This year for your day of birth, I decided to jump from 145 feet head first in to the Nile River. I thought of you on the way down. Happy birthday!
Love,
Julie
For my last full weekend in Africa, we decided to take a break from work and head to Jinja, a town on the coast of Lake Victoria about a 2 hour drive from Kampala. Reason for the trip: white water rafting on what we had heard to be some of the best waters in the world. We arrived on Saturday morning to the Adrift company site on the shore of the Nile. After a quick briefing, we locked up our belongings and suited up with helmets and life jackets. Four groups of rafters were made based on the preference of “wild” or “mild” rafting, and that was that.
The only other time I have been rafting was in Colorado at the ripe age of 10 or eleven, and I can assure you this was a whole new ballgame. Ha! I can still see my parents forcing me onto the raft that I was just sure would be the point of my demise...Dear Family...sorry about that...
So we loaded up and headed out. The first 30 minutes was spent practicing different scenarios such as falling out, getting back in, flipping the raft, flipping the raft back over, being rescued by a rescue kayaker, and the riding safely down a rapid sans raft. Practice for the last one came down a class 3 rapid, and it was a bit scary to be in the water at first, but I managed to block the thought of crocodiles from my mind.
I am getting bored of proper writing, so we’ll take it back Safari Style and learn some more fun facts:
Fact: There are crocodiles in the Nile River. Oh but the good news is that only a few locals each year are eaten.
Fact: If your guide’s name is Josh, he will be way more honest than necessary and tell you such things while rafting.
Fact: 9 out of 10 people cannot get themselves back into their raft after falling overboard.
Fact: The 1 person out of those 10 people who can perform the act solo will spend most of their day pulling the other 9 lame ducks one by one back into the raft by their life jackets.
Fact: This person becomes quite efficient, and from afar it may give off a domino effect.
Fact: Sitting in the back left corner of the raft will most likely make you fall overboard while everyone else does not.
Fact: The Nile is not crystal clear, but the underside of your raft can be seen even in gushing water.
Fact: While this underside is lovely, it is a happy occasion when you are spat out a few feet down the river to see the people on the upside.
Fact: Sun in the morning does not mean sun all day.
Fact: Thunder and lightning followed by 2 hours of pouring rain on the Nile makes Africa quite cold.
Fact: White water rafting is a pretty accurate term; There are many times when all you see is white water.
Fact: Rafting for a full day with a short lunch break in the middle leaves you too exhausted to think about bungee jumping the next day. I highly recommend this particular order of events.
We spent Saturday night in dorm accommodation back at the Adrift site, and I awoke Sunday morning to the sound of monkeys running across our tin roof. Because it was raining, and it must be dry to bungee jump, I spent the morning waiting for it to stop, but not hating that it didn’t...
Finally it stopped, and we were soon all weighed in and heading up the tower that hangs over the river. With only coffee in my stomach I was feeling pretty good...
Fact: If one wants suspense, he or she should definitely climb to the top of a bungee platform only to wait for a Dutch girl, and American girl, and two Swedish girls to take their turn.
Fact: 145 feet on a global scale is not too much.
Fact: When it finally is your turn to jump, that scale becomes personal.
Fact: Your feet will be strapped in by a black belt type contraption and a towel that prevents loss of circulation.
Fact: This will not feel like much until you get up and have to hop your way to the edge because your feet are tied so tightly.
Fact: Listen to the guy in charge of the bungee’ing.
Fact: If he tells you two things can happen, he is right. When he says “if you jump far out you will just miss the water, but if you dive straight down, you will hit the water” he means it.
Fact: I did not jump straight out.
Fact: I did however dive straight down.
Fact: To my utter surprise I entered the Nile in a perfectly straight dive position.
Fact: It was an utter surprise.
Fact: And very forceful...like an explosion...with lots of water...in my ears...and up my nose...
...And just as fast as you submerged, you emerge...
Fact: When this happens you will start laughing hysterically, but your body will shake uncontrollably because it too is quite surprised, and will be the remainder of the time you dangle in the air.
Fact: Do not fear: the guys in the raft below you are very used to this strange behaviour, and they will not judge you.
Fact: They will instead just offer you up a paddle and lower you down into the boat to unhook you and bring you ashore.
Fact: You will want to do it again.
After the jump the three of us headed a short distance to the source of the Nile where we pretty much showed up, snapped a few photos, and called it a day.
Back to work on Monday and it is now Tuesday evening, meaning only three more workdays to go...
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