What is Jinja like?
Jinja town has a local market, a post office, cafes, email facilities, several supermarkets, forex bureau, hospital, restaurants, guest houses, backpackers, craft shops etc… Most of the banks now have ATM machines which accept VISA cards if you have a PIN. Mastercard or AMEX don’t work here! The city of Kampala is 1.5 hours west of Jinja and can be reached easily by local bus, taxi or hire car. There you have many western delights – cinema, SA supermarkets, 3* hotels, nightclubs, embassies, Barclays bank and a great local market. Soft Power Education has an office in Jinja but mainly operates from out of Nile River Explorers Campsite at Bujagali Falls which is 8km from Jinja town, on the banks of the river Nile, opposite from Eden Rock campsite. Most of our volunteers initially stay in accommodation around Bujagali – coming into town to use the Internet or to shop before living out on site within the communities or at the schools.
