Our longest stop in Uganda is four nights at Nile River Explorers camp in Jinja.

After a full week of non-stop travel and early morning departures, it is bliss to stay put for several days in a row. As its name suggests, this scenic campsite overlooks the Nile River… and they have a bar that serves cheap food and drinks, so it’s the perfect place to relax. Plus there are about a half-dozen activities to choose from: white water rafting, kayaking, quad biking, horseback riding, local village tours, and more. Downtown Jinja (stores, coffee shop, post office) is a 15-minute ride away in either a cab or on the back of a motorbike, both options available just outside the main gate of the campsite.

Shout out to Peter in reception who goes above and beyond to make sure guests are enjoying their stay.

Yoga classes are available on-site during specific times, check at reception for prices.

Everyone in our group decides to pitch a tent but there are upgrades available, like these platform tents with beds inside:

The restaurant / bar is my favorite part of this whole place — check out these views overlooking the Nile River:

I happily spend two full days camped out at these picnic tables, sipping passionfruit smoothies and accessing free wifi while enjoying these views.

Here’s the same view just after sunset:

During the day Juliana and Riaan provide lunch for whomever decides to stick around. This curry veggie soup is a big hit:

One night for dinner, a local woman named Esther comes in to cook typical Ugandan food for our group. Esther brings along two tiny helpers — she gave birth to twin boys three weeks earlier. One she just named Lucky and she hasn’t named the other one yet. It is a joy to hold them while their mom cooks.

While we’re on the subject of birth, here’s a sobering statistic on the life expectancy of Ugandans: the average age of death for men is 50 years old; for women it’s 54. One factor contributing to this statistic is malaria. Two doctors from our group volunteer at a malaria clinic down the road which works hard to make mosquito nets available to families in the area. They also test people for malaria so that they can be properly treated (the symptoms are vague so the only way to know for sure if someone has the disease is through a simple blood test). A lot of rural families live in mud huts and sleep on wooden planks on the floor; they don’t have money to spend on mosquito nets or medicine, so malaria clinics like the one near our campsite are key in saving lives in this community.

Thanks for following along that tangent. Back to our tour of the camp…

There are semi-outdoor showers — you can clean up while overlooking the Nile River.

Speaking of the Nile, here’s a path leading down to the water:

This dog lives on the property and loves attention from guests.

One evening our entire group goes on a sunset river cruise, which departs right from the camp dock.

Everyone cleans up nice, right? You wouldn’t guess we’ve been roughing it for weeks.

Ah, the German brothers… their vivid personalities add a lot to our trip. Below, Thomas commandeers the boat and Johannes shows off a sign that I’m pretty sure is meant for him and his brother.

We relax on the top deck. Drinks (beers and soda) are included, as well as light snacks.

Scoping out bird life on the Nile…

We’re starving mid-way through the trip. Luckily more snacks come out. Yummy guacamole!

New friends from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the States. We rock out to lots of Britney and Eminem, which our boat DJ keeps in heavy rotation.

Our boat turns around just in front of this dam. We’ve passed over it a few times in our vehicle and have been warned not to take any photos or we might be arrested (there are signs on either side of the bridge). But guess what? If you’re on a boat you can take all the photos you want… or at least there’s no visible signs from the water and no one’s there to police it.

We pass plenty of locals both on land and in fishing boats:

I spy some bathers in the distance:

And here’s the view of our camp from the boat — see that deck up top? That’s where I’ve spent the past two days lounging with my laptop.

I’ve crossed my fingers for a stellar sunset and now the magic hour has arrived…

A Nile sunset does not disappoint!

More from Jinja this week… including an adrenalin-inducing raft trip down the Nile.

Thanks to Acacia Africa for discounting the 18-day Mountain Gorillas to the Mara tour in exchange for blogging and photography, and thanks to Nile River Explorers for sponsoring my sunset river cruise. Opinions are my own.