Nile White Water Rafitng

October 11, 2009

Well this was the day. My day to check off an entry on my life’s to do list. My ‘fun’ day for Uganda. The day that I would flirt with danger and white water raft the Victorian Nile. I woke up fairly early, partly because of an upset stomach and partly because something like rhinos were running across the roof of our dorms. I could have sworn that they were elephants playing tag on the tin roof, but we later realized that monkeys had provided the wake up call. Ya. Monkeys, rolling nuts along the corrugated tin roof at 4 am. Not the nicest of wake up calls, but it was very effective. 

Alli, Jessie and I had breakfast there at Adrift and spent the morning talking with the friends we had made the evening before. We had to wait for a few people to arrive from Kampala, so we just hung out until about 9 am when they arrived. At that point Bob called us over and gave us the pre-river schpeal. Basically, tie your clothes on tight, don’t wear shoes, and put on plenty of sunscreen. 3000 feet above sea-level, on the river at the equator equals some intense rays hitting your skin, so better put on the screen and keep re-applying all day. After putting our things on the bus that would eventually take us back to Kampala, taking a potty break and making sure we had our helmets, life jackets and paddles, we made our way down to the water. Our group on the river would be two rafts holding customers, a safety raft carrying a couple of seasoned river guides, and a grip of kayakers who would act as our retrieval buddies if we fell off the raft. 

There is a slow part of the river right after we boarded the boat that served as a great place to practice a few drills, get us in the river, and make sure that we knew the commands that Bob would need to shout out to us along the way. He was great at explaining things, and I felt very safe being in the boat with him as our guide.

The day was epic. We hit a ton of rapids, including four class fives. I got dumped out of the boat three times, but exited the water with only a couple of bruises, a few sunburnt spots on my skin, and a huge smile realizing that I had just rafted down such a huge river. We had such a sweet time, not only in the rapids, but also with the conversations on the boat. Alli, Jessie, and I were in our raft with three German citizens, one who works in Kampala. They were about our age and really funny. Bob guided us well, and I would definitely tell people to have him guide them. He also guides in the US for a company called Tributary, and has been doing it for some time. We ended up being a good team and had a lot of success getting past tough spots on the river. Probably the best part of the whole trip though was when we would actually get dumped from the boat. I loved being in the water and then to know that we were swimming in the Nile made it that much better. The day ended with us getting a ride back to Kampala on the bus provided by Adrift and just reeling over the epic day we had just experienced. Incredible...