Itanda Falls

About this place

Itanda is a set of huge rapids on the White Nile in eastern Uganda. Roaring white water surges between red and brown rocks, small green islands sit in the river, forest lines both banks and spray rises over the waves. The rapids are near the village of Itanda in Mayuge District. They are called falls, but they are really a series of very large rapids with no sheer drop, formed where the Nile, leaving Lake Victoria, squeezes through a narrow channel, gathering speed into standing waves and eddies. They are graded IV and V, among the most challenging rafted rapids in Africa, and each has a name known to paddlers. You stand on the rocks at the bank to feel the river's power up close and walk along the river among the trees. The site is quiet and uncrowded, less developed than the stretches nearer Jinja. The rapids are about 25 km in a straight line northwest of Jinja, and the last few kilometres are dirt road. The rocks are slippery and the current is deadly, so keep back from the water's edge and do not go in.