Jinja Town

Jinja District – Jinja City

About Jinja Town

Jinja town is as well-known as the Adventure capital of East Africa and it is the second largest town and commercial center in Uganda after Kampala. It is situated in the eastern region of Uganda on the shores of Lake Victoria and it is located north of the lake adjacent to the source of River Nile. It is near the Own Falls Dam which is significant in regulating the flow of the popular White Nile which helps to generate Electricity.

It is one of the nearest towns that are close to Kampala town and it can be accessed by road transport.  It will take you about 3 hours to reach Jinja town while covering a distance of about 83 kilometers. Jinja is not only the capital of the Busoga kingdom but it is also the largest Municipal area on the district of Jinja. It is found on an Elevation of about 1171 meters

Historical background of Jinja District

In the ancient era during colonial rule, Jinja district was one of the most adorable places due to its strategic location, the colonial rulers came up with a plan of how to establish the town and this was done by Ernst May who was a Germany architect as well as an urban planner. Ernst May also had interest for Kampala therefore he also designed the urban planning scheme for the Kampala city and this acted as a neighbor unit for Jinja town.  In Jinja District, the ruling Elites of then were honored thus they constructed for them houses with in and outside the city center. In the process of construction there was slum clearance and over 1000 residences where displaced in the year 1950.

In the year 1954, the construction of the Owen Falls Dam commenced and this submerged ripons which forced some of the Flat Rocks to disappear in the water. It is these flat rocks that name Jinja was derived with a mixture of two languages of the Baganda and Busoga who lived on either sides of the River Nile. There is an amazing description of how the originally the town looked like and it was published by John Hanning Speke who was the first explorer to discover the source of the Nile.

Historically, Jinja Town was the leading industrial town due to its strategic location on the trade route and the presence of the hydroelectric power dam which is along river Nile. However Jinja Town collapsed due to the expulsion of the Asians by late president Idi Amin Dada in 1970’s. The Asian were owners of these industries and they used to perfectly operate them, therefore when they left, the Uganda who replaced them did not have enough knowledge to run operation if the industry which led to the collapse of the industry hub of the country. This caused an economic broke down all over the country although almost all town benefited because they retained the hydroelectric power which ran all over the country. Ever since then Jinja town lost its Glory and although some Asians tried to come back the town never got back to its peak. And apparently, Kampala and Mbarara are currently the leading industrial Towns of Uganda.

In Jinja City the majority of the population that occupied is the indigenous Bantu group of people, the dominants are Basoga and the Lusoga is the main local language spoken. The Town has got a large population of inhabitants who are referred to as the working urban people.

Jinja City Weather 

The annual average temperature in Jinja town is about 22.8 degrees Celsius and the warmest month in year is January that an average temperature of 23.3 degrees Celsius. June is the coldest month of the year with an average temperature of about 21 degrees Celsius.