This previous Saturday was a slight deviation from the normal trend; the professor still didn’t come for lecture, but this time he at least told us class was cancelled beforehand. This worked out perfectly for me as I had some friends who had invited me to go rafting down the Nile with them that Saturday. I called them Friday evening when I heard my class was cancelled and found out that there was still room for me to join. Letting my sense of adventure drown out the usual caution that I have followed since coming to Africa, I said that I was game for some whitewater rafting down the Nile.
I have done several of these crazy extreme sports in the past – things like skydiving, cliff-jumping, hang-gliding, etc. – and always loved the experience. However, I had not planned on doing something like this when I came to Africa. This was mainly because I knew the safety situation is much different here from places like Australia where I’ve done this stuff before. However, after being here for a few months and knowing several people who went on these rafting trips with no problems, I decided it was definitely worth the slight risk for the experience.
We left Kampala early Saturday morning on a bus supplied by the rafting company – Nile River Explorers – headed towards Jinja, the source of the Nile. When we arrived at the NRE base camp, I felt like I was back in Australia. The company was started by Aussies and definitely had the hostel/backpacker feel to it. The fact that 90% of the people there were white, something I hadn’t experienced since leaving Iowa, also added to the feeling of being in a completely different place. We quickly signed our lives away, which entailed NRE mentioning that there was a terms of agreement form somewhere, no one bothering to look at it, and then everyone signing some random sheet of paper. Things definitely are different when there isn’t a looming threat of litigation like there is in the U.S. or Australia!
After a quick breakfast, we got our safety equipment (a beat up helmet and life jacket) and jumped on a truck headed toward the shove off point. We formed groups of seven, left all of our belongings on the truck (after being warned that anything not attached to us would eventually end up in the Mediterranean), and were on the large, red inflatable rafts within a fairly short amount of time.
Our boat guide was a local named Peter. If I had to guess when I first saw him, I would have said he was probably 15 years old. As it turned out, after questioning him a few hours later, he was 23 years old. At least, that’s the age he told us…I’m still not convinced. He had been doing this for several years and had a very unique sense of humor. The first thing he said to us: “We are very safe company…haven’t lost anyone for several days now.”
Within the first few minutes, I could tell this trip was going to be quite a bit different from previous whitewater rafting I had done. Unlike past trips, where the guides usually manage to keep everyone in the boat the entire time (disregard the time I fell out in the Class IV rapids in Australia…), all of the guides had us jump out into the Nile right away so we could practice getting the boat flipped over in case it got turned upside down in rapids. In hindsight, it was a good thing we got that practice!
The rafting was scheduled to go for the entire day, with a total of 12 rapids – 4 of them being Class V. I was interested in what “Class V” actually meant, so I looked up the qualifications. The description seems spot-on to me:
Class V - Expert
· extremely long and/or violent rapids, often containing large, unavoidable obstacles, holes, steep banks, and turbulent water
· very fast currents with powerful whirlpools and boiling back eddies
· rescue is often difficult for experts
· advance scouting may be difficult
We made it through the first handful of rapids with few problems. We definitely got soaked, and it was exciting, but nothing too intense. However, we got a feeling that something was in store as we approached the second set of Class V rapids, Silverback (all of the rapids have fun names like the Dead Dutchman, Washing Machine, and – my favorite – the Bad Place). The company leader, an Aussie whom we could tell had been rafting for some time, said something to Peter about taking Silverback like he had the day before. It was not until later that we found out Peter’s raft had flipped in Silverback the day before...
As we approached each set of rapids, Peter would give us a run-down on what the rapids were like and what to do in case we would fall out or the raft would flip over (i.e. hold on to the rope, swim to the eddy currents on the left, etc.). As Peter explained, Silverback was the longest stretch of rapids we would do in the day, something like 40 meters. It had 4 large drops, all diagonal to each other. If we fell out, we were to try to hold on to the rope on the side of the raft (emphasis on the word “try”) and, if unable to do that, just enjoy the ride through the rapids, because there wouldn’t be much else we could do!
We could tell that Silverback was definitely a big set of rapids as we approached; the roar of the water was much louder than the previous rapids. I was one of the front paddlers, so I had a great view of the first drop. I remember Peter yelling the usual “Get down! Hold on!” and then we were in the rapids. We got through the first drop fine, but the second drop was our undoing. Before any of us knew what happened, the raft was upside down and we were in the rapids. I opened my mouth to yell but just got a big gulp of Nile River instead. Then I just saw bubbling water until I was back up for a brief second…long enough to see myself collide with a couple other members of my raft who were also getting tossed around like pin balls. The next time I came up I tried to get a breath of air, but to my dismay realized that I couldn’t breathe deeply; I had gotten the wind knocked out of me when we hit that second drop. I was then pulled back under and spent what seemed like an eternity (but was probably just a handful of seconds) being tossed around the remainder of Silverback. When I reached the end of the intense rapids, I found several of the safety kayakers waiting to pick up me and the other members of my raft. I grabbed onto one of them and caught my breath as I looked back at the rapids that had just owned me. What a ride!
Our team eventually got back together, flipped the raft back over, and continued on our way, comparing stories about each of our individual rides through Silverback. We were the only raft out of the seven in total that flipped over in Silverback, and I am all but sure that Peter had something to do with that. However, it definitely made for a more memorable experience!
The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful. There were some more huge rapids, but once you fall out in a Class V, it’s tough to match that rush. Several other rafts flipped over, but we managed to stay upright the rest of the day. I think that was due, in large part, to a few team members who made it clear to Peter that they were not interested in going back into the river.
In addition to the intense rapids, the Nile also has some gorgeous calm areas. In one of these areas, as our team was nonchalantly paddling through the afternoon, we noticed something moving along the bank. After a minute, we realized that it was a croc! We now understood why the guides had explained that there was to be no swimming in that part of the river!
After nearly 8 hours and 30 kilometers on the river, we made it through the final set of rapids, got our rafts out of the water, and climbed aboard the trucks to head back to the campsite for the victory celebration – a fantastic barbeque. What a day!
Cheers!
Chris
P.S. I will be out of contact for the next few days – I leave tonight for a three day academic conference in Rwanda. It will be similar to the conference I attended in Kenya – the subject will probably be boring; I’m just interested in seeing Rwanda!
Pic: None of us had cameras so we didn’t get any pictures of us on the rapids. This, however, is a picture from the Nile River Explorers website. It looks accurate to me…
Pic: Take this picture (from Australia) and flip the boat - and everyone in it - over and you've got an idea of what it was like :)
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