Rafting in Jinja

By Sara Brown

Le temps passe vite! Time flies. I was sure I would be homesick by now, but I have been too busy to miss home (sorry, Mom!). This was our final weekend in Uganda and it was full of excitement and terror. We went white water rafting down the Nile with the company Nile River Explorers (NRE). Two of our housemates at Welo Inn signed up so we tagged along for the ride. It was quite the experience. We signed up for the grade 5 full day trip, which covered 8 rapids over 3-4 hours. 

Saturday morning we met a shuttle bus near the Acacia Mall and went to the NRE base camp in Jinja. They provided a breakfast consisting of: watermelon, bananas, passion fruit, rolex, coffee, tea and water. They said, “If you’re going on a full day trip, eat up, you’ll need the energy.” This was an understatement. At base camp, we got fitted with life jackets and helmets, which I attached my GoPro to. We then got on another shuttle bus that brought us to the Nile. After a safety demonstration, we loaded 6 people into each boat to practice paddling, getting down onto our knees and pulling ourselves into the raft. Then the real adventure began.

The first set of rapids were too shallow to paddle through, so we portered halfway then went down. I screamed as a giant wall of water came over our raft (this was nothing in comparison to what was to come later). We flipped our raft on the second set. It is horrifying to watch the videos of being underwater! Our raft made it through the third set okay but we ended up “surfing” between two waves on the fourth rapid. We flipped on rapid number five and had to clamor quickly back into the raft to get prepared for the sixth set of rapids. Here, we got stuck on a rock shelf but thankfully made it down okay. In preparation for the second to last rapid, our guide said if we paddled the entire time, we wouldn’t flip. A chorus of “Paddle! Paddle! Paddle!” erupted and we succeeded. The eighth rapid was the longest. We flipped immediately. Half our passengers stayed with the raft and the other half got swept downstream. I was one of those downstream and it was quite enjoyable being in the water and riding the waves. Eventually, we reached shore. I was so thankful for dry land.

Nile River Explorers provided supper before we got onto buses and departed. It was a great day and I am so thankful I put my fears aside and went white water rafting!