The river and the source, and abundant prosperity

By JOE OMBUOR

Few Kenyans probably know the source of River Nile, although it is only 70km from the country's Western border with Uganda.

Recently, we explored the river, starting off at the lakeside Ugandan town of Jinja that owes its existence to source of the Nile. I had travelled 550km from Nairobi to get there. But the distance pales into insignificance when compared to the journey by British explorer John Hannington Speke, who left London in search of the source of the Nile, and which he finally sighted on July 28, 1862.

One wonders, of course, if the locals had not known this source, after centuries of existence.

Tourists at the source of the Nile. [PHOTOS: JOE OMBUOR/STANDARD

After a brief ride from the Jinja city centre, the great river, freshly flowing from Lake Victoria, comes into view.

"Welcome to the source of the Nile" screams a billboard to all who care to come and see this wonder of the world, as Lake Victoria funnels into the Nile.

From here to a rock christened "Point Zero" by Speke, tourists and nature lovers from all over the world fork out as much as Sh1,200 to sail less than a kilometre to see the lake’s outflow and ground water combine to form the Nile.

Donning a safety jacket, I venture upstream, navigated by a young coxswain who doubles up as my tour guide. The source peeps behind a tiny island inhabited by beautiful birds and slithering reptiles known to wreak havoc at the slightest provocation.

"This is Napoleon’s Island," says the youthful coxswain above the drone of the vessel’s engine. The bushy reptiles sit next to the fountain that supplies 30 per cent of the river’s water from underground.

I peer hard at the spot, about 30 metres in diameter, where water seems to be oozing from below. It’s a sheer marvel. Do all the rivers that flow into Lake Victoria, somehow pour into the Nile, I wonder. Are they the real sources of the Nile?

As for the outflow from the lake, there is nothing to decipher, for the Lake Victoria waters race from the water mass, disturbed only by gentle waves when winds weakened by the surrounding mainland hit ashore. It is a marvellous spectacle to behold. The outflow pours 70 per cent of water into the river. That explains why Lake Victoria water is ever fresh.

We sail further from the outflow, and the moving water ceases to exist. It is real wonder!

Fishing village

A few metres downstream from the source are concrete boulders and rocks that were the Nippon Falls, submerged upon the construction of the giant Owen Falls Dam in 1954 to harness the gushing head waters for the generation of hydroelectric power. The power source has been the engine behind the growth of Jinja as an industrial town.

Once the water leaves the lake, it takes three months to travel some 6,400 kilometres to the Mediterranean Sea at the Egyptian port city of Alexandria.

Known locally as Omugga Kiyira, the Nile flows into Lake Kyoga and later into Lake Albert before it flows towards Sudan where it is joined by the Blue Nile near the Sudanese capital of Khartoum.

Jinja, where the river has its source, is said to have started as a fishing village around 1906, courtesy of rocks below the Nippon Falls that facilitated crossing, hence the trade boon between the Baganda on the Western flank and the Basoga on the Eastern flank of the river.

The Baganda called the place Ejjinja, Luganda for "the place of rocks," while the Basoga called it Edinda, which essentially means the same thing. The British found it convenient to name the town they established "Jinja."

The town that grew to be Uganda’s second largest city and an industrial hub is home to Nile Breweries located close to the source of the Nile, the giant Kakira Sugar Factory and Bidco, a subsidiary of the Kenya manufacturing company.

Perhaps no other city in East Africa has been identified with the textile industry more than Jinja that once hosted the giant Nyanza Textile Industries Limited (NYTIL), whose fabrics were recognised all over East Africa by its silver shilling – a foil piece resembling a shilling inserted at one-yard intervals along the edge of every cloth length produced.

The source of the Nile remains one of Jinja’s main revenue earners with visitors from all over the world flocking there every day to view this overwhelming phenomenon. For every foreign visitor, the municipal council earns Ush10,000 (the equivalent of Sh400). Over 1,000 tourists troop to the source daily during peak times.