Rafting the Nile

I’m sad to say but that person bungee-jumping is not me.  I wanted to live.  However, this picture will give you a taste of how amazing this past weekend was.  Ladies and Gentlemen I have conquered the perils of the Nile River!!! 

On Saturday, I woke up at 6am and packed my swim trunks and other essentials in preparation for our departure to Jinja at 7:20am.  After getting ready and eating a breakfast of bananas and tea, My roommate Phil, our friend Jill, and myself headed out.  Originally we had planned to walk the 20 minute or so walk into town where we were supposed to meet the rest of our group.  Fortunately, we caught a ride with another student, Drew, who was being dropped off by his host mom.  When we arrived at our meeting point (a hotel in Mukono) the buses were loaded up and we headed for Jinja.  Our purpose for going to Jinja as I have said before was obviously to go rafting, and as we rode in the bus we were all in eager anticipation for the upcoming adventure.  Unless of course you were Holly who was a little freaked out (don’t worry though she will redeem herself later on in this blog).

We arrived in Jinja at the Adrift Rafting starting point (which was quite nice; they had warm showers available), paid our money, and awaited further instructions.  We relaxed on couches near the bar until a burly rafting instructor called us over to hear instructions.  He basically told us what we could and couldn’t bring on the raft.  Most importantly he informed us that we would be facing about four class 5 rapids during this outing (in addition to class 1,2,3, and 4 rapids).  If that is hard to visualize here is a pic of a class 2 rapid:

Trust me that is bigger than it looks.  Anyway, when Holly was finally done changing (she takes forever to get ready bless her soul lol) we picked out our life jackets and oars.  They were to be our most trusted friends down the Nile.  We then joined what was to be our rafting team down the Nile.  This team consisted of mostly girls and two guys (one of which was myself…duh).  Our rapid guide was an African named Olo.  He was a funny guy who loved to sprinkle his conversation with expletives.  He assured us of his qualifications by saying that this was his first time on the Nile (in addition to cursing he was also a liar, but he was cool).  Together we created an unstoppable force known as Oteam, and here we are in action:

(I’m in the very front rowing very vigorously while my buddy to my left isn’t.  The ever graceful Holly is right behind me :) )

Here is another.

Back to the Story.  After finding our group we headed down to the water, hopped into the boat, and listened to a brief overview of the how to survive on the Nile.  First we went over basic terminology such as “Paddle forwards” “Old on!!!” and “Back on the Job!!!”  After that it was go time.  The first rapid we hit was a class 2 and it was pretty easy.  Since it was going to be calm for awhile our guide told us to get out of his boat and jump in the water.  He then showed us the proper way to float if for some reason we were to fall out (this is funny and you will hear why).  We also were taught how to flip our boat back over, how to find air pockets if we were trapped under the boat, and how to get back on.  Pretty chill right?  Well a big rapid was just around the river bend.

We had by this time gotten back in the boat and were rowing towards it.  It was a whole lot scarier than the 2 and way bigger, but we entered into the roaring foaming water despite our growing fear.  It was crazy!!! Huge waves formed, knocked into us, and then disappeared as more formed.  Just as we were about to exit the rapids a big big wave smacked into us and out of the corner of my eye I see feet going over the side.  My friend Abigail had been the only person to fall out of the boat lol.  We made fun of her big time for that, but we paid for it in the end because at the next rapid everyone was swept off except her. 

Then came our first class 5 rapid.  It was like entering into water fight between Poseidon and Ursula the Sea Witch.  It was a canyon of water and waves.  One wave hit us head on and I thought surely we would flip because the force of the wave sent the back half of the boat forward sandwiching us.  For some reason we didn’t flip and we survived!!! We had a good cheer after that.  We went through a few more rapids after that one of them being another class 5, and a few people flew out.  Nothing serious.  Then we stopped for lunch.

