Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
KINGDOMS OF THE LAKES
Jinja and Northwards, February 2014
A
week in the bustling suburbs of Kampala seemed to pass by with alarming speed, but
Sunday was our final night before we walked east, along the northern shore of the lake.
In the morning, on 2 February, we restored ourselves with a morning coffee at the Speke
Café, and then resumed our long trek.
It was two hard days' walk from Kampala to the river town of Jinja, following the main
highway through the Mabira Forest, dodging trucks laden with logs that Boston was sure
had been felled illegally. Sometimes, when the road was quiet, all that could be heard was
the chattering of colobus monkeys or the occasional dog-like bark of a baboon in the sur-
rounding jungle.
Jinja appeared as a vision of such incredible relief that I was almost too exhausted to
notice the view. For all the arguments about the true source of the river, Jinja presented the
first stretch of river that was incontestably the Nile; it was at this point that the river took
on its moniker and began its journey due north. I'm sure a lot of Ugandans would have
argued that I shouldn't have wasted my time with the previous seven hundred miles, but
getting to the hillside overlooking the point Speke had famously declared the 'source' was
more than worth the perambulation.
Speke set foot on the grassy hill overlooking the point at which the river pours out of the
lake on 28 July 1862. Clad in a tweed shooting jacket and sporting an enormous beard, he
had waited for this moment all his life. Two years previously, he had looked out upon this
same lake from the south, as his companion Richard Burton lay ill with fever, and declared
that it was the fabled source of the Nile. It was to begin a conflict that lasted until the end
of his life. Speke and Burton returned from that expedition separately, Speke going back
to England whilst Burton rested in Arabia. According to Burton, the pair had made a gen-
tleman's agreement that Speke would not make any announcements until Burton had made
it home safely and they could share the glory. Speke, however, went the very next day to
