Jinja

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The town of Jinja is famed for being the source of the Nile, the point at which the great river exits Lake Victoria and commences its 6500km journey to the Mediterranean. There is certainly a poignancy in standing on the very spot where Speke first identified the Ripon Falls as the long sought after source, even if the falls themselves were submerged by the creation of the Owen Dam in 1953.

The town itself remains pleasant enough, if increasingly busy, with the southern waterfront providing some decent accommodation such as the well known Gately on the Nile.

But most visitors come here for the rafting, with the superb series of grade five rapids to the north of town being serviced by a good range of lodges including The Haven Jinja and The Nile Porch.