Lunch was amazing.  I had been craving a normal sandwich since i got here and that is finally what we got.  It was awesome!!!  I don’t think i like African food very much which is why I’m always excited for American food.  When lunch was over one of our members chickened out and decided not to finish the rest of the day, so we set out minus one member.

This next stage of the journey was much more extreme.  Our first rapid back on the river was a class 5, complete with a water fall.  We watched as each boat went through the rapids seeing some get stuck on the rocks and watching boats go over the falls.  Then it was our turn and man was adrenaline pumping through my body.  We careened down the rapids while our guide yelled “forward hard!!!” We missed the rocks that a few had snagged on we headed towards the falls.  Before we went down our guide claimed the falls were only like 4 feet, he was wrong (I told you he was a liar).  It was close to about 10ft or more.  Looking down from those falls was so scary.  Almost as scary as going over and hitting the water below.  Again we survived and didn’t flip.  One girl flew out though and was quickly got back in.  It was hilarious though.  We were so pumped from making it over the waterfall that we agreed without even thinking to the guide’s proposition that we veer away from the main group to go over a class 4 rapid.  The rest of the rafters went down the right fork of the river while we headed to the left.

Adrenaline was still pumping, leftover from the waterfall, as we approached the churning rapids.  They were massive but we headed into them with fiery zeal (I mean hey we just survived a 10ft water fall; we thought we were invincible).  We cheered with excitement as we cleared the first few waves, all seemed well.  That is until the water suddenly slopped downward.  Then it hit us.  As we slopped down a wave smashed into us and flipped the boat.  Instantly I was immersed in water with several kicking bodies around.  We were all desperately searching for one thing, air.  My first attempt to surface failed as another wave swept us along.  I was quickly losing breath and the first thought I had was “oh my gosh I’m about to drown.”  I kicked upward and barely made it to the surface to take a quick gulp of air.  In that quick moment of surfacing I realized that I was under the boat and that wasn’t a place I wanted to be, so I pushed myself out.  As I surfaced I was quickly being pulled away from the boat by a fierce current when suddenly a hand shot out and grabbed my life jacket before I was swept away.  I turned to see who had grabbed me and guess who it was, Holly!!!!!!  She saved me :) or so I like to tell her.  Yep, Holly is quite the hero.  Anyway I could see around me other members of my team coughing as the held on to the raft.  We all clamored into the boat thankful to be alive.  It was hilarious because after the initial shock of our near death experience we all started laughing and saying how awesome it was.  It was awesome.  If you ever have a near death experience and survive you will probably feel the same way (only if you survive).

After that all the rapids seemed small in comparison.  We flipped once more and me and holly were picked up by a safety raft and deposited back with our group.  However, the final rapid of the day was hilarious.  Our guide said it was a class 3 but really it was a 4 (liar), so we were expecting a pretty mild rapid.  What we saw was wall after wall of churning wave.  By this time everyone in the boat was tired and was ready to be done so we all requested to take it easy on the last one.  We all started paddling expecting to be taken around the rapid but our guide kept shouting us to paddle forward which consequently was into the heart of the waves.  All the girls burst into shouts of “Where are we going!!!” “Where are you taking us!!!” “I don’t want to paddle!!!”  What is hilarious is that they all claimed to be rowing hard but they weren’t.  I looked over and half of our people were out of sync.  I was about the only one trying to row hard and forward (the guide knows what he is doing).  If you read any of the other people’s blog they will say they were rowing vigorously, but that is a lie.  You can’t row hard while yelling your head off.  To make a long story short we didn’t enter the heart of the rapids and we didn’t flip or anything.

All in all the rafting the Nile was an amazing experience and I wish I was still on the boat.  When it was done we got free drinks and a small barbeque.  Rewards for a job well done.  The next day was pretty boring in comparison.  We just watched people bungee jump and then we left. There are more pictures of rafting but we still haven’t picked up the pictures taken by the company so you will have to stayed tuned for those.