Source of the Nile (Jinja)

Jinja is a city in southeastern Uganda, on the shore of Lake Victoria, where the White Nile flows out of the lake. This outflow is regarded as the source of the White Nile, the longer of the Nile's two main branches. From here the water heads north through Uganda and South Sudan to join the Blue Nile at Khartoum, and then flows through Egypt to the Mediterranean Sea.

The Nile is about 7,088 km long according to Wikipedia and is the longest river in the world, although it carries much less water than the Amazon or the Congo. Jinja is about 81 km east of Uganda's capital, Kampala, and is the country's second most commercial city.

One river, two branches

The Nile has two big branches. The White Nile begins near Lake Victoria and runs through Uganda and South Sudan, and the Blue Nile begins near Lake Tana in Ethiopia. They meet in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. The White Nile is longer and is considered the headwater, yet the Blue Nile brings more than twice as much water. The Nile has played a central role in the history of Africa for thousands of years.

Finding the source

The river has shaped life in Africa for thousands of years. Floods left rich silt on its banks, which fed the farms of ancient Egypt. Europeans were fascinated by the question of where the Nile began, and their journeys around Lake Victoria in the late 19th century located its source. Today more than a dozen dams in the basin supply water and electricity, but they have changed the river's flood cycle.

On the globe

Look for Jinja at the north shore of Lake Victoria in Uganda, East Africa.