Sunday, February 1, 2009
On Saturday, around 7 a.m., our group left for Jinja to white water raft the NILE RIVER!!! I was very nervous yet very excited to face the class 5 rapids that day. During our bus ride, it rained and looked gloomy outside…but when we arrived at Adrift Rapids, the sky was clear and weather was much warmer. Perfect day to go rafting! When we first got there, our group met with one of the lead guides named Josh. He was Canadian and very funny…all of our guides were funny. People from all over the world went rafting with us…a couple from Ireland, four Indian U.N. Peace Keepers, three guys from Australia, a group of students from Ghana, as well as a guy from Ireland and France (Steven and Peter) -they were in my boat. The rafting guides were from all over too…our guide, Clarkie, was from the U.K. He is actually a white water rafting instructor in Norway, but he’s a guide in Uganda for a couple months. He had a really cool accent as well as many of the other people.
Nine people rode in each raft. Joy, Jess, Mindie, Jenny, Steven, Peter, and Clarkie were in my raft. We called ourselves the French word for “warriors”…but I don’t know how to say or spell it so that’s all I am going to say. Anyway, before we started, everyone was given a banana to eat so that we would have enough energy to row 31 kilometers, that’s 19 miles!!! Then, we all geared up with life jackets, helmets, and oars…we took a quick group pic and began our journey. We left at 10:30 in the morning.
Clarkie was a great instructor. At the beginning of the trip, we were in calm waters so that we could practice for the rapids. One of the things we had to practice was if and when the raft flips over. I didn’t enjoy practicing this part because, when Clarkie flipped our raft, I got trapped underneath. I kept swallowing water as it kept smacking me in the face. I felt like I was going to die…I was very scared. Fortunately, I felt someone’s hand and dunked myself underwater to the other side. After much coughing and people reassuring me that I was okay, my team got back on the raft. I thought to myself, “what a great way to start the day…feeling like I’m going to die.” I was very scared and hesitant to face what we were about to encounter that day. I don’t have the best luck with water sports…as my family knows, ha!
So, we approach our first rapid of the day. We followed Clarkie’s instructions and rowed when told and held on and took cover when huge waves crashed on top of us. Mindie fell out of the boat and, of course, I did as well. However, this time, I knew to hang on to the rope tightly. It was actually kinda funny now looking back on it…in slow motion, my legs flew up into the air and I began to fall into the water. As I was falling out, Clarkie quickly grabbed me by my life jacket and pulled me back into the raft. Mindie was rescued too. Boy, was my adrenaline pumping! Soon after the rapid we had to pull off to the side…one of the rocks poked a hole in one of the rafts so they had to get a new one. Also, Sophie’s arm got twisted in the rope and, as it turns out, she had to go to the hospital for her very bad sprained (as the Jinja doctor said…but we’re not too sure if her diagnosis was correct) or broken arm.
After our break, we continued on with our day. I think we went over 4 more rapids, one being Big Brother which was a huge rapid…many people fell off, but our raft stayed afloat, thank goodness! This time, since I stayed in the boat, I was able to enjoy the experience more because I had no, “I feel like I’m going to die” feelings. Staying in the boat, I think, is much more fun. During the middle of the day we stopped for lunch. It was so good because we were all hungry…sandwiches, potato salad, and lots of fresh fruit…mmm!
Finally, we were re-energized and continued on with the day. The next couple of rapids were sooo crazy and so much fun! We went over a 14 foot waterfall…which many people got stuck on top of the rocks or flipped on the way down…our boat did neither, we made it down, first time…and everyone was in the boat! Depending on where you float and how your boat comes down the falls determines what happens. When we landed at the bottom, all of this water gushed into our raft. We had about a foot or more of water in the back…had to paddle hard to move away from the falls. Our boat was the first to go so we pulled off to the side and watched everyone else have a go…it was so funny to watch, people’s facial expressions were priceless! While we waited for everyone to experience the falls, people from the village were bathing in the water. They would jump in and watch our group go over the rapids…some talked to us as well. I’m sure they enjoy watching groups go down the rapids everyday.
