Saturday in Jinja

14 July 2012
On Saturday, Troy and I were sitting around the house and decided to go look for a waterfall near Jinja (we found out that that waterfall no longer exists due to a dam which was built a few years back.)

We ended up just eating Indian food and exploring the city a bit.

I could have probably titled this post "Ripley's Believe It Or Not" because I saw a lot of things that boggled my mind.

 We stared at this tree/cactus/thing for a long time. We talked to the guys underneath it and then we went on the roof of the bar and talked to some guys who were there. They said that the tree thing has been there some 50 years and that if the juice/sap from the tree gets on your eyes, you will go blind. I'm not sure if I believe it...

 A view from the rooftop of the bar

 Me on the rooftop of the bar

The next thing we came across in Jinja.... Hindu Temple

 

 

Here I am in front of the Hindu Temple just around the corner from the CactusTreeThing.

This is a negative relief sculpture. It completely blew my mind for about 20 minutes. It was so crazy how real it looked and how the face appeared to follow you wherever you go. Watch the video. It looked even crazier in real life. 

I tried to get a picture from the side showing how it was a negative but the shadows make it look like it is a positive. In this picture my finger is sticking 2 inches into the sculpture.

Our Next Stop.... The Source of The Nile River

We walked around town and the locals suggested we go to the source of the Nile. (Where the Nile River begins)

 Here's me with my new tube fiddle posing in front of a Gandhi sculpture. Some of Gandhi's ashes were put in the source of the Nile at this location at his request. 

 Just me posing again

 Troy walking out to get good pictures

Boats on The Nile

 Taking a boat out to the actual source

 Just behind me to and to my right is where Lake Victoria turns in to the Nile. Apparently 40% of the rivers water is coming up from plates below ground and 60% comes from Lake Victoria. It takes 90 days for the water seen here to get all the way past central Africa-Egypt and to empty out into the Mediterranean.

This is an island that we passed on the way to the source. You cannot see it very well in this picture but there is a large lizard (Iguana-esque)

Coming back to shore