White Water Rafting In Jinja, Uganda
Whitewater Rafting in Jinja takes you on a journey at the Source of the River Nile - that’s right, the very same river that flows right up into North Africa. When Uganda become a colony of Britain, the small fishing village of Jinja transformed into a large trading centre with the Nile River an important crossing point to other parts of Africa.
Today, Jinja has some of the best white water rafting in the world, with family friendly, Grade 2 routes, right the way up to some of the finest Grade 5 rapids, that make for a thrilling challenge for any adrenaline seeker.
Unlike other parts of the River Nile, you won’t be seeing any crocodiles or hippos, and there are no infectious diseases, so you’ll have plenty of opportunities to get out and swim too.
Being only a few hours from Entebbe Airport, regardless of your length of stay in Uganda, this is a ‘must-add’ to any trip here. We’ve rafted all over the world, but the long winding routes along the Nile in Jinja, are still our favourites to date!
Why Do It?
What To Expect
If you’re starting in Jinja, like we did, you’ll start the morning with breakfast before heading to the start point to meet your guide.
In our case, this was Big J. He gave us a rundown on all of the essential information we needed to know, including the route, the different grades of rapids at each stage, as well as a safety demonstration of everything we needed to do to have a safe and thrilling experience.
With the help of another instructor, we were kitted up with all of our equipment and got straight out, onto our raft with Big J and the other instructor, whilst being introduced to two additional, safety kayakers and a second raft, that carried lunch, medical supplies and any electrical equipment we wanted to take (such as cameras) in a dry box. The team even allowed us to put one of our SD cards into their camera, so they could film us as we rafted.
We paddled down to the first few rapids, which were family-friendly, Grade 3 rapids, to get comfortable, before tackling the harder routes, further along.
During these time, we had the option to also jump in and cool off in the calm currents here.
Further along the route, we met the Grade 4 and 5 rapids, which were a thrill to say the least. A kayaker went down first, before the second kayaker coming down at the same time as our raft, offering safety support, whilst the other kayaker filmed us. Big J was in charge, at the back, of direction and shouting instructions to us to paddle or sit down into the raft and brace ourselves. With unbelievable views and challenging rapids, it was a brilliant boost of adrenaline.
There were multiple rest points en route, either on land, or in the raft - we even got to do a bit of diving into the river from a platform, during the snack break, before hitting more of the rapids afterwards.
Raft Uganda dedicated all of their time to us - it didn’t feel rushed and it didn’t feel too slow and dragged out. The organisation of the trip, the local knowledge of the river, and the sheer thrills of the Victoria Nile made for a truly memorable experience and one we would recommend to everyone visiting Uganda. It is just another one of the many, diverse experiences you can have on a short or long trip to the country.
Getting Started In Jinja
Who to Go With?
There are many options for tour companies in Uganda so you’re spoilt for choice. You can either request to add this trip into your itinerary, if you’re booked on a Uganda multi-day tour, or it’s super simple to book it yourself from Jinja.
Depending on the length of time you want to raft (half day, full day or multi day), you’ll be looking at paying around $125-275pp.
We went and filmed with Raft Uganda, for their full day tour. They are the very first, completely Ugandan owned rafting company of the Nile. And the tour was JamPacked, including all of the following:
Free transport from either Kampala or Jinja
Guaranteed best class 5 rafting experience in Uganda (mild or wild you can make a choice)
Breakfast at pick ups
Water on the trip
Lunch
All rafting equipment and instructions with some of the best river guides
Safety boats and kayakers on all our trips
Free photos of the rafting trip taken by a professional photographer
Free accommodation in Kampala or Jinja
The team at Raft Uganda are professional, fun and importantly, safe! We had a team of multiple instructors for just the two of us, offering guide support, photography and direction throughout the whole trip, which was a whopping 23km.
