Rafting in the rain
on A Serendipitous Journey (Kenya), 23/Feb/2010 06:50, 34 days ago
As the rain poured down and the sounds of thunder pounded through our dorm, all of us wondered if our 11-hour bus ride was in vain and if we were going to raft at all, but the staff ensured us that rain or shine (or lighting?) we were going to raft!So at 830 am nearly 30 of us packed into the open sided vehicle and were dripped and rained upon, as we were transferred from the campsite to the backpackers camp in Jinja. After a breakfast of tropical fruit, chapatti, eggs and coffee and being fitted with lifejackets, helmets and paddles, about 60 of us were driven near the Nile river edge. Shoeless, and with red mud squishing between our toes, we walked the last half a kilometer as the roads had become too slippery for our vehicle to pass. (Raffaella took full advantage of the mud, putting Rambo marks on her and Marco’s cheeks.)Luckily, the lightning stopped before we headed out on the river and the rain actually gave us two big advantages: no sunburns / sunstroke and the river felt extremely warm! (Besides by mid-day the clouds had parted and the sun had came out.) So, after our briefing and practicing the whitewater rafting 101 moves, we hopped into the river and floated down the Nile until we reached the first rapid.I’ve rafted twice before in Grenville sur la Rouge, Quebec (not recommended – the lazy river at Canada’s Wonderland might have been more exciting!) and with Wilderness Tours near Renfrew (highly recommended, but no where near as extreme as this!)Many of the rapids we went down were class 5 rapids (highest level commercially allowed!) I can’t even begin to describe the rush and anxiety as we flew into the vortex of gigantic waves, sometimes surviving in the boat and other times being tossed or flipped out into massive rapids! It was an absolute blast! I was in a boat with Elena (an Italian development worker), Marco (an Italian architect), Raffaela (an other VSO from the states), Rachel (a VSO from England) and Yels, a girl from Holland (her boyfriend was our guide). Some highlights included: a fantastic spill on the 50/50 rapid when we all went flying out; floating down kilometers of the river at lunchtime beside the boats, twirling, spinning and swimming leisurely through the currents; when we accidentally dropped down a 20 ft waterfall backwards instead of forwards and somehow didn’t fly out; and I had a grand finale flying out of the boat in the final rapids, getting sucked into the centre of really big vortex.(That one was a little scary, I’m not going to lie, but it was also such a rush.)A hydro dam is currently being built about half way down the rafting route, which will put an end to this once-in-a-lifetime experience. So I feel extra lucky to be among the last who may enjoy it.