Excited about the prospects of possibly visiting Iran and a call from Somaliland, I had lost my focus on Jinja. I was here for two reasons-white water rafting and, more importantly, to visit the source of the Great River Nile. The fact that the Nile originates here makes it worth a visit. Not just because the Nile is the longest river in the world, but because when I started this journey in South Africa, my plan was in two parts.
Part 1: Hike up to the souce of the Nile
Part 2: Follow the Nile all the way to its end in the Mediterranean in Egypt. In some respects, after just crossing the equator, I felt as if it was literally all downhill from here.

But geopolitics have a funny way of shaping the course of everyday people’s lives as they try to go about their business. Militia activity and unrest further north were prompting embassies in the area to advise against going within 100 km of the troubled zone. What had always been planned as an overland trip was quickly becoming something different. I had to adapt, but sometimes I struggle when the fundamental concept of my journey changes. My original goal was to travel overland from Cape Town to Egypt via the eastern route, but now it was becoming less feasible and was looking more like: Travel overland from Cape Town to Egypt via the eastern route

Traveling in a group sometimes makes decision-making easier because you can bounce ideas off each other. Given that embassies tend to issue the same blanket warnings to everyone, it can be hard to see the wood for the trees. For example, a British-born Kenyan going home for holidays might interpret these warnings very differently. I’ve carefully navigated similar warnings in countries like Colombia, Egypt, Mozambique, and Pakistan without any issues, but it felt different here. I think I just needed someone to talk to about it or to meet someone doing the exact same trip so we could figure it out together.

I really wasn’t sure how serious the situation was in northern Kenya and Ethiopia even though the BBC did. Looking at the map, I naively thought I wouldn’t be missing much. However, i know that the reality is that the best adventures are often those that are off the beaten path, not the most hyped tourist attractions. Given the thousands of kilometers I’ve covered on this trip so far, skipping a few hundred of hostile ones wasn’t exactly cheating-especially when I’m the one making the rules..

As I pondered this over breakfast, a group of very cool-looking and geared up people that were ready white water rafting caught my eye. I’d been rafting once before, and much like scuba diving, I didn’t really enjoy it. I continued the diving, but even after venturing in to some amazing dive sites, I would always surface and think, “That was nice.” Never amazing or incredible. There’s something about it, conceptually, that I just don’t enjoy-it’s not claustrophobia, but something else.

So, I made a snap decision to skip the high fees of rafting and instead just head to the actual reason why Jinja was on my hit list: The actual source of the Nile.
Perhaps then visiting the statue of Mahatma Gandhi would provide some clarity on the direction my trip should take. The statue at the. source of the Nile is there not only because Gandhi was from Uganda but because Gandhi wished for his ashes to be scattered on the Nile, and this wish was fulfilled resulting in a statue of him which would honour his death and legacy.

As I caught a local bus to the attraction It all started to sound and look incredibly touristy. The high park fees reinforced this. In general its okay, but isn’t particularly worth the visit given the proximity to Lake Victoria which is the source to the of the Nile.