My 100th Blog Post from Africa: Happy Thanksgiving!

For those of you out there diligently reading my blog posts every weekday, thank you for being a loyal follower.  Today is Thanksgiving in America and this is the 100^th blog post since I moved to Africa four months ago.  In honor of this occasion, and more importantly, because I took some really cool videos while I was in Uganda, I put together a brief compilation of some of my experiences there.

Not everything I did in Uganda is in the video as I couldn’t record certain things, but I would like to acknowledge the following organizations which made my trip very memorable:

Encounter Africa Safaris which organized my trip, accommodation and travel partner to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest to see the gorillas. http://www.gorilla-tracking-uganda.com/about-uganda-gorilla-safari-company.html

Uganda Wildlife Authority which provided the guide, porters and escorts during our gorilla trek. http://www.ugandawildlife.org

The Department of Tourism at Makerere University where I guest lectured for two days.

Uganda Bicycle which gave me a great workout mountain biking through the muddy streets of Kampala. http://www.ugandabicycle.com

Ricky’s Boda Boda Tours which gave me an excellent tour of Kampala on the back of a very safe boda boda (motorbike). http://www.kombitours.com/kampalabodatours

Ndere Cultural Center where I had dinner on my last night in Kampala and watched an impressive dance troupe representing different ethnic groups from all around Uganda. http://ndere.com

Holland Park in Jinja, the beautiful B&B where I stayed in Jinja, the source of the Nile. http://www.hollandparkuganda.com

***Disclaimer: Please be aware I was in no way compensated by these organizations for mentioning them on my blog.  Also, I found all of them through my own devices and did not receive any discounts or free services.  There is absolutely no ulterior motive in my naming these companies.  They all just made my trip a great experience, and in the event anyone reading this decides to visit Uganda I highly encourage you to consider using any of these businesses.  If I am fortunate to visit Uganda again in the future I expect I will be contacting most, if not all, of these companies again.

And now… for my video.  Enjoy:

A Relaxing Day on the Nile… and Quad Biking

Yesterday I talked about going to Jinja, Uganda to visit the source of the Nile.  Jinja was a nice break between gorilla tracking and teaching in Kampala.  The cottage and property where we stayed reminded me of the movie Out of Africa.  Here are a couple of views of the property:

And the cottage where we stayed:

Jinja is located on both sides of the Nile.  We were staying at a B&B on the west bank, but most of the activities were on the east bank.  Rather than driving 45 minutes through town to cross the dam, the B&B owner called us a boat which picked us up at the property’s dock and took us across the river:

During one of these river crossings we talked to our captain about the dams on the Nile.  He told us the dams had basically ruined the town.  I think he actually used the word ruined.  He said before the dam there was a giant island in the middle of the river which locals would farm to raise produce either for subsistence reasons or to sell.  After the dam was built the island flooded and disappeared, so their livelihood was destroyed.

He also mentioned that tourism was negatively affected by the building of the second dam because it made the river too calm, thus people who came for whitewater rafting and kayaking were turned away due to unfavorable conditions.  They are now looking at damming the Isimba Falls, about 15 miles from the existing Bujagali Hydroelectric Plant, which is predicted to put the nail in the coffin of adventure tourism in Uganda.  Since adventure tourism accounts for about 25% of visits to Uganda, that could mean a serious decline in tourism figures as a whole.

One thing our boat captain mentioned was that electricity does very little good for the people of Jinja.  He said most people couldn’t afford it; so to lose their livelihood (farming or tourism) and still not reap the benefits of what is replacing it (power) is like pouring salt in their wounds.

I did not participate in any of the white water rafting or kayaking while I was in Jinja as I developed a cold a few days ago and didn’t want to risk making it any worse.  But I did do my part to support the adventure tourism industry there.  I went quad biking (or ATVing or four-wheeling, whatever your pleasure may be in terminology).  I never quad biked before and was a little nervous about it at first, mostly because a friend of mine flipped over the front of her quad bike a few years ago and fractured several ribs.  Fortunately my experience was very smooth and I was able to see a village and the scenery around Jinja from a unique perspective.  I’m not sure if there is a Formula One equivalent for quad bikes, but I may have to investigate that.  Even if my skills aren’t there yet, at least I look the part:

Rediscovering the Source of the Nile

As many people reading this blog are aware, I choose the title, Dr. Phelan, I Presume? in honor of Dr. David Livingstone, the explorer who spent the better part of two decades discovering Africa and searching for the source of the Nile River.  Despite his efforts, he died in 1873 before completing his mission. But it turns out that Dr. Livingstone, and several other explorers before him (John Hanning Speke and Sir Richard Burton were his main competitors) were correct.  All of them suspected Lake Victoria to be the source of the Nile, but none of them conclusively proved it.

Seeing as that I am in Uganda, home to Lake Victoria, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to visit the Source of the Nile.  Lake Victoria is considered one of the African Great Lakes and was named after Queen Victoria by John Hanning Speke.  It is located mostly in Uganda, but Lake Victoria also extends across the borders into Kenya and Tanzania.  At the northernmost tip of Lake Victoria is the town of Jinja, which is where the While Nile begins to flow north into Egypt.

I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting, but the town of Jinja and the Nile were rather anticlimactic.  The Nile was a very calm and quiet river, but considering that there are two hydroelectric dams situated within a few miles of one another I suppose that may be partially to blame.  The official Source of the Nile tourist attraction was even less exciting; it was mostly small stalls selling souvenirs (most of which were probably Made in China) and offering boat cruises.

We decided to skip the boat cruise, and just take a look at the water.

Here is the official Source of the Nile marker:

Here is a small restaurant/bar where you can eat and prepare or recover from your boat cruise:

And of course there is no such thing as a visit to a tourist attraction without buying some stuff you don’t need.  As you can see, here you can buy your “My name is not muzungu” (white person) t-shirt, beaded necklaces and bracelets, and if you are concerned you’ve gained weight on your vacation, there are three different stalls which will let you step on a scale and weigh yourself for 500 shillings (about 20 cents).  Of course, the scales aren’t on level ground, so I wouldn’t put a lot of stock into the reading if I were you:

Perhaps one of the more surprising things about the Source of the Nile is that there is a statue dedicated to Gandhi there.  Gandhi spent 21 years in South Africa, which apparently had a significant impact on his political views.  I couldn’t find any record of Gandhi spending time in Uganda, but he requested some of his ashes be spread in the Nile, hence the statue.