I tried so hard to remember everything from our brief training in the calm waters of the Nile, but as our raft sailed into the Grade 5 Overtime Rapids, my mind went blank. We fell over a waterfall, and then smashed through a couple of massive waves before our raft flipped up and over. I tried so hard to hang onto the rope, as I had been told, but it all happened so quickly that all of the sudden I was trapped beneath the raft pushing hard against it. I fought for a few seconds to get our from underneath it, and then the second I could feel air on my face I gasped, only to be overtaken by another wave, follwed immediately by another. I had already inhaled too much of the Nile for my lungs to work, and they seered from the lack of oxygen. At that very moment, I thought my life was ending and I had made a terrible decision for the thrill of the rapids.
Only moments later, the force of the current carried our raft and all seven of us out of the rapids and into the calm pool, where we collectively gasped and sputtered for air. As I clung to the side of the raft, I quickly assessed myself and thought that I must have broken my nose as badly as it hurt, and something crashed into my foot during the tumultuous fall, as it throbbed. After I clammored into the raft, I realized that, in fact, nothing was broken, and that was the most INCREDIBLY STUPID thing I had ever done…and the MOST FUN!!!
Let me back up a bit…
Friday morning, the Hendersons arrived at our house at 5:50am to pick Kerrie and I up to head out to Jinja, Uganda for a mini-vacay. As Kerrie put it, it was time to head out of Dodge! We drove an hour and a half through dense fog, and ended up in Jinja, a quaint little Ugandan town that sits on the Nile and very near the disputed source of the Nile. The car dropped me at Adrift Rafting Company, where the Hendersons and Kerrie gave me hugs and said farewells that made me feel as if I was heading to my own funeral…let’s just say that our thrill-seeking levels differ greatly!
I paid my 300,000 shillings ($125), grabbed a cup of coffee, and sat down to watch the Nile River rush below me as I waited for the bus to arrive that would pick us up and take us to our unknown fates. As the fog lifted off of the Nile, I was taken aback by the sheer size and power of the mighty, historical Nile River…the very river where baby Moses was placed. I have flown over it a few times going in and out of Sudan, but seeing it up close was something altogether different.
After a 30-minute bus ride out to our drop-off point, I had become acquainted with my raft-mates…seven travelers taking an overland tour of Africa. They were each from different parts of the Commonwealth: Scotland, Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand…and then me, the lone American. They were rough around the edges, tattooed, and hungover, and they turned out to be great fun because we all wanted a WILD raft instead of the mild option.
We did a quick training session on the Nile in which Jason taught us how to follow important commands such as, “Paddle HARD, HARDER, HARDER!!!” and “Get down and HANG ON!!” He also taught us how to paddle in sync, how to hang on during a flip, and how to get back into the raft (which I failed miserably at given my tiny spaghetti arms).
Then it was off to do the real thing!
I already told you about the first rapid, Overtime, a Grade 5 in which we capsized and I thought I was dying. The second rapid, Retrospect, was only a Grade 4, and one of our raftmates was really freaked out by the first rapid, so we did not capsize. She actually ended up leaving our raft and riding on the safety raft for the remainder of the day…we wanted wild and she needed mild.
Rapid number three, Bubugo, was only a Grade 3 and we did not capsize that one, either. The fun part about it is that as you are floating along in the calm waters, you can hear the roar of the rapids you are approaching. My heart rate would increase and I would get so excited…yeah, there’s something wrong with me!
This portion of the Nile is well-known for a rapid called The Bad Place, and it is the one that everyone talks about…unfortunately, the water was so low that going through The Bad Place could have been deadly due to the rocks in the shallow rapids. So, we portaged around Itanda (Grade 6), The Bad Place (Grade 5), and The Other Place (Grade 6). At first I was disappointed that we wouldn’t be going through The Bad Place, but as we walked by it, I realized that it was not something that I wanted to attempt on my maiden voyage down the Nile.
Rapid number four, Vengeance (Grade 4), was a stinking BLAST! In almost every rapid, we had a choice as to how wild a ride we wanted. In each, we chose the wildest route possible…crazy! On this one, most rafts took the right side of the fork, but we chose the left, which took us over some crazy waves. We went crashing down through there and capsized in no time. We rode two waves before we flipped in the third, and this time I did hold on and found that it was a much more pleasant experience, as you can pull yourself right up out of the water instead of fearing drowning!
After a quiet ride to our lunch spot, an enjoyable lunch of chipatis, and some time back on the Nile, we began to get into the faster-moving waters. The rapids were much closer together, and the thrills were much bigger! We went through Morning Shower, Hair of the Dog, and Kulu Shaker (all Grade 4), flipping in two out of the three rapids. On one of them, the raft flipped over so that I landed on the person opposite me…well, I landed with my hip onto his paddle…not so good (and the bruise I have proves it)!
The final rapid, Nile Special (Grade 4), was a doozy! As we paddled to the last one of the day, Jason prepped us on how to handle it. We decided that we would just paddle into the thick of it and see how it went, but the important thing to remember was NOT to hang on to the raft. This rapid was one that churned and occasionally sucked the raft into the turmoil of raging waters…it was best not to be attached to the raft if it got sucked in. Good to know. We went in screaming all the way, crashed through several waves, and then we were over. I let go and ended up under water just being beat around by the river. I had already swallowed and inhaled a ton of the river, and when I popped up for air, I barely sucked any in before a huge swell crashed over me. As I rose and fell with the swells of the river, I was struck by how tiny and insignificant I am…the river is massive and I was overcome by its sheer size…then I was struck by another wave. That rapid was INSANE!! Each time I would pop out of the water, a wave would wash me back under. Sometimes they came from behind so I couldn’t even see them coming. At one point, the raft was washing toward me at a furious place, and I grabbed onto it thinking I could just float along with it, until it nearly tore my arm off. I let go, was washed under the water again, and finally saw my saving grace…a safety kayaker coming at me. A young man of eighteen was one of our trip’s kayakers, and he came to my rescue…allowing me to hop up and catch my breath, which I was desperately gasping for, for a minute until we drifted into calmer waters.
I cannot tell you how amazing an adventure rafting the mighty River Nile was. There were several times while I was swimming or floating in the river during our quieter stretches when I reflected on the importance of the Nile. It is the source of life for people along thousands of miles of river banks and it is a source of Biblical significance. It was absolutely incredible.
Now, please pray that I do not end up with some weird intestinal funk or Bilharzia for all of the Nile River that I swallowed!
I apologize that I only have one picture to share! I have six others that I purchased of me actually rafting on the Nile, but they are prints. Here is me pre-rafting…
Jinja Part II will be up soon!