Sunday, October 09, 2005
Rafting on the Nile River
What an amazing adventure and opportunity I had to go whitewater rafting on the Nile River this weekend. Starting in Jinja at Lake Victoria (the source of the Nile), we rafted 30 kilometers up the river through 12 major rapids (grade 3, 4 and 5), plus lots of lower graded runs. I’ve been rafting in the states, and it is NOTHING like rafting THE NILE!
I met a van at Garden City (the mall) in Kampala (the capital city) at 7:30 am. I had a can of Red Bull, sunscreen, chapstick and a change of clothes with me. The hour and a half trip to Jinja was pretty uneventful. Kati (the cousin of one of my teammates) was the only one I knew, but of course I love meeting new people! So I met Natalie and Chris, a couple who has arrived in Kampala from British Columbia about 2 weeks ago. They will be working with a hospital in Kampala for the next 9 months. Working with them is Russ (who also arrived recently) and Peter (who’s been in Kampala for about 3 months and will be leaving around Christmas time. (I think both of these guys are also from Canada.) The other guy in the van was Andre from Italy, who is on his first “vacation” since being in northern Uganda working with the “Doctors without Borders.” All of these people were very interesting and fun to get to know.
We arrived in Jinja and had some breakfast (pineapple, watermelon, hard-boiled eggs, and chaapati) at the Nile Explorer Headquarters. There were tons of foreigners there. I always find it amazing to meet new people and learn “their stories”—or at least how they ended up here in Uganda. Many of the rafters were from Canada and the states and are studying in Kenya at an international school; many others were on a holiday from working in Uganda or other nearby countries for a year; and others still were on a 2-week vacation/trip to Africa.
Anyhow, we finally headed out on a little bus, which took us to our put-in location with our life vests and helmets. All the little houses and villages we passed were peppered with little kids running out to wave at the bus as we drove past. When we stopped, we got our paddles and handed over our bottles of sunscreen—or whatever else we wanted in the dry-bag. There were many Ugandan women and children hanging around, several of whom were washing clothes in the Nile. But they also seemed to be there just to see us off. Some of the children even jumped in the river and started walking after us, smiling and waving!
Kati and I ended up in a boat with 5 people on a tour (maybe called the “Exodus Tour” but I’m not 100% sure) based out of England. Two of the guys were from California; the other three (2 girls and a guy) were from London. Paulo, one of three guys on the Ugandan Kayaking Team, was our rafting guide. He’s been to Switzerland and Australia for kayaking competitions. It was, of course, fun to get to know them all a little bit as our day progressed.
So, we took our raft into the river and practiced our paddling and were tested on our abilities to follow directions. Some of the commands were things like, “paddle hard, stop, hold on, get down” or “paddle hard, stop, lean in.” Of course, we had to remember where to put our paddles each time, whether to bring them in the boat or hold them outside so we didn’t hit people with them. We had to jump out of the boat and swim the first rapid (only a grade 1—kind of like floating down the “lazy river”). We had to get under the flipped raft, make sure we could breathe under it, and practice getting out from under of it and back into the raft. It was fun and pretty simple stuff to do, but it didn’t really prepare us all that much for when we were trying to do these things in the rushing rapids.
We went through the first few rapids pretty easily. (The two guys from California were pretty disappointed that we didn’t flip.) However, on our first grade 5 rapid, Bujugali Falls, our raft did flip. I accidentally forgot all of the directions (man, there were SO many!) and I ended up pretty far away from the raft. But at least I still had my paddle! A nice safety kayaker came and picked me up and took me over to my raft where the others were still trying to get back into our raft.
Throughout the day, we hit four other grade 5 rapids. We managed to stay upright and in the boat for all of those. There was one grade 4 rapid that we made it through safely and they let us go back through it, whereupon we flipped. I, of course, managed to stay closer to the raft this time, but I lost my paddle. Luckily, one of the guys in my raft grabbed it for me!
It was a great day. The scenery was JUST BEAUTIFUL along the banks of the Nile River. There were many local people hanging around to watch us and wave at us as we rafted past them. Ladies were washing clothes on the banks. Young boys were herding cows or goats. Other young children were splashing along the banks or just playing nearby. A few times during the day, we were allowed to jump out of the raft to swim/float along if we wanted. Of course, we then had to get ourselves back into the raft, which was always a fun chore.
