The River Nile

Uganda: my third African country.

The first time I went to Uganda it was raining…I mentioned this shortly after we crossed the border to Uganda and it was pouring down rain. I was promptly made fun of for writing my personal memoir…but secretly I think they loved it and here I am using it. It’s the truth. A couple other truths include that it took almost 2 hours to leave Kenya and to enter Uganda (thanks to the laid back nature of the two countries) as well as nearly being hit by a train as soon as we proceeded beyond the border. I heard a loud honk, glanced up from my seat, and saw a train on its way into contact with my passenger door. Luckily we got out unscathed.

The drive through Uganda was gorgeous. It is a much greener country than Kenya and the landscape seemed drastically different. Whether it actually was or my imagination because I knew we were somewhere different, I don’t know. Unfortunately, we had stayed out too late the night before dancing at Spree in Eldoret that as soon as sun down happened, I passed out from exhaustion. Apparently I slept through some pretty rough stretches of road, but I was out. I do remember passing through another rainforest in which there were tons of baboons sitting in the road that we had to stop until they moved.

I awoke shortly before we arrived at our campsite. We enjoyed a delicious Ugandan meal of nachos at the Black Lantern Restaurant, before we were showed to our bunks and joined the other adventurers at an outside bar. This bar was open air and had a balcony overlooking the Nile River. Because it was dark, we couldn’t see the Nile, but we could hear it. I hiked down the hill with Benson, Jordan, Anand and a single flashlight. We couldn’t see much until we got to the edge of the river and the moonlight illuminated it for us. To be honest, I have never been that intimidated by water before: in the dark, gushing by, and spreading out forever in front of us. That is, until I was completely re-intimidated the following day during our main weekend activity: WHITE WATER RAFTING.

After a short night’s sleep in our bunks, we were up and at it in time to catch an open air bus to our starting site. There we were fed a wonderful breakfast (fresh pineapple, toast, boiled eggs, chapatti), given instructions for the day, fitted for life jackets and helmets, and then signed our lives away. We were herded back onto the bus and headed down to the river. There we were split into groups, given an oar, and shoved off. I was a little apprehensive, but our guide was very good and gave us lessons on how to row (very important), how to get back in the raft if we fell out (even more important), and how to tuck down, hold on, and pray (the MOST important).

I was feeling pretty good about things as we approached our first rapid, a measly class 2, until Jane instructed us to jump OUT of the raft and ride it through in the water so we knew what it was like to fall out. Yikes. So we all tucked and rolled out and gasped our way through the white water. Not too bad, until we had to get back in the boat on the other side of the rapid – not my talent. Every time I fell out, Pat had to haul be back in by my life jacket straps. I need to work on my upper body strength.

So, we were ready to go as we approached our first real rapid: a class 5. The Nile River is known for having the best class 5 rapids in the world…and I’ve been through them (not necessarily rafted them, but been through them). Our first rapid was such a rush! We paddled hard, tucked when appropriate, and rode it out until we made it through. We came out laughing on the other side as the ride was so rough! We made it through the next couple of rapids until we came to one of our last ones before lunch. We nearly made it through until our raft got carried by the current the wrong way and we ended up sideways against a rock with the water rushing past. I was a little confused as to why our guide, Jane, looked so frantic trying to get us unstuck and back into the stream of water. It wasn’t until AFTER we were through the rapid and we looked back that on the other side was a 20 foot drop that ended on a rock if we had broken free to the other side. I probably should have been more nervous than I was at the time.

Lunch consisted of fresh Ugandan pineapple while we floated through a calmer part of the river. Every rapid we had about a 50/50 chance of flipping. Nothing was scarier than when you’re plunged in the water before you even have time to take a breath, get tossed and turned in the water until you don’t know which way is up, then surface about 100 meters from where you fell in. The most memorable flip occurred on our last rapid which was a class 6. These are deemed impassible and, as suggested, no one made it through without flipping. I fell off the rapid backwards, swirled underwater for what seemed like an eternity, and then came up under the raft. Problem was, every time I tried to take a gasp of air another wave washed over me. After swallowing four mouthfuls of water and getting no air, I started to panic. I really thought I was going to die. Eventually I struggled my way out from under the boat and sputtered my way around until the boat was righted and I was hauled in.

Fortunately for all you readers out there who are thinking “man, that sounds like fun. I wish I had nearly drowned”, we have a documentary of our trip! We were videotaped while rafting and a movie was compiled. Of course we bought a copy and burned enough for everyone so anyone who wants can watch our trip down the Nile. That night they premiered the video on the wall of the open air bar and we all got to watch ourselves and make fun. It was a great time!

The next morning we made breakfast of chapatti, nutella, and bananas and headed off to the source of the Nile: Lake Victoria. It was beautiful there with lots of little craft shops. We even got to see where Mahatma Gandhi’s ashes were spread into the Nile. After a five hour trip home, our weekend was concluded. I’m sure I sound like a broken record, but it was such an amazing trip! We all had such a great time and will never forget it. It was also a fun weekend to end on. It was our last weekend excursion as we will be sticking around Eldoret this weekend. It was a bittersweet feeling driving home knowing it was our last trek across the African country side. I’m ready to come home and see family and friends, but I’m also not ready to leave. The country is wonderful and the friends I’ve made are even better. I could defiantly see myself living here or someplace like it in the future…I’m sure my mother is not too excited to hear that….