We drifted through lakes in between rapids which was fun too…a good chance to talk with the people on our boat and do flips into the water, go for a little swim! On our last rapid, we had a choice of going 3 routes…the 1st was a class 3-not likely to flip, the 50/50 which may flip, and “the bad place” which was a guarantee flip. My raft chose the bad place, but some of us didn’t want to go. Anyway, before we went over the big rapid, we had to go through a level 1 rapid, pull off on land to walk our raft to the other side until we reached our destination-to load back on the raft and experience our last rapid of the day. Between the level 1 and level 5 rapid was a class 6, which is a deadly…that’s why we had to walk our raft around the class 6. I didn’t want to go to the bad place because I didn’t like the trapped feeling...usually it’s just 7 or 8 seconds but it feels like a lifetime. So, I found a raft that was going on the 50/50. We were the last group to go. Actually, the 50/50 felt like the bad place. We went through huge waves that crashed on top of us…only 3 of us stayed on the boat. While we were going through the rapids, we drifted too far right and were actually in what they call, “the other place.” Usually, this doesn’t happen…it is not good for rafts to go over this part of the river because it is very shallow and has lots of rocks below. Our instructor recognized the situation and kept yelling to us, Sandy, Anna, and me, on the boat to “MOVE LEFT!” It was kind of confusing as to what all was going on and it’s difficult to explain, but basically all of us were flopping all over the boat holding on to the rope for our dear lives. I also decided to chuck my oar and hold the rope in one hand and my nose in the other…I really thought I was going to be thrown off the raft. Luckily, the three of us and our instructor stayed on! I was amazed and flying high…although kinda scary, it was a fun ride….wave after wave after wave.
After the rapid, all of us reunited on our raft again. The kayakers picked up all the people who fell off the raft. We paddled all the way back to the ending spot…Sandy and me led the way. My arms felt like they were going to fall off…we were paddling fast to beat the storm that was coming our way. Finally, we reached land and all got off the boat. All of us piled on the bus and headed back to camp. Once we got back, a bunch of us hoped in the showers. The water was very spastic…always mixed between hot and VERY hot, but it felt good. Jenny and I showered together with our bathing suits on…the whole time we were shouting “OW, that is hot!!! Turn the knob to the right….NOOO, too hot, turn it to the left!!!” We were laughing the whole time and, once clean, felt refreshed again.
We were all very hungry and started getting dinner ready. Since we are all poor college students, we brought our own food…sausage, bread, potatoes, chips, fruit, and biscuits-which really taste like cookies. We had to go get charcoal to start the fire…this took awhile considering that the camp was out in the middle of nowhere. While we were waiting on our cooked sausages, we ate lots of biscuits with peanut butter and nutella…we were all starved! Finally, at around 8 or 9, dinner was ready. The sausages were really good…we all ate outside and talked with the Australian dudes. We laughed a lot and had fun…they were very outgoing. Then, around 10 or so, we all gathered into the lounge and watched the movie that taped us going over the rapids. It was so funny…facial expressions were great! Plus, I thought to myself, “I can’t believe I just did that!” Very cool and glad I rafted the Nile River. We were all tired and went to bed. I slept on the 4th bunk which was very high. All of us girls were in the same cabin. Not too long after we went to bed, the drunken Australians knocked on our door mistaking it for their room. Thankfully, Peter and Ben heard them knocking and came out to talk to them…we locked our door.
On Sunday, we woke up around 8 a.m., got ready, and ate breakfast out on the dock/lounge. This morning, Wes, Eli, Jordan, Ryan, Jess, and Sandy bungee jumped over the Nile. Wes forgot to close his eyes when being dunked into the water so, unfortunately, his eyes got bruised…kind of looks like purply-blue eye liner.. Bungee jumping looked like a lot of fun and I was tempted to try…but did not get up the nerve to go for the plunge. As it was early in the morning and feeling sore, I was not as tempted to jump off a high tower. I somewhat regret not going but Jenny, Ben, and I promised each other that if we have the opportunity again we will go! At least I saved 55 dollars! After everyone was done jumping off this super high platform, we headed home on the bus. The ride felt like forever. Since being home, I haven’t done much except for finish some homework and hang out. I know this is a really, really long post, but just trying to give lots of details so that you could have an idea as to what this weekend was like, and so that I can remember my trip down the Nile River. Oh yea, and I got really, REALLY burned…right now, my legs are bright red! That’s what you get when rafting for 7 or 8 hours…
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