About halfway through, in a big stretch of calm water, all 5 rafts gathered around the safety boat and we were given a “lunch” of fresh pineapple, watermelon, and “glucose biscuits” (graham crackers). There was a drink of lemonade if we wanted, but I already drank enough water from the Nile River to satisfy my thirst! We did a lot of paddling the second half of the day, and we weren’t allowed to swim as much because there had been sightings of small crocodiles nearby. Finally, when we could take it no more, Paulo did let us jump off the rafts for a quick “lavatory” break. Our raft was the only one which seemed to let people out at this particular spot. We were told later that apparently there is a crocodile that lives nearby. And it is NOT a small one anymore! I guess Paulo did say to stay close to the raft and if we felt anything to get back in the raft immediately… There were no crocodile sightings and no hippo sightings either, although one guy was certain he heard hippos a couple of times.
Probably one of the highlights of the day was going over an 8-foot waterfall. It was SO amazing! There really aren’t words to describe it! Part of the fun each time was watching the other rafts go through each rapid either before or after us. The final rapid was a grade 5 immediately following a very cool-looking grade 6. We weren’t allowed to raft the grade 6, although we did get to see a couple of the safety kayakers raft it. We had to get out of the rafts and walk (barefoot—I surely do not know how some people can walk so quickly over the hard ground and rocks!) around the grade six to a new put-in place (at the tail end of the grade 6). Here we had the option of going through the last and final rapid of the day, called “the bad place.” We were told how we were going to raft it and that most rafts flip and then get stuck in the rapid for a good 2 – 6 minutes. We were instructed that if we get flipped to just let go of the raft and “float” with the current until picked up by a safety kayaker.
Of course, I went through this final rapid. Unfortunately, we did not flip. I was a little bummed and relieved at the same time. We climbed out of the Nile and up a huge hill to where they had a barbeque for us. I changed out of my wet bathing suit, shorts and t-shirt on the bus. It sure felt good to be dry for the first time all day! Then we were bussed back to the starting point office, we picked up our “valuables” that we had left at the office, and jumped back into the van which took us back to Kampala.
Overall, it was a great day. The Nile River is just beautiful and definitely worth seeing, if not rafting. The bruises and cuts I have on top of my hands across my knuckles (from the guy in front of me constantly slapping his paddle on top of my hands when we had to “hold on and get down”), the big bruise on my leg, the huge amount of Nile River water I swallowed or inhaled (I was still blowing the reddish brown river dirt out of my nose the next morning), the slight sun-burn (it was cloudy and little rainy for part of the day), my lost bottom to my bathing suit (Don’t worry, I didn’t actually lose the bottom while I was wearing them. It must have fallen out of my bag sometime between changing and arriving back at the hotel.), and of course sore muscles are all things I would be willing to suffer through again for the chance to raft the Nile River again.
I met a van at Garden City (the mall) in Kampala (the capital city) at 7:30 am. I had a can of Red Bull, sunscreen, chapstick and a change of clothes with me. The hour and a half trip to Jinja was pretty uneventful. Kati (the cousin of one of my teammates) was the only one I knew, but of course I love meeting new people! So I met Natalie and Chris, a couple who has arrived in Kampala from British Columbia about 2 weeks ago. They will be working with a hospital in Kampala for the next 9 months. Working with them is Russ (who also arrived recently) and Peter (who’s been in Kampala for about 3 months and will be leaving around Christmas time. (I think both of these guys are also from Canada.) The other guy in the van was Andre from Italy, who is on his first “vacation” since being in northern Uganda working with the “Doctors without Borders.” All of these people were very interesting and fun to get to know.
We arrived in Jinja and had some breakfast (pineapple, watermelon, hard-boiled eggs, and chaapati) at the Nile Explorer Headquarters. There were tons of foreigners there. I always find it amazing to meet new people and learn “their stories”—or at least how they ended up here in Uganda. Many of the rafters were from Canada and the states and are studying in Kenya at an international school; many others were on a holiday from working in Uganda or other nearby countries for a year; and others still were on a 2-week vacation/trip to Africa.
Anyhow, we finally headed out on a little bus, which took us to our put-in location with our life vests and helmets. All the little houses and villages we passed were peppered with little kids running out to wave at the bus as we drove past. When we stopped, we got our paddles and handed over our bottles of sunscreen—or whatever else we wanted in the dry-bag. There were many Ugandan women and children hanging around, several of whom were washing clothes in the Nile. But they also seemed to be there just to see us off. Some of the children even jumped in the river and started walking after us, smiling and waving!
Kati and I ended up in a boat with 5 people on a tour (maybe called the “Exodus Tour” but I’m not 100% sure) based out of England. Two of the guys were from California; the other three (2 girls and a guy) were from London. Paulo, one of three guys on the Ugandan Kayaking Team, was our rafting guide. He’s been to Switzerland and Australia for kayaking competitions. It was, of course, fun to get to know them all a little bit as our day progressed.
