July 26th, 2008:
Short: Relax at the hostel, Run errands, Visit the source of the Nile, Have a beer at the source of the Nile, Go to a concert at the Farm show, Niki’s motorcycle taxi crashes, Drama, Bed
Long: We woke up this morning to a loud racket caused by a swarm of tourists staged directly outside of our room. Apparently our hostel, Nile River Backpackers, is one of the leading River Rafting companies in Uganda. Jinja, the town we are staying in, is fairly small, but is slowly becoming the adventure-sport capital of Uganda. The city is also home to one of the sources of the Nile (I say one because a few countries claim this honor). While we do not plan on rafting, we do plan on visiting the source of the Nile River, and just relaxing for the next day. As if to encourage us, it began raining around ten this morning and continued for almost three hours. Instead of venturing out into the city we decided to spend the morning at the hostel updating the blog and catching up on some reading. The rain ended in the early afternoon and we decided to drive into Jinja to get our first look at the town as well as run some errands.
We did not find the town very impressive, but we did find the outlying area attractive. Only a short drive out of Jinja we came across the first golf course we have seen in Africa. Surprisingly, the course looked to be well maintained and was full of golfers. Some of the holes even came complete with locals sunbathing in the middle of the fairway. We watched as the golfers simply played through. A short distance from the golf club we parked at “Rumours,” and Nikolai took the liberty to change the name briefly to his favorite club in Boston, “Rumor”.
We then walked down to the Nile and hired a boat to take us to the “source”. For some reason both of us thought the source would be a spring, but soon realized that the source of the Nile is simply the point at which Lake Victoria begins to empty itself into the Nile River. After snapping a few pictures we headed back to the shore and watched the sunset while, coincidently, enjoying a Nile beer!.
Later in the evening the fun began. We were told earlier in the day that a large concert, with quite a few decent Ugandan bands, would be taking place that evening at the Farm show in Jinja. After a quick dinner, Nikolai and I left the hostel and searched for a taxi. We found that many of the taxis in this part of Africa are motorcycle taxis. We jumped on the back of one of the taxis and soon found ourselves, with thousands of others, at the Farm show entrance. It was clear the farm show didn’t attract many tourists, and we weren’t surprised to find we didn’t see a single white person for the rest of the night. It also came as no surprise that we were stared at for the entire night. A few hours, and a few beers later, we had seen multiple bands, and also met Marian, a Kenyan, who was in Jinja studying. It took a while, but after a little interrogation we concluded that Marian was not a prostitute. It is unfortunate to have to even try to determine this, but it’s just reality. She had come to the concert alone because one of her favorite bands was playing, but her friends didn’t want to join. After using her as a tour guide for the evening, we all decided to leave, but not before Nikolai made use of one of the swing rides!
After exiting the concert we were quickly mobbed by taxi drivers, but all of them were asking far too much. We decided to walk into town in an attempt to find a less expensive taxi. We didn’t get very far though, as we came across a small bar, and decided to grab one last drink. However, Marian, who was still with us, did not like the situation, and we quickly left. Once outside we found two motorcycle taxis and we decided that I would head straight back to the hostel, while Nikolai would ride with Marian, dropping her off on the way. I was awakened one hour later, around 2am, to a mixture of talking and crying. I was very confused, but soon realized Nikolai had returned with Marian, and something was obviously wrong. I walked out into the hall and found both Nikolai and Marian bruised and bleeding. Apparently only a few minutes outside of Jinja, their taxi driver lost control of his motorcycle after passing over a speed bump, and crashed. Unbelievably, the driver got up, looked at both Nikolai and Marian, and immediately drove off. Nikolai decided to come straight to the hostel to get bandages. Nikolai’s shoulder and forearm were torn up, while Marian had a gash on both her head and arm. One of the hostel staff had woken up, and we asked him if we could check his first aid kit. To our amazement, he told us he would help Nikolai (“His client”), but not Marian. I was furious. After a short, angry, drama, we were given what was needed to patch up both Nikolai and Marian. I drove Marian back home, while Nikolai went to bed. It was an extremely fun night, but definitely could have had a better ending.
