Raft the Nile!

After spending most of the past few weeks relaxing and watching wildlife, Kim and I decided to do something to get the adrenaline flowing--white water rafting in the Nile River! We left the busy capital city, Kampala, for the "Adventure captial of Uganda", Jinja. It's the place where the Nile River starts its winding way to the Mediterranean Sea from Lake Victoria. Our group consisted of five people: Kim and I, a Polish lady of about 45 years, and two Chinese tourists about our age. We had a short briefing about how to wear a helmet and life jacket and other safety basics. This is the point in the day when I started to get a little uneasy because the Chinese people were not listening and had to be reminded to pay attention several times. Then our guide Enok took us to the edge of the river to board our raft where we noticed another raft that the staff were equipping with a stretcher and other gear, just in case.

We launched the raft in a calm part of the river, just above Bujagali Falls, to practice the basics. It became clear that our Chinese counterparts had never seen a paddle, let alone attempt to use one. My unease grew steadily. We practiced "FORWARD PADDLE!" about 5 times before we made any progress. We also tried, "RIGHT BACK!" a few times with little success. Then it was "GET DOWN!" where you just hold on for dear life and keep your paddle under your outside arm so it doesn't crack anyone in the face. This was especially difficult for the rest of our little group. To make it clear, we're about to tackle some pretty serious class-5 rapids, and these Chinese people can't paddle, and STILL are not really listening! We also learned about this time that the Polish lady is terrified of water! Unease grew to apprehension as I thought, "I've never done this before, but it seems like if we don't paddle this raft to the correct part of the river, we might get into some pretty nasty stuff."

Finally, we practiced what to do if the raft flips over while we go careening down the river. Basic stuff, swim away, hold your breath, hope to live. Enok flipped the raft, completely taking off guard the Chinese girl who had been chatting away. I wasn't sure we were going to make the trip at all. We climbed back in, Enok told Kim and I to take the front positions in the raft, and off we went! Bujagali falls is a class-5, and it's the first one. We got caught in some backwards flowing water at the bottom of the second drop, losing two of our passengers in the process! I wasn't sure everyone would want to keep going, but I knew that I was in it for the duration. It was exciting! We continued down the river tackling rapids with names like Sibling Rivalry, Point Break, Overtime, Retrospect, and The Bad Place. At the end, our arms and legs ached from paddling and getting thrown around, and we both had pretty nasty sunburns, but we felt fantastic. It was a great day, ended nicely with a couple of beers and Nile River sunset!