JINJA CITY TOUR 2024 | The Tourism Giant of Eastern Uganda

JINJA CITY TOUR 2024
The city was founded in 1901 by British settlers. It was planned under colonial rule in 1948 by Ernst May, German architect and urban planner. May also designed the urban planning scheme for Kampala, creating what he called "neighbourhood units". Estates were built for the ruling elite in many parts outside the centre city. This led to the area's 'slum clearance' which displaced more than 1,000 residents in the 1950s.

In 1954, the construction of the Owen Falls Dam submerged the Ripon Falls. Most of the "Flat Rocks" that gave the area its name disappeared under water as well. The local Baganda called the area "the stones" which is "Mayinja" in Luganda. The name "Jinja" is derived from this. A description of what the area looked like can be found in the notes of John Hanning Speke, the first European to lay eyes on the source of the Nile