Nyege Nyege through the eyes of a stunned bystander

Last weekend was Nyege Nyege weekend, that time of the year when Jinja City is inundated with tens of thousands of tourists, both local and foreign, with one plan only; to party none-stop for 72 hours. Tent encampments around the Jinja Golf Course venue had been outlawed by security so every hotel and hovel in Jinja was fully booked.

While security decisions are always shrouded in mystery, it is highly likely that tent encampments were banned because of those video clips that went viral two years ago showing hundreds of tents rocking characteristically from the amorous activities that were afoot inside. 

We arrived on opening evening, which was Thursday, and picked our ticket bracelets at the gate. Having checked out the venue for a few minutes, it was time to find a place to sleep. We ran around town for hours looking for a place to sleep, because we are too spontaneous to have booked early, until one town home finally allowed us to pitch our tent in the compound for a steep charge. And because we were too tired from all the walking, we decided to forego the opening performances and instead hit one of the bars in town. The place was full of tourists chugging beer and the vibe was blazing. Within no time, it was morning.

For those of you who have never attended, everything you have heard about Nyege Nyege festival is true. It probably beats your wildest imagination too. It is a party on steroids. No wonder it attracts tens of thousands of people. From morning to evening, throngs of people enter the gates itching to have fun. It is as if all the represented countries send their best looking young men and women.

Men with full beards and ripped muscles walk about in vests, holding alcoholic drinks of their choice in one hand and their girlfriend’s hand in the other. Many are wrapped in their country’s flags, which immediately distinguishes them, while others can be identified by their accents or facial features.

You see South Africans curiously tasting Ugandan beer. You see Rwandese men, tall as giraffes, smiling and talking freely for the first time since last November. You see European men dancing wildly to reggae or electronic music with their legs and arms flaring about without rhythm and its all glorious. 

The girls. The girls in Nyege Nyege are provocateurs, for lack of a better word. They walk about in open weave dresses and glitter and tinny-tiny skirts. There is nothing left to the imagination. There is Patra shorts that we are all familiar with, then there is Nyege Nyege Patra shorts, which tend to be smaller than underwear. There are tank tops that we are all familiar with, then there are Nyege Nyege tank tops. Smaller than bras.

Nothing is off the table. Some outfits look like a swim suit one might wear in an indoor swimming pool, in the presence of one’s husband, on their first night of honey moon. Nyege Nyege is a perfect party for any man with raging hormones. You see all the goodness of womanhood until you are convinced you have seen it all, and then a Kenyan girl comes from nowhere and proves you wrong. 

There is so much drinking at Nyege Nyege. The drink of this year’s festival, hands down was the Uganda Waragi Lemon and Ginger liqueur from the sponsoring company. Everywhere you looked, people were emptying bottle after another. Thank God the organizers provided free drinking water all across the venue this year.

Someone out there was prudent enough, responsible enough to figure out that drunkards don’t have the wisdom to choose to drink water for their own safety. So water servers were put in all strategic areas to hand out drinking water to staggering revelers. I often saw them actively convincing people to accept a bottle of water. This was just amazingly helpful. Spacing your drinks with water helps keep you off the cliff.

Because Nyege Nyege is a music festival, there are several stages where all kinds of music plays simultaneously, so that everyone finds where they fall. One of the music performance highlights of this year was Kenneth Mugabi. His performance took place at 10pm on Saturday, and boy, was it big show!

It was a show of passion and competence on his side as he interchanged instruments whenever needed. It was a beautiful sight to behold as the crowd, fully engrossed, sung along most of his songs. Mugabi has this ability to radiate with good-boy vibes while killing it on stage. Always smiling, always taking time off to cheer all the members of his band on as they do their thing.

But one performance that may never be forgotten is Suuna Ben’s. He needs no introduction. He’s both a DJ and electronic music artiste (I guess) because he creates his own music on stage. He came on at around 3:30am on Saturday. People had been drinking for 72 hours and were lying all over the place, knocked out.

He came on and did his thing and everyone sobered up promptly. His performance lasted about one and a half hours and every single person was dancing and screaming the entire time. Ask anyone who attended this year’s Nyege and you will see the smile that comes on their face.