Bujagali Falls

Not so much a waterfall as a series of big rapids, this is a very pleasant spot. A grassy slope leads down to the rocks banking the river, so there is plenty of space to stretch out, relax, and gaze across the rapids, across the Nile.

This place is just ten kilometres from Lake Victoria, the source of the White Nile. The water here is just beginning its 6695km journey through Uganda, Sudan and Egypt to the sea, a journey which will apparently take three months.

A small sign advertises the "Bujagali Swimmers", and I had the chance to watch one of these men swim the grade 5 rapid with no safety but the bouyancy provided by the jerrycan he clutched to his chest with one hand, the other hand waving triumphantly every time he surfaced.

Enviously I watched as kayakers came down, disappearing into waves and holes, cartwheeling or capsizing, emerging one way up or the other at the end. Just then I realized how much I want to kayak that well, and cursed myself for not getting out in my boat more. Two rafting companies brought big groups of their big rafts through, making the whole thing look rather tame by comparison.

I stayed a week at the campsite here, just upstream from the falls. The bar had a deck overlooking the river, offering stunning views downstream. (Picture on right taken from deck).

There are plans to dam the river here, a horrific thought, seeing not only how beautiful this area is, but also how much the local economy relies on tourism - tourism that is based almost solely on the river. I'm not a big fan of dams at the best of times, but to do this here seems terrible. What's wrong with solar power? Heaven knows, there's enough sun in Africa. To read more about the proposed dam, go to:
http://www.gg.rhul.ac.uk/simon/bujagali.html

I went out with the kayak school for a day on easier water, but unfortunately rather too easy. Not that I didn't need the practice, but I would have liked a little more excitement, but I had been grouped with the only two other customers, both beginners. Still it was good to be out on moving water, right at the source of this river, pracising a roll or two and bouncing around on grade one and two rapids. This is such a big volume river was quite unlike anything I've encountered in Malaysia, with strong currents even on the flat, whirlpools and eddies all over the place.

Apart from a Sunday spent wandering around the villages nearby and watching kayakers and the river, the rest of my week here was spent volunteering with Soft Power education, painting schools.