The Nile River Adventure
Wow, what a day. I'm competely nackered (worn out) and I'm as fried as a very fried thing. It's crazy, I put on spf 40 a few times today and I'm still glowing in the dark. When we got home I went straight to bed, and I would still be sleeping if it wasn't for the night guard. He needed his tea and since I'm the only one living in this house, I had to get it. So sorry if there is any incoherency or spelling errors. I'm still pretty much asleep.
There were four of us who left Kampala at 7 AM to beat the traffic. Mark, Artjan, Kevin and myself all jumped in Mark's Toyota Land Cruiser and set off. We needed to be at the Nile River Adventures by 9 AM in Jinja. We arrived plenty early (8:30) and settled into some coffee and fruit. This country grows some of the most amazing fruit, by the way. By 9:30, we were off in the back of a truck to the Nile. We started down and since the first rapids didn't come until a few kilometers downstream, we learned some rowing techniques for when we're trying to control our raft and make it hit some great rapids. The first set of rapids came and we pretty much did OK. Nobody fell off the raft and we didn't capsize. Then we hit the second set of rapids and things got a little more hairy. One of the girls who were with us (ok, we had another couple with us plus our guide and the 4 rescue kyakers and 1 camera man) fell out and started bobbing downstream. We recollected her...a little wet and sputtery...and continued down.
The two most impressive rapids are, in the order we hit them, a water fall and "The Bad Place." The Falls looked innocent enough but the guide kept on saying how if the water was too high she wasn't going to take us down them. Now, from the river above The Falls, it didn't look like too steep of a drop, but the guy who had gone on this raft 6 times kept muttering how he didn't want to go. Well, we went anyways and the last thing I remember seeing before Ian (one of the others with us) hurdled into me was the raft kinda bend in an L shape as we hit the bottom of The Falls. Somehow or other we managed to stay upright and not lose anybody. Then we took one look at The Falls and realized how impressive it really was. It had to be an 8 foot drop (at least from the bottom it looked that way). Very impressive. The Bad Place was probably the best rapid we hit. It was the very last one and we didn't take the whole rapid, it was waaaaaaaaay to huge. Probably close to 500 meters long. We went in about half way down and our object was to hit this one huge wave and not flip over. Well, we hit the wave and our raft stopped dead which is pretty cool cause all this water is rushing by and we were standing still. Then the raft flipped. The only thing to do is roll yourself into a ball because the current just grabs you and it doesn't matter how much you struggle, the water is going to take you. Well I was under for what seemed like an enourmous amount of time but it was probably only 10 seconds. When I resurfaced it was definately nice getting a breath of fresh air.
Well that's my adventure today. We got back to Kampala at around 7:30. The water in the rapids reminded me of waves by Washington that just pound you into the sand. The only difference was, the river is so deep that you didn't hit the bottom when you fell and it's fresh water so it doesn't burn all the way down when you swallow it. All in all, it was a very enjoyable day. And I got a DVD from the camera man to prove I've actually done it.
Have a good day and if you don't mind, i'm going back to sleeeeeeeeee (eyes close)
Wow, what a day. I'm competely nackered (worn out) and I'm as fried as a very fried thing. It's crazy, I put on spf 40 a few times today and I'm still glowing in the dark. When we got home I went straight to bed, and I would still be sleeping if it wasn't for the night guard. He needed his tea and since I'm the only one living in this house, I had to get it. So sorry if there is any incoherency or spelling errors. I'm still pretty much asleep.
There were four of us who left Kampala at 7 AM to beat the traffic. Mark, Artjan, Kevin and myself all jumped in Mark's Toyota Land Cruiser and set off. We needed to be at the Nile River Adventures by 9 AM in Jinja. We arrived plenty early (8:30) and settled into some coffee and fruit. This country grows some of the most amazing fruit, by the way. By 9:30, we were off in the back of a truck to the Nile. We started down and since the first rapids didn't come until a few kilometers downstream, we learned some rowing techniques for when we're trying to control our raft and make it hit some great rapids. The first set of rapids came and we pretty much did OK. Nobody fell off the raft and we didn't capsize. Then we hit the second set of rapids and things got a little more hairy. One of the girls who were with us (ok, we had another couple with us plus our guide and the 4 rescue kyakers and 1 camera man) fell out and started bobbing downstream. We recollected her...a little wet and sputtery...and continued down.
The two most impressive rapids are, in the order we hit them, a water fall and "The Bad Place." The Falls looked innocent enough but the guide kept on saying how if the water was too high she wasn't going to take us down them. Now, from the river above The Falls, it didn't look like too steep of a drop, but the guy who had gone on this raft 6 times kept muttering how he didn't want to go. Well, we went anyways and the last thing I remember seeing before Ian (one of the others with us) hurdled into me was the raft kinda bend in an L shape as we hit the bottom of The Falls. Somehow or other we managed to stay upright and not lose anybody. Then we took one look at The Falls and realized how impressive it really was. It had to be an 8 foot drop (at least from the bottom it looked that way). Very impressive. The Bad Place was probably the best rapid we hit. It was the very last one and we didn't take the whole rapid, it was waaaaaaaaay to huge. Probably close to 500 meters long. We went in about half way down and our object was to hit this one huge wave and not flip over. Well, we hit the wave and our raft stopped dead which is pretty cool cause all this water is rushing by and we were standing still. Then the raft flipped. The only thing to do is roll yourself into a ball because the current just grabs you and it doesn't matter how much you struggle, the water is going to take you. Well I was under for what seemed like an enourmous amount of time but it was probably only 10 seconds. When I resurfaced it was definately nice getting a breath of fresh air.
Well that's my adventure today. We got back to Kampala at around 7:30. The water in the rapids reminded me of waves by Washington that just pound you into the sand. The only difference was, the river is so deep that you didn't hit the bottom when you fell and it's fresh water so it doesn't burn all the way down when you swallow it. All in all, it was a very enjoyable day. And I got a DVD from the camera man to prove I've actually done it.
Have a good day and if you don't mind, i'm going back to sleeeeeeeeee (eyes close)
posted by Mike at 9:35 PM
3 Comments:
Hey Mike,
Sounds like you are having way too much fun. And I think you are crazy, sounds like quite the eventful, scary, crazy trip. Remind me not to go near that river and especially with a watch on :D:D. I hope those burns heal soon and I wish I could be down there to make you feel better,
Love Jessy
Hey mike, i am soooo Frigging Jealous! its not fair, glad your still alive though! Sounds like a right blast though (well good time)!! i did something but no where near as exciting, it woz 4 hr of free laser questing, so the free part woz good!
Anyhoo, rock on and have a fantastic xmas!
Dave
Wow Mike, sounds like u had fun!! i'd love to try do that sometime... well have a Merry Christmas
Drew
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