White Water Weekend

This weekend we took an great trip to the town of Jinja, less than a 2 hour drive from Kampala to brave the grade 5 rapids of the Nile river. We decided to raft on Sunday, but took the bus up on Saturday morning to enjoy one extra day in Jinja. The drive towards Jinja is really pretty, and Jinja itself is beautiful, very lush and green. We booked the trip with one of the two main companies, Nile River Explorers, and the package included roundtrip transportation, one free night at their campsite/hostel, a day of rafting, and meals on the rafting day. The campsite location is incredible, at the top of the hill overlooking the river which is right below it. We got there just in time to see the Saturday rafters pass by in the distance, about to hit the first grade 5 rapid of the day. Some photos:

View from the campsite


zoomed in view

This was us the next day!

hanging out at the campsite


After eating a late breakfast/early lunch at the campsite restaurant, we headed down for a walk to the aforementioned grade 5 rapids, also called Bujagali Falls. Yes, they do actually look like falls, which skyrocketed our nerves for rafting the next day. We had done our research and knew that the company is extremely professional and safe, and no one ever gets hurt, but once we got a look at these rapids I think we all second guessed ourselves a bit. Even though it is safe, we had heard from everyone who had done it that the raft was guaranteed to flip at least once during the day and we would likely end up in the water raft-less until one of the many safety kayakers came to pick us up.

Bujagali Falls - we went over it at the far end where the biggest drop is



After trying (and failing) to get a good night’s sleep, I got on the bus at 8:30 the next morning to head over to the lodge where all of the rafting equipment is housed.

Last photo before leaving for rafting


They fed us breakfast, briefed us a bit about our day and then got us suited up in life jackets and helmets. We then boarded the second bus that would take us down to the river and had a good 30 minutes to triple coat our sunscreen and get even more nervous. Unfortunately our roommate Elly had started feeling sick the night before and on the bus trip wisely decided to skip the rafting trip (today we found out that she got malaria…more details later) so we were missing her. We still had a good group of 6 people to fill our raft though, Nik, our co-worker, Ashlyn and Rebecca, our friends from the hostel from Ireland and Scotland, respectively, and Ashley, who we met on the bus to Jinja. We met our guide Charles, although his river name is Prince, who is in his 12th year guiding these rafting trips.

The 45 minutes or so stretch of water was calm, and we practiced paddling forwards and backwards and turning, and most importantly, flipping. Going down milder rapids, we were taught to just hold onto the paddle and grab the rope running along the perimeter of the boat. For wilder rapids we were supposed to crouch down in the boat and grab the rope with both hands. We were taught that if the boat flipped to try and hold on to it and ride the rapids down with the overturned boat. If we got separated from the boat there was one safety raft and about 6 kayakers who would be waiting at the bottom and would come pick us up right away, so there was no danger. Actually the most difficult part for us girls seemed to be getting back into the raft. It takes a lot of strength to haul yourself up the side of the raft and inside, and usually we needed either the guide, Nik, or each other to grab us by the life jacket and clumsily flop over the side of the boat like a beached whale.

They only took us across rapids that had deep enough water that there was no risk of hitting any rocks. Nevertheless, after receiving all our instructions we approach the Bujagali Falls we saw the day before, our first grade 5, and fear set in all of us (except Nik). We were instructed to paddle hard as we approached the drop, and right as we were going over the edge Charles yelled “get down” and we crouched down in the boat and held onto dear life. The raft pitched violently back and forth and the waves crashed all over us, but after a few seconds we popped into calm water, still upright. Shocked that we were all still in the boat, we suddenly got really excited and cheered at our success. We hit a few more grade 4 and 5 rapids after that, each time getting scared before but each time somehow getting through without flipping, even as we saw all the other boats flip at least once. Rebecca did get tossed out on one rapid but we retrieved her quickly back in the boat. We even hit a true waterfall later, about 3 meters high that we were all sure we were going to flip but again we made it out intact. One of the most fun grade 4s was when Charles made us all close our eyes as we went down the first part, and when he yelled “open your eyes” all we saw was a giant wall of water in front of us that proceeded to crash over us. But again, each time, thanks to our expert guide, we managed to stay upright.

After several rough rapids, we finally hit a calm stretch where we got to jump in the water, which was the perfect temperature, and swim in the river. They fed us a snack of pineapple and crackers, and we continued paddling along the calm water, enjoying the pretty green hills around us and different kinds of birds. Then finally, we were instructed to put our helmets and life jackets back on, and the feeling of dread set back in even after we had successfully navigated the previous tough rapids. We hit a few more grade 4s and 5s, and miraculously, again made it through without flipping. I started to really enjoy the last few rapids and became less fearful, and we never failed to be overjoyed after emerging from the violent waves. During my time here I haven’t met anyone who has been in a boat that hasn’t flipped, so its either due to luck, the fact that our guide is particularly skilled, or possibly because flipping is completely under the guide’s control and Charles thought we couldn’t handle it. Regardless of the reason, most of us were happy that we managed to stay in the boat, although Nik was a bit bitter and even Katharine warmed up to the idea at the end.

Tired and having thoroughly enjoyed our crazy day, we had a relaxing ride back to the campsite where they fed us a delicious dinner before we boarded the bus back to Kampala. Unfortunately I do not have pictures from the actual rafting due to obvious reasons for not bringing a camera on board, however there was a cameraman who would kayak ahead of us to the banks by the big rapids to film us, and Katharine bought a copy of the DVD so eventually we may have some stills from that. All in all we had a terrific time, and are looking forward to our next big weekend adventure!