Long: We woke up this morning to a loud racket caused by a swarm of tourists staged directly outside of our room. Apparently our hostel, Nile River Backpackers, is one of the leading River Rafting companies in Uganda. Jinja, the town we are staying in, is fairly small, but is slowly becoming the adventure-sport capital of Uganda. The city is also home to one of the sources of the Nile (I say one because a few countries claim this honor). While we do not plan on rafting, we do plan on visiting the source of the Nile River, and just relaxing for the next day. As if to encourage us, it began raining around ten this morning and continued for almost three hours. Instead of venturing out into the city we decided to spend the morning at the hostel updating the blog and catching up on some reading. The rain ended in the early afternoon and we decided to drive into Jinja to get our first look at the town as well as run some errands.
We did not find the town very impressive, but we did find the outlying area attractive. Only a short drive out of Jinja we came across the first golf course we have seen in Africa. Surprisingly, the course looked to be well maintained and was full of golfers. Some of the holes even came complete with locals sunbathing in the middle of the fairway. We watched as the golfers simply played through. A short distance from the golf club we parked at “Rumours,” and Nikolai took the liberty to change the name briefly to his favorite club in Boston, “Rumor”.
We then walked down to the Nile and hired a boat to take us to the “source”. For some reason both of us thought the source would be a spring, but soon realized that the source of the Nile is simply the point at which Lake Victoria begins to empty itself into the Nile River. After snapping a few pictures we headed back to the shore and watched the sunset while, coincidently, enjoying a Nile beer!.
Later in the evening the fun began. We were told earlier in the day that a large concert, with quite a few decent Ugandan bands, would be taking place that evening at the Farm show in Jinja. After a quick dinner, Nikolai and I left the hostel and searched for a taxi. We found that many of the taxis in this part of Africa are motorcycle taxis. We jumped on the back of one of the taxis and soon found ourselves, with thousands of others, at the Farm show entrance. It was clear the farm show didn’t attract many tourists, and we weren’t surprised to find we didn’t see a single white person for the rest of the night. It also came as no surprise that we were stared at for the entire night. A few hours, and a few beers later, we had seen multiple bands, and also met Marian, a Kenyan, who was in Jinja studying. It took a while, but after a little interrogation we concluded that Marian was not a prostitute. It is unfortunate to have to even try to determine this, but it’s just reality. She had come to the concert alone because one of her favorite bands was playing, but her friends didn’t want to join. After using her as a tour guide for the evening, we all decided to leave, but not before Nikolai made use of one of the swing rides!
After exiting the concert we were quickly mobbed by taxi drivers, but all of them were asking far too much. We decided to walk into town in an attempt to find a less expensive taxi. We didn’t get very far though, as we came across a small bar, and decided to grab one last drink. However, Marian, who was still with us, did not like the situation, and we quickly left. Once outside we found two motorcycle taxis and we decided that I would head straight back to the hostel, while Nikolai would ride with Marian, dropping her off on the way. I was awakened one hour later, around 2am, to a mixture of talking and crying. I was very confused, but soon realized Nikolai had returned with Marian, and something was obviously wrong. I walked out into the hall and found both Nikolai and Marian bruised and bleeding. Apparently only a few minutes outside of Jinja, their taxi driver lost control of his motorcycle after passing over a speed bump, and crashed. Unbelievably, the driver got up, looked at both Nikolai and Marian, and immediately drove off. Nikolai decided to come straight to the hostel to get bandages. Nikolai’s shoulder and forearm were torn up, while Marian had a gash on both her head and arm. One of the hostel staff had woken up, and we asked him if we could check his first aid kit. To our amazement, he told us he would help Nikolai (“His client”), but not Marian. I was furious. After a short, angry, drama, we were given what was needed to patch up both Nikolai and Marian. I drove Marian back home, while Nikolai went to bed. It was an extremely fun night, but definitely could have had a better ending.
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