Wadelai


Wadelai is a village of northern Uganda on the Albert Nile and was the final chief station of Emin Pasha when Governor of Equatoria.
It lies at 2 50' North, 31 35' East, about 320 km in a direct line North-Northwest of Entebbe on Lake Victoria, and about 116 km by river below Butiaba on Lake Albert. The British built a government station there on a hill 50 to 60 metres above the Nile at a spot where the river narrows to 147 metres and attains a depth of 9 metres. At this place was a gauge for measuring the discharge of the river.
Wadelai was first visited by a European, Lieutenant H. Chippendall in 1875, and was named after a chieftain who, when visited by Gessi Pasha, ruled the surrounding district as a vassal of Kabarega, king of Bunyoro. The region was annexed to the Egyptian Sudan and Wadelai's village chosen as a government post. This post was on the western bank of the Nile, below the existing station.
Here for some time Emin Pasha had his headquarters, evacuating the place in December 1888. Thereafter, for some years, the district was held by the Mahdists. In 1894 the British flag was hoisted at Wadelai, on both banks of the Nile, by Major E. R. Owen. Some twelve years later the government post was withdrawn. There is a village at the foot of the hill.
Winston Churchill described Wadelai as "newly abandoned to ruin" after a visit in 1907. A survey was made in 1963.