Bujagali (or Budhagali in Lusoga, the language of the Busoga Kingdom) is a culturally significant and scenically beautiful tourist destination along the River Nile, just 6km downstream from Jinja (by the ‘Source of the Nile’), in S.E. The site is less than ½ a degree of longitude from the equator, in the “warm heart of Africa”. At 1130 meters above sea level, with an average temperature of 23°C an
d relative humidity of 71% throughout the year, the climate is ideal for outdoor pursuits. The River Nile here has a flow rate of around 1 million litres per second and water temperature year round of 27°C, providing an obvious focus to the area. About 12,000 year BP, regional uplifting of areas along the Western Rift Valley created a new outlet for Lake Victoria. Gradually soil deposits were washed off the granite base and the flow settled into shape of the current river; rattling and roaring over a series of rocky cascades starting with the Ripon Falls (submerged since 1953 by the Owens Falls Dam) and a hours later through Bujagali Falls, a white-water rapid dropping 4 meters across a rocky ledge interspersed with lush green, tree covered islands. [For detailed information about the forming of the Nile and other geographical features in Uganda, see Andrew Roberts book ‘Uganda’s Great Rift Valley’ – ISBN 9970-113-00-3 (2006)]
In the oral tradition, Kitara was a kingdom which, at the height of its power in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, included much of Uganda, northern Tanzania and eastern Congo (DRC), ruled by a dynasty known as the Bachwezi. It is said that these falls were named after the Bachwezi spiritual leader called Mandwa Budhagali. This place has long been held as a sacred by the local community. There is a River spirit called “BUDHAGALI” which has manifested itself in over 30 generations of human spiritual leaders. Whoever claimed to be the new spiritual leader of this spot was given a task of “drifting along these falls and rapids on a piece of backcloth”, to demonstrate his magical powers. The current spiritual leader, Nabamba Budhagali, succeeded his father in the early 1970s. He is over 80 years old and maintains his spiritual status. He is referred to as a Witch doctor and has shrines at his home nearby where he can be consulted. These days there are many churches and mosques in the area but some people still visit the witchdoctor for advice, herbal medicines and regarding spiritual matters. Bujagali Falls Submerged - Bujagali Lake Arises
Bujagali Lake is a result of the construction of the ‘Bujagali’ Dam, which was finally filled in November 2011, inundating the falls under metres of calmed water. The raging power along the first 8km of the Victoria Nile has been diverted through the hydro-electric turbines of the new dam. The Grade 5 white-water rapids at Bujagali Falls, Total Gunga at Kyabirwa Falls and Big Brother/Silverback, no longer roar but East Africa’s centre for adventure is developing, rebranding and adapting to the new environment. Bujagali Lake - 2012
Bujagali Falls – 2006
The First European Tourists
For centuries travellers had argued about where the mighty Nile began. Julius Caesar said that the one thing he most wanted to know about the world was 'where was the source of the Nile?’. In the 19th century it became an international obsession involving such legendary explorers as Richard Burton, John Hanning Speke, David Livingstone and Henry Morton Stanley. In 1857-8 Burton and Speke travelled west from Zanzibar but did not reach Uganda. Once great friends and travelling companions they famously disagreed, Speke correctly envisaging the outlet at the north of Lake Victoria, while the more eloquent Burton - translator of The K**a Sutra and author of The Perfumed Garden - believed the Nile flowed from Lake Tanganyika and that the Victoria Nyanza was seasonal. In 1860 Speke left Zanzibar again and on 28st July 1862 he became the first European to reach the upper Nile. ‘After a long struggling march, plodding through huge grasses and jungle, we reached a district which I cannot otherwise describe than by calling it a "Church Estate." It is dedicated in some mysterious manner to Lubari (Almighty), and although the king appeared to have authority over some of the inhabitants of it, yet others had apparently a sacred character, exempting them from the civil power, and he had no right to dispose of the land itself. In this territory there are small villages only at every fifth mile, for there is no road, and the lands run high again, whilst, from want of a guide, we often lost the track.’ [and he surely wasn’t the last to do so!]
This description may well have been made on the west bank with Bujagali being ‘the Church Estate’, as later in the day he travelled further upstream to arrive at the Ripon Falls and identify it as the start of the river that Herodotus the Greek ‘Father of History’ - 5th century BCE wrote of as Egypt’s Gift. The Cradle of Moses, feed by waters from the ‘Mountains of the Moon’. Speke Camp, formerly the most visited site at Bujagali until the Dam filled, bears his name. From here, Speke (and his travelling companion Grant) continued north for another 6,500km to the Mediterranean Sea and back to Britain. The Royal Geographical Society organised "the Nile duel" in London between the two explorers set for September 16, 1864. But on the day of their much-publicised debate, Speke shot himself while hunting. Tragic accident or su***de? An inquest ruled his death was accidental but it added further intrigue to the geographical mystery. It took another 13 years (4th April 1875) before Stanley's epic circumnavigation of Lake Victoria finally proved Speke had been correct. In 1910 Churchill may have visited Bujagali on his epic journey down the Nile, after which he forcefully advocated the need for a dam to harness the power of the Nile and help Uganda develop as a leading economy in East Africa. Completion of the Owens Falls Dam in 1954 inundated Ripon Falls and Jinja grew as an industrial town. Over the years many sightseers and picnickers travelled out from Jinja, Kampala and elsewhere in East Africa to enjoy the natural splendour and roar of the river down through Bujagali Falls. A wrought iron archway dating from the 1960’s, welcomes visitors and designates the entrance as Chillington Gate. Adventure Tourism resumes at Bujagali – welcome to the modern day adrenaline ju**ie. In 1996, Bujagali Falls saw a new type of visitor, those who chose to participate more fully with the rapids. White water Rafting first commenced on the upper reaches of the River Nile shortly after the rapid-busting trips by Cam McLeay (Adrift) and Jon Dole & Bingo Small (Nile River Explorers). One-day rafting trips offered clients (mostly younger tourists and expats) some of the best wild-water in the World combined with lush green African scenery. Starting with a helmet, paddle and life-jacket and a brief training session in a calm pool above Bujagali; put in a reinforced inflatable raft with 8 to 10 others and launched down the short rush through the main channel by the east bank - down 4 meters of giant washing machine. That was the start to a 28km voyage to down through a series of big rapids to Itanda Falls (the Bad Place). Often rafts flipped and dumped occupants into the churning water, dragging them under and spitting them back up to rescued by the safety kayakers waiting below. Other rapids across Bujagali Falls were classed as ‘Grade 6’ (too dangerous to use commercially). Unconfirmed close encounters with the Bujagali Spirit have often been reported in the bars around the area of an evening.
