Jinja

Welcome to Jinja City

Jinja is the second largest town in Uganda in East Africa, and it is about four thousand miles from London. It is on the shores of Lake Victoria, near the source of the River Nile, which flows North all the way to the Mediterranean.

The tribe who live on the West side of the Nile are called the Baganda and their language is Luganda. The tribe that occupies the East side are called the Basoga, and they have a similar language called Lusoga.

About forty languages are spoken in Uganda. Children have to learn English, which is the written language of the country, when they go to school.

Jinja is a town located in southeastern Uganda where the Nile flows out of Lake Victoria, situated at an elevation of 3,740 feet (1,140 metres) above sea level.

Jinja was founded in 1901 as a British administrative centre and grew to become one of the larger towns in Uganda. When construction on the Owen Falls Dam (now the Nalubaale Dam), 3 miles (5 km) downstream, was completed in 1954, the hydroelectric power thus provided.

It was instrumental in Jinja’s development as the country’s main industrial centre. A second dam, Kiira, was later constructed about 0.6 mile (1 km) from Nalubaale. It was completed in 1999 and began producing hydroelectric power the next year.

Industries include the first steel-rolling mill of eastern Africa, a copper smeltery, plywood and tobacco factories, and a grain-conditioning plant. Nearby are a brewery, a textile factory, and large sugar plantations.

Products are transported by lake steamer as well as by rail and road. Jinja has rail links with Kampala (50 miles [80 km] southwest) and the port of Mombasa, Kenya.

Jinja Town is the municipal and commercial centre of Jinja District. Outside the capital city, Kampala, there are hardly any high-rise blocks or big supermarkets. In Jinja things are bought and sold in small

Jinja is famous for the Nile River and white water rafting and bungee jumping are some of activities here. The once-picturesque Bujagali Falls has been submerged because of the construction of the new hydroelectric dam.

This went into commercial production in August 2012, doubling the Ugandan electricity supply. Some local residents are upset by the disappearance of the falls because they believe in the Spirit of the Falls, the 39th embodiment of which is an old man who performed rituals at the Falls for the protection of the community.

Tourist Attractions in Jinja

Jinja is the second largest city in Uganda and the second busiest commercial centre after the capital Kampala. Around Jinja there is a breathtakingly beautiful landscape with warm accommodating & hospitable people, a town where the entire landscape is composed of a large garden with luscious greenery.

You cannot choose anywhere better than Jinja when on Uganda safari tour. A city where everything is alive and nature is very lush with many activities to be done.

Source of the Nile

The Source of the Nile, the second longest river in the world, marketed as a discovery of one of the first European explorers, namely Speke, is an internationally unique attraction.

Commissioning a study to improve it as a tourist attraction and implementing the recommendations would greatly help to enhance its potential as a tourist attraction for both international tourists and domestic excursionists.

Bujagali Falls

These are located along the Nile River, within a distance of about 10 kilometers from Jinja municipality. The scenery and rafting activities of Bujagali Falls currently exploited on a small scale have an enormous potential for both excursions and international tourism. The falls also offer opportunity for bird watching.

Itanda Falls

Itanda Falls are also found on the Nile, 18 kilometers north-west of Jinja town. The falls offer opportunity for bird watching (especially the weaver birds), camping and picnic outings.

Kyabirwa Falls

Located 8 kilometers from Jinja, the falls offer a good scenery and landscape for campsites that is not yet fully exploited. Potential also exists for bird watching and Ethnobotany

Lake Victoria Beaches

The lake’s beaches have been partially exploited for location of tourism developments, especially hotels. These beaches include the sites at Sailing Club, Tilapia Club and Masese. Besides the scenery, the lake can be exploited for water sports, which would attract the domestic, foreign resident and foreign non-resident tourists. Potential also exists for sport fishing and canoeing.

Islands in Lake Victoria

These include Samuka, Ndaiga, Lwabitooke I and Lwabitooke II. Apart from Samuka, the rest of the Islands have not been exploited for tourism purposes despite the existing potential. The existing potential includes boat racing, sport fishing, over-night camping, day excursions and various water sports.

