Advertisement
Published: June 20th 2010
Edit Blog Post
So after yet another cold shower I was off to catch the bus to Jinja. Jinja is the No.1 White water Rafting town in Uganda and is famous for its grade 5 rapids on the White Nile.
The bus departed at 09:00 and the only other Muzungu’s on it were a Christian missionary from South Korea - who even gave me a pamphlet to read on his church - I told him I was a lost cause. And a woman from Norway with a moustache, a bloke’s tattoo and comfortable shoes - needless to say I steered clear of both of them. The journey was 9 hours long along sometimes atrocious roads and the entertainment was provided by a dvd of the latest African soap - “Caught in the act” in which the acting was so bad it made Coronation street look like it was directed by Lars Von Trier!!
Finally I arrived in the capital of Uganda - Kampala and took off on a boda-boda to the bus station. Unfortunately it was during rush hour and the streets were choked with vehicles of one sort or another and the bike I was on was weaving inches between them.
I was wearing shorts and was paranoid about my leg getting burnt on the exhausts of both my bike and the others around me. I had seen many examples of this in Africa and SE Asia , fortunately I made it to the minibus park in one piece.
Once the bus was full we set off for Jinja and I soon realised that I was sat immediately behind the engine and all the heat from it was aimed directly at my bard legs. I asked them to turn the heating vents off but they said it was broken!!
Two very long hours later we finally arrived at Jinja and I settled down to watch the football match with the locals.
The next day I had arranged to go white water rafting with Nile River Explorers, during the first hour we got kitted off with lifevests and helmets and underwent training out on the river - this involved flipping over the dingy and what to do when you were approaching the rapids.
Then the fun starts and the first one was just a gentle warm up, then the next one was called 50/50 as half the boats flip
over and half don’t. Our boat went through OK and sure enough the other boat flipped over. The other boat would flip another 3 times - they were having all the fun.
The next rapids was called the waterfall and consisted of a 2 metre drop, in the video (that I will attach) the instructor says this is one where you have to hold on tight as on this one you don’t want to fall out of the boat.
As the boat plunged down the fall and hit the water I was bounced straight up in the air into the drink, where one of the rescue kayaks came and picked me up with just my pride injured as I was the only one to fall out - the shame of it.
On the next falls out boat flipped which was fun - although a couple of the girls were a bit shook up by this as they were under for some time.
There were a couple more rapids and then we went back to Explorers campsite at Bujagagli falls where we all had a great night out with the guys and girls from the rafting trip.
The
next day I just chilled as it was a great location before a 9 hour bus ride to Naivasha in Kenya.
I have uploaded the video from the rafting onto YouTube
Part1:
part2:
Boring Bits
Stay at Kampala backpackers and then get the free shuttle to Explorers backpackers in Jinja
Stay at Explorers campsite in Bujagagli Falls, much better than anywhere in Jinja.
Don’t stay in Bellevue Hotel, I was the only Muzungu there as they are all in Explorers’s 2 hostels
The staff at Explorers backpackers are extremely friendly and helpful and their Nile River Explorers are very professional and I would recommend.
Akamba Royal Service - Jinja to Nairobi - 65000USH
Advertisement
Tot: 0.119s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 12; qc: 30; dbt: 0.0426s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
David T
non-member comment
Franklin River
Well if you liked that on the White Nile you better come to Tassie and we shall organise a 10 day Franklin River rafting trip WITHOUT the 9 hour bus rides Good stuff David M