altitude however (a couple thousand feet I think), so it doesn’t get so hot.  They do have a rainy season in December and January.

Two little girls carrying 5-gallon jugs of water to their home

Your local Verizon kiosk



Saw several brick manufactures on side of road. The clay is dug right here.

Bananas anyone? Dozens of bananas in each of these stocks

These pineapples looked yummy

Some friendly kids

Boda bodas line up to get passengers.  This is their taxi service.

Dad was carrying 300,000 schilling around with him. This 20,000 note is worth $6.10

 
We left at 4 a.m. Saturday for the 45 minute trip to Entebbe Airport for a 7:30 flight back to Joburg.  That 45 minute trip had taken us 2 hours in "traffic" when we first arrived Tuesday evening.
We had a great trip and enjoyed visiting the Howards and seeing Uganda.

VISIT TO UGANDA AND THE NILE RIVER

We went to Uganda the 21st of July through the 25th to do training for a new couple who just arrived there a couple of weeks ago.  They are Ralph and Madilyn Howard from South Ogden. 

Ralph and Madilyn

 We also went with Bruce and Melinda Kinghorn, who are the other couple we work with here in the Area Office.  Normally, just one couple would travel to do training, but because this is the first training Susan and I have done, Phillip asked us all to go.  Besides, the Kinghorns will be finishing their mission in September, so Susan and I  will be doing all of the training in the next several months to come. The Howards had a couple of weeks of “crossover” with the previous couple.  We like that to happen because if gives the new couple a chance to explore their new country and visit some of the projects that have been done. 

We arrived there in the evening and were picked up by Godfrey, who works in the mission office, and the Howards.  We were surprised to see large crowds of people out on the streets still shopping in the dark.  Godfrey said that most of the shops are open every night until midnight and then re-open at 6 a.m. the next morning.




These are some fancy couches and chairs

Some beds for sale

There are about 100 bananas in each of those bundles

 He said that everything is cleaned up and stored for the night. Many of the shops had huge amounts of different things (shoes, furniture, clothes, etc.) for sale sitting out on the ground. It would be an enormous job each night to clean it all up.   I was amazed to see the throngs of people, adults and children.  We commented that it almost looked like a parade.

The neighborhood lumber store

Does anyone have a toothache?

InstaCare?

 The driving, traffic congestion etc. is crazy there.  We thought Addis Ababa, Ethiopia was bad, but the driving in Kampala makes that look like a Sunday ride in the park.  Cars, trucks, motor scooters (boda bodas) and pedestrians everywhere, and the only rule of traffic is that whoever gets his nose in first owns that spot in traffic.  Driving, even for passengers is not for the faint of heart.

 

 

One of the many taxi stands

Notice the 'no parking' sign

 

She must have a strong neck

 

The Howards live in a nice apartment building.  There are apartments for the young Elders and Sisters also.  Each morning at 6 a.m. we could here the Elders having a great time playing soccer in the courtyard  below our window. As it was in Uganda, there is a high wall surrounding their building with electrical wires and a 24 hour guard at the gate.

 

Each apartment has it's own water tank.  When Elder and Sister Howard first arrived, their water was brown and they thought that was normal. One of the sister missionaries visited them and told them there was something wrong.  They were able to get their water tank cleaned and it looks much better now.

 

The missionary apartments

 

A tree full of avocados waiting to be picked

 

 

 

View out the window.  It was very lush and green.

 

 

We went to the Mission Home and visited with President Chatfield for a few minutes and then went to a nice mall for lunch and did some grocery shopping.  Even though the traffic was crazy, Elder Howard did a great job and we saw lots of interesting things on the way.

 

A cart full of chickens going for a ride on the back of the bike

 

A typical shopping area

 

We worked really hard, training E/S Howard from 9am till 8pm Wednesday and Thursday and then Friday evening from 7 to 10 to finish up some financial stuff.  They were great students, anxious to learn and eager to get busy trying to help people there in Kampala.
Stay tuned for Part Two, our trip to the Nile.