Community market visits

Jinja main market and several other markets operating on various days are a potential attraction particularly to foreign tourists

Antiquities / Historical sites

A number of historical sites exist in Jinja district. These are: Bujagali ancestral site, for Soga tribe ancestral spirits, at Bujagali falls; the current Busoga King’s palace at Nakabango; Mpumudde hill, the historical meeting place of the Busoga chiefs and the British colonial Governors. Mpumudde is also the place where King Kabalega, of the Bunyoro Kingdom died.

Crafts

Crafts shops, workshops and community groups are common in Jinja town and its suburbs, making mats, baskets and other souvenirs from papyrus and other natural materials. The souvenir industry has a large potential in Jinja district, if programmes for sustainable use of the raw materials are developed.

Culture and History of Jinja

Before 1906, Jinja was a fishing village that benefited from being located on long-distance trade routes. The origin of the name “Jinja” comes from the language of the two peoples (the Baganda and the Basoga) that lived on either side of the River Nile in the area.

In both languages “Jinja” means “Rock”. In most of Africa, rivers like the Nile hindered migration, this explains the ethnic boundaries along the Nile as one moves north from the river’s source on the northern shores of Lake Victoria.

However the area around Jinja was one place where the river could be breached due to the large rocks near the Ripon Falls. Here, on either bank of the river, were large flat rocks where small boats could be launched to cross the river.

These rock formations were also accredited with providing a natural moderator for the water flow out of Lake Victoria. For the original local inhabitants, the location was a crossing point, for trade, migration and as a fishing post.

This might explain why, despite this barrier, the two tribes have very similar languages, and the more powerful Baganda had an enormous influence on the Basoga.

The area was called the ‘Place of Rocks’ or ‘The Place of Flat Rocks’. The word for stones or rocks in the language of the Baganda is ‘Ejjinja (Plural Amayinja), and in the Basoga dialect this became Edinda. The British used this reference to name the town they established – “Jinja”

In 1954,with the building of the Owen Falls Dam, (later renamed Nalubaale Power Station, the Ripon Falls were submerged. Most of the ‘Flat Rocks’ that gave the area its name disappeared under water as well. However a description of what the area looked like can be found in the notes of John Hanning Speke, the first European to lay eyes on the Source of the Nile:

“Though beautiful, the scene was not exactly what I expected, for the broad surface of the lake was shut out from view by a spur of hill, and the falls, about twelve feet deep and four to five hundred feet broad, were broken by rocks; still it was a sight that attracted one to it for hours.

The roar of the waters, the thousands of passenger fish leaping at the falls with all their might, the fishermen coming out in boats, and taking post on all the rocks with rod and hook, hippopotami and crocodiles lying sleepily on the water, the ferry at work above the falls, and cattle driven down to drink at the margin of the lake, made in all, with the pretty nature of the country—small grassy-topped hills, with trees in the intervening valleys and on the lower slopes—as interesting a picture as one could wish to see.”

Cotton-packing, nearby sugar estates, and railway access all enabled Jinja to grow in size. By 1906 a street pattern had been laid out, and Indian traders moved in starting around 1910. The Indians were Catholic Christians and English-speaking, and originated in the former Portuguese colony of Goa on the west coast of India.

The town was founded in 1907 by the British, as an administrative centre for the Provincial Government Headquarters for Busoga region.

This was around the time that Lake Victoria’s importance in transport rose due to the Uganda Railway linking Kisumu, a Kenyan town on the lake, with Mombasa on the Indian Ocean, 900 miles (1,400 km) away.

British-American Tobacco Uganda (BATU) established a tobacco processing factory in Jinja in 1928.

Land of the Tswana

There are so many places that you can visit in Botswana but there are some other attractions that stand out more than others and are worth visiting during Botswana Safari. These make the list of the top Tourist Attractions In Botswana.

There are many tours that you can do in Botswana and the most common is the overland tour, where you can drive around to most parts of the country in an overland truck. Most common tours include a Botswana Wildlife Safari, Victoria Falls and Chobe National Park package, Desert tracking, Premium safaris and 5 to 10 day safaris.

• • Exploring ancient ruins, historical landmar.

• • Immersive cultural experiences, local.

• • Hiking, trekking, extreme sports, and out.

• • A romantic destination like Paris, Venice.

• • Kid-friendly activities, theme parks family.

• • Premium accommodations, gourmet.