Whitewater Rafting on the NILE
Whitewater Rafting on the NILE (Never In my Life again - Ever!!)
Four years agokind regards (KR) yours truly(YT) was on assignment in Uganda. After a week of work in Kampala, it was off to Jinja for 3 weeks. It was a joy to actually get to see the source of the Nile!
The work team included a number of Kenyans and S Africans. The latter, being inclined to affairs more nature-based than brew-based, suggested a Whitewater rafting session one weekend. Not to be cowed, YT and a Kenyan colleague agreed to participate.
D-Day
We were driven to some jungle offices to register for theordeal excursion. I should have known from the name which was something like UDW&GF(U Danno Watcherwent & Gochacel Fintu) that there was trouble ahead! They were quick to accept our USD 60+ payment and even quicker to get us to sign the disclaimer which read:
I, YT, beingcompletely out of my mind of sound mind and stark-raving mad in full control of all my senses do hereby agree to forfeit all my rights and absolve UDW&GF of any responsibility whatsoever for injuries to body, emotions and mind, up to and including death, from this day forth, forever and ever, till the grim reaper or expiry of USD 60+ us do part - whichever is the later.
Preparations
Off we went on a truck to the riverbank excited to begin! The preparation basically involved a ride on a raft, lifejacket on, with a number of jumps into the water and the subsequent attempts to get back onto the raft. Boy, it wasn't easy! And I had thought myself to be one of reasonable upper body strength...
Little did we know that this practice session would render us as prepared (for what was in store) as reading a "mills and boon" prepares one for relationships!
Rapids here we come!!
Then it was time to go... The concept is basically to steer the raft over a series of rapids (read waterfalls) for a given point of calm, A, to a given point of calm, B, downriver - A and B usually being around 5-8 rapids apart. As far as possible, the raft should not capsize. In the unfortunate event that it does, tactics practised above were to be used to get back onto raft.
Each raft has a length of rope encircling its perimeter that raft occupants can cling onto for dear life as the raft careens through the air from top of waterfall to bottom of waterfall.
Row, row, row, clutch
Instructions were to row the raft towards the rapids using provided paddles. On reaching the rapid, occupants (in a swift motion) were then to place paddles on raft base, clutch rope and enjoy the ride. What initially began as a row, row, row, clutch (r,r,r,c) sequence for all, ended up as a (r,r,r,c) and (r,c,c,c) sequences for S Africans and Kenyans respectively. Come to think of it, at some point things deteriorated to a (c,c,c,c) sequence in favour of certain E African natives.
Key points thereon
Of 7 rapids, our raft capsized 7 times! On the 1st capsize, in true swimming style, I held my breath under water, waited to get to surface be4 taking my deep breath. Open mouth and nostrils were met with rapids-water that was soon introduced to epiglottis and lungs. Man wasn't built to breathe underwater! I thought I was dying! Suffice to say:
In some funny freak of nature, there was a certain means of navigating the raft to glide back upstream and re-enter the rapid. Our guide?/driver?/captain?/kubaff?/coxswain? from UDW&GF would ask whether we wanted to try a rapid again. Each time SA would answer Yes! KE would answer No! SA outnumbered KE. Each time democracy prevailed. Tears were shed... In reality, of 7 rapids, each was ridden at least twice and raft capsized at least 14 times...
Post-rapid analysis
A certain occupant had the audacity to ask me if a saw some site during the 3 hour ordeal. Dude! I was busy trying to survive (fight for my life)!!! I had no time for tourism/site-watching!!!
My guy, the day Milonare whitewater rafts again... Boss! Never!
Four years ago
The work team included a number of Kenyans and S Africans. The latter, being inclined to affairs more nature-based than brew-based, suggested a Whitewater rafting session one weekend. Not to be cowed, YT and a Kenyan colleague agreed to participate.
D-Day
We were driven to some jungle offices to register for the
I, YT, being
Preparations
Off we went on a truck to the riverbank excited to begin! The preparation basically involved a ride on a raft, lifejacket on, with a number of jumps into the water and the subsequent attempts to get back onto the raft. Boy, it wasn't easy! And I had thought myself to be one of reasonable upper body strength...
Little did we know that this practice session would render us as prepared (for what was in store) as reading a "mills and boon" prepares one for relationships!
Rapids here we come!!
Then it was time to go... The concept is basically to steer the raft over a series of rapids (read waterfalls) for a given point of calm, A, to a given point of calm, B, downriver - A and B usually being around 5-8 rapids apart. As far as possible, the raft should not capsize. In the unfortunate event that it does, tactics practised above were to be used to get back onto raft.
Each raft has a length of rope encircling its perimeter that raft occupants can cling onto for dear life as the raft careens through the air from top of waterfall to bottom of waterfall.
Row, row, row, clutch
Instructions were to row the raft towards the rapids using provided paddles. On reaching the rapid, occupants (in a swift motion) were then to place paddles on raft base, clutch rope and enjoy the ride. What initially began as a row, row, row, clutch (r,r,r,c) sequence for all, ended up as a (r,r,r,c) and (r,c,c,c) sequences for S Africans and Kenyans respectively. Come to think of it, at some point things deteriorated to a (c,c,c,c) sequence in favour of certain E African natives.
Key points thereon
Of 7 rapids, our raft capsized 7 times! On the 1st capsize, in true swimming style, I held my breath under water, waited to get to surface be4 taking my deep breath. Open mouth and nostrils were met with rapids-water that was soon introduced to epiglottis and lungs. Man wasn't built to breathe underwater! I thought I was dying! Suffice to say:
- I'm glad we were in water, the h20 camouflaged my tears
- I'm glad the rapids were noisy, this camouflaged my cries/screaming
- We stopped by some riverbank midway for lunch, Kenyans almost hid in the riverbank bushes hoping raft would leave them behind. Thoughts that quickly changed on mention of leopards and lions patrolling aforesaid bushes...
- (c,c,c,c) became (clutch,cry,cry,clutch)
In some funny freak of nature, there was a certain means of navigating the raft to glide back upstream and re-enter the rapid. Our guide?/driver?/captain?/kubaff?/coxswain? from UDW&GF would ask whether we wanted to try a rapid again. Each time SA would answer Yes! KE would answer No! SA outnumbered KE. Each time democracy prevailed. Tears were shed... In reality, of 7 rapids, each was ridden at least twice and raft capsized at least 14 times...
Post-rapid analysis
A certain occupant had the audacity to ask me if a saw some site during the 3 hour ordeal. Dude! I was busy trying to survive (fight for my life)!!! I had no time for tourism/site-watching!!!
My guy, the day Milonare whitewater rafts again... Boss! Never!
posted by Milonare at 5:30 PM
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