A Trip to Lake Victoria -The Source of the Nile River - SATURDAY 8th March
We got up and had breakfast, I offered to do Alex and Simons washing, they said Oh no (thinking I was going to wash it with water and the soapbar) Deane said no just throw it in the machine – they had never seen one and were just gobsmacked at the machine and the drier.Earlier in the week we had decided to head to Jinja for a days outing, so as Alex and Simon were staying we decided to take them and Emma with us. Then a guy from the USA called Tim was at the Hurleys overnight - he was here to see his two children at the Jinja Orphanage so we gave him a ride to Jinja – 1.5 hours away. The vehicle was packed and then he came out with 3 large suitcases of gear he had bought with him from the states for the people at the orphanage – 35kgs each, we couldn’t believe it, he had come for 1 week with 105kgs for one person and we couldn’t even get more than 28kg each for an entire year.Got to Jinja, crossed the bridge over the Nile, went to the orphanage and dropped Tim off, had a look around, there was a set of twins, 3 months old, little girl and boy whose mother had died in childbirth, real sad, they were being looked after until their father could come back and get them to look after them.We headed to “Ozzies” for lunch, cafe owned and run by an older Australian lady, with the help of 3 or 4 locals. Alex and Simon had never seen or heard of Hamburger and chips – so we got them one each, then we headed down to the River and took a ride on this dodgy boat down Lake Victoria – the source of the Nile River. We stopped (Sam kept telling me we had to stop every so often so that the driver could scoop the water from the bottom of the leaky boat out) and looked around. We then went down further to see the monkeys in the trees. It was a great day for us all and so special having Alex and Simon with us, they had never seen a river or lake, let alone been in a boat, it makes you realise how fortunate we are with the lives we live.After that we headed to Bujagali Falls on the other side of Jinja, where the Nile River flows, the falls were amazing and we watched as a local man canoed down the rapids and the young boys fished for dinner just using a piece of nylon and some seaweed to tempt the fish – they were doing a good job and had plenty for dinner. Alex and Simon just stood their with their mouths wide open, hardly able to believe what they were seeing.We arrived home around 5.30pm all feeling a little weary. The traffic and roads here are so atrocious here that it is very tiring driving because you have to watch everything and everyone all of the time because you never know where someone might come from or when the next pothole will appear.