SOURCE OF THE NILE GETS BREWERY SUPPORT
The Municipal Council of Jinja and Port Bell based Uganda Breweries have yesterday put pen to paper, signing a 5 year support deal under which the Diageo owned brewers will invest as much as 2.5 billion Uganda Shillings in the site.
Already now are Uganda Breweries signboards evident, as the company had in the past secured the advertising deal and face lifted the site on several occasions, but the latest Memorandum of Understanding is clearly a much more comprehensive deal and more lucrative for the municipality and the ‘Source of the Nile’ site itself.
Notably the site is also known for the place where some of Gandhi’s ashes were immersed in the river and a memorial was opened a few years ago by the Indian Prime Minister in recognition of Gandhi’s peace efforts, for India and for Africa.
In the old days the ‘source’ was actually marked by the Rippon Falls, where Lake Victoria’s waters took their first step in the long journey to the Mediterranean Sea, but the building of the Owens Falls dam in the 1950’s submerged the falls as water levels behind the dam started to rise, now only showing rocky outcrops and the fast running waters swirling around them.
The Source of the Nile is a major tourist attraction in Jinja and also brings many Ugandans from all over the country to the site over the weekends and in particular on public holidays. The site is surrounded by the Jinja Golf Club’s course, offering more options for visitors right next door while below the Owen Falls dam river activities like rafting, bungee jumping, quad biking and much more earned Jinja the title ‘Adventure Capital of East Africa’.
