4 Days Eastern Uganda Rock Art, Source of the Nile and Sipi Falls

Day-by-day itinerary

1. Day1
   

   Kampala to Jinja and the Source of the Nile

   Our guide collects you in Kampala after breakfast and heads east on the Jinja road. About halfway, the road crosses the Mabira Forest, around 300 square kilometres of rainforest where you can stop for a short walk to look for red-tailed monkeys and forest birds. Jinja, about 80 km from Kampala, sits on the shore of Lake Victoria where the White Nile begins its run of more than 6,000 km to the Mediterranean. In the afternoon, a motorboat takes you out to the point where the river leaves the lake, marked by a small island and a plaque for John Hanning Speke, who reached the spot in 1862 and named it the source of the Nile. On the way you pass fishermen, cormorants and kingfishers, and the boat stops where springs bubble up from the lake floor. Back on land, the old colonial streets of Jinja, with their faded Indian shop fronts, are worth a short walk before dinner. Dinner and overnight at Jinja Nile Resort, Gately on Nile or similar.

   • Source of the Nile boat trip
   • Jinja Nile Resort, Gately on Nile or similar
   • Lunch, dinner
2. Day2

   Nyero Rock Paintings near Kumi

   After an early breakfast, drive north-east through Iganga and Mbale to Kumi, about four hours. The country changes from sugar cane and banana gardens to flat granite plains dotted with huge boulders and papyrus swamps, the land of the Iteso people. The Nyero rock paintings lie about 8 km west of Kumi town, in three rock shelters a short walk apart. The paintings were first recorded by outsiders in 1913 and are among the oldest art in Uganda. In the main shelter, the ceiling and walls are covered in red concentric circles, sunburst shapes and figures that may be canoes, along with a few animals. Who painted them is unknown; they are usually linked to hunter-gatherer people who lived here long before the Iteso arrived, and similar art is found on rocks around Lake Victoria and in Karamoja. A local guide from the site takes you through each shelter and explains how the art is protected today. After a picnic lunch among the boulders, drive about one and a half hours to Sipi on the slopes of Mount Elgon. Dinner and overnight at Sipi River Lodge or Lacam Lodge.

   • Nyero rock paintings
   • Sipi River Lodge or Lacam Lodge
   • Breakfast, picnic lunch, dinner
3. Day3
   

   Sipi Falls Walk and a Coffee Farm

   Sipi sits at about 1,800 m on the western side of Mount Elgon, an extinct volcano on the Kenya border whose caldera is one of the largest in the world. After breakfast, a local guide leads you on a walk of about four to five hours to all three Sipi waterfalls. The trail drops down into the gorge below the main fall, which plunges about 100 m over a basalt cliff, then follows farm paths past the two upper falls, where you can stand behind the curtain of water in a cave. The paths are steep and slippery in places, but the views over the plains of eastern Uganda, reaching toward Lake Kyoga on a clear day, are wide. In the afternoon, visit a small Bagisu coffee farm to see how the region’s well-known Arabica coffee is grown, picked, hulled, roasted and brewed, and taste a cup at the end. The Bagisu are also known for imbalu, the circumcision ceremony held in even-numbered years, and your guide can explain its role. Dinner and overnight at your Sipi lodge.

   • Sipi Falls walk and coffee farm
   • Sipi lodge
   • Breakfast, lunch, dinner
4. Day4
   

   Sipi to Kampala

   After breakfast on the terrace, with the main fall roaring across the valley, start the drive back to Kampala. The road descends through Kapchorwa district and Mbale, with the steep face of Wanale Ridge rising above the town, then turns west through Tororo and Jinja; the whole drive is about 270 km and takes five to six hours. If you leave early, there is time to stop in Mbale for its busy market or at Jinja for lunch by the river, where you can watch the Nile slide out of Lake Victoria one more time. Rafters and kayakers often run the rapids below Jinja, and a short stop at a viewpoint lets you see them. You arrive in Kampala in the late afternoon for a transfer to your hotel or on to Entebbe International Airport, about one more hour away. If you want more time in the east, a night at Jinja for white-water rafting or a two-day hike on Mount Elgon can be added before the drive home. End of the tour.

   • Drive to Kampala
   • Breakfast