So, we took our raft into the river and practiced our paddling and were tested on our abilities to follow directions. Some of the commands were things like, “paddle hard, stop, hold on, get down” or “paddle hard, stop, lean in.” Of course, we had to remember where to put our paddles each time, whether to bring them in the boat or hold them outside so we didn’t hit people with them. We had to jump out of the boat and swim the first rapid (only a grade 1—kind of like floating down the “lazy river”). We had to get under the flipped raft, make sure we could breathe under it, and practice getting out from under of it and back into the raft. It was fun and pretty simple stuff to do, but it didn’t really prepare us all that much for when we were trying to do these things in the rushing rapids.
We went through the first few rapids pretty easily. (The two guys from California were pretty disappointed that we didn’t flip.) However, on our first grade 5 rapid, Bujugali Falls, our raft did flip. I accidentally forgot all of the directions (man, there were SO many!) and I ended up pretty far away from the raft. But at least I still had my paddle! A nice safety kayaker came and picked me up and took me over to my raft where the others were still trying to get back into our raft.
Throughout the day, we hit four other grade 5 rapids. We managed to stay upright and in the boat for all of those. There was one grade 4 rapid that we made it through safely and they let us go back through it, whereupon we flipped. I, of course, managed to stay closer to the raft this time, but I lost my paddle. Luckily, one of the guys in my raft grabbed it for me!
It was a great day. The scenery was JUST BEAUTIFUL along the banks of the Nile River. There were many local people hanging around to watch us and wave at us as we rafted past them. Ladies were washing clothes on the banks. Young boys were herding cows or goats. Other young children were splashing along the banks or just playing nearby. A few times during the day, we were allowed to jump out of the raft to swim/float along if we wanted. Of course, we then had to get ourselves back into the raft, which was always a fun chore.
About halfway through, in a big stretch of calm water, all 5 rafts gathered around the safety boat and we were given a “lunch” of fresh pineapple, watermelon, and “glucose biscuits” (graham crackers). There was a drink of lemonade if we wanted, but I already drank enough water from the Nile River to satisfy my thirst! We did a lot of paddling the second half of the day, and we weren’t allowed to swim as much because there had been sightings of small crocodiles nearby. Finally, when we could take it no more, Paulo did let us jump off the rafts for a quick “lavatory” break. Our raft was the only one which seemed to let people out at this particular spot. We were told later that apparently there is a crocodile that lives nearby. And it is NOT a small one anymore! I guess Paulo did say to stay close to the raft and if we felt anything to get back in the raft immediately… There were no crocodile sightings and no hippo sightings either, although one guy was certain he heard hippos a couple of times.
Probably one of the highlights of the day was going over an 8-foot waterfall. It was SO amazing! There really aren’t words to describe it! Part of the fun each time was watching the other rafts go through each rapid either before or after us. The final rapid was a grade 5 immediately following a very cool-looking grade 6. We weren’t allowed to raft the grade 6, although we did get to see a couple of the safety kayakers raft it. We had to get out of the rafts and walk (barefoot—I surely do not know how some people can walk so quickly over the hard ground and rocks!) around the grade six to a new put-in place (at the tail end of the grade 6). Here we had the option of going through the last and final rapid of the day, called “the bad place.” We were told how we were going to raft it and that most rafts flip and then get stuck in the rapid for a good 2 – 6 minutes. We were instructed that if we get flipped to just let go of the raft and “float” with the current until picked up by a safety kayaker.
Of course, I went through this final rapid. Unfortunately, we did not flip. I was a little bummed and relieved at the same time. We climbed out of the Nile and up a huge hill to where they had a barbeque for us. I changed out of my wet bathing suit, shorts and t-shirt on the bus. It sure felt good to be dry for the first time all day! Then we were bussed back to the starting point office, we picked up our “valuables” that we had left at the office, and jumped back into the van which took us back to Kampala.
Overall, it was a great day. The Nile River is just beautiful and definitely worth seeing, if not rafting. The bruises and cuts I have on top of my hands across my knuckles (from the guy in front of me constantly slapping his paddle on top of my hands when we had to “hold on and get down”), the big bruise on my leg, the huge amount of Nile River water I swallowed or inhaled (I was still blowing the reddish brown river dirt out of my nose the next morning), the slight sun-burn (it was cloudy and little rainy for part of the day), my lost bottom to my bathing suit (Don’t worry, I didn’t actually lose the bottom while I was wearing them. It must have fallen out of my bag sometime between changing and arriving back at the hotel.), and of course sore muscles are all things I would be willing to suffer through again for the chance to raft the Nile River again.
# posted by beth @ 11:28 PM 
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AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!! Oh man.. that sounds sooo cool!!!!! I want to do that some day!
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