Rafting on the Nile

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The Bad Place

This past weekend (July 8-9) I made the uninformed decision to go white water rafting on the Nile. I went with Alex and Ally, both between their first and second year at SIPA and interning here this summer as well. I rafted before in North Carolina and West Virginia. My tenth grade class trip took us to WV for a few days, we watched Deliverance, rafted got into some trouble and a few of us even got suspended- but that’s another story. A few years later my parents took my brother and I rafting for a weekend in NC. Looking back on both trips, I remember being tossed from the raft a few times but nothing traumatic. I cannot say quite the same for my most recent and likely final rafting experience.

The rapids on the Nile vary from class 3 to class 5; I don’t think I had ever actually rafted a class 5 before, even though I assumed I had. Most of the Nile is quite calm and relaxed but we went over, under and through about six rapids on Saturday and three again on Sunday. Jeffrey was our guide, he was partial to high-pitched screams and shrieks for no apparent reason and he liked to talk with an Australian accent, using phrases like alright mate even though he was Ugandan? Go figure? Later in the day, much to my dismay, I discovered he is notorious for flipping rafts. There were approximately six rafts with about six to eight people per raft. There were two safety rafts that took down our overnight bags, cameras, and food and took the easy route to and keep everything dry. There were also four guys in kayaks who waited at the bottom of each set of rapids for the unfortunate souls who were thrown from the rafts and flailing through the rapids, with the responsibility to rescue them.

Alex, Ally and I were on a raft with a group of undergraduates living in the same apartment building, their average age was 20, which really made me feel really old. On the whole they were nice enough and we got on fine. However, there was one guy who was a nightmare, he drove everyone crazy, even Jeffrey and I imagine some of his friends. He would not paddle in unison with the rest of the raft and would periodically stop paddling, and while he was paddling he would accidentally hit the person in front of him or hit their paddle. If a test was required to raft he would have surely failed. On the first rapid, a class 3, Jeffrey asked if we wanted to flip, the raft decided sure why not. Well we did, everyone went flying about but nothing serious. The worst part about that flip was the fact that most of us came up under the raft and had to maneuver out from under it to have any hope of catching our breath. On the second rapid, we flipped again… this time when everyone regrouped and got back on the raft Ally was missing. She had gotten caught in a current which threw her around, pushed her under water and took her a few hundred meters down the river where we found her waiting for us on the safety raft. The next few rapids were more enjoyable, no flipping, but we were tossed around. One kid on the raft fell out twice in a row but everyone else kept their grip and was able to stay on. The rest of the afternoon went like that, we hit some rapids, mostly paddled enjoyed the scenery, stopped for a picnic lunch and enjoyed our time on the river.

After lunch my day took a turn for the worse… There is one rapid, a class 5, which has justifiably been named the bad place. Jeffrey and the raft decided we would not try to not flip, but flipping was essentially guaranteed. We all figured what the hell? This is what we are paying for right? Wrong. We hit the rapid and the raft was tossed back and forth, the exact details are a blur. But is essentially went something like this- the side I was on went straight up in the air and I was tossed downstream my oar went flying and I was tossed directly into the depths of the bad place. The rest of the raft held on to the ropes and stayed with it. To be honest, I am not sure if I saw a white light or if it was just the white water rushing into my throat and choking me. I remember being under water, being pulled into who knows what direction and trying to swim to where I thought was up. I was swimming and swimming for about 15 seconds and reaching my hands up but there was only water above my head I started to freak out, no exaggeration, I thought it was the end. I started choking on water and gasping but was still under the water, so I swallowed a large amount of Nile, yummmm. Finally out of no where I hit the surface, caught a small breath, made eye contact with one of the guys on the kayaks and was immediately pulled back under water. When I finally came back up the kayak was a few feet away, I latched on and he took me down the river to safety. I grabbed on to some rocks on the side of the riverbank and another raft came over and picked me up. As the raft came to get me I was so shaken I could not even stand up to hop into the raft, so the raft floated right on top of my legs as I tried to gain some balance. I had never been so legitimately scared in my entire life. Could hardly catch my breath and sit still once I did make it onto the raft. I would love to know what my face of absolute terror looked like to the guy in kayak when I briefly made eye contact with him before, going under, coming back up and he came over and saved me. Once my raft and raft-mates made it down the river I rejoined them to learn that although they did not experience a near drowning they did not fare much better. When I was tossed into the bad place they flipped over but everyone managed to keep their grip on the raft. Jeffrey instructed everyone to swim onto one side of the raft so that he could flip it over and everyone could climb back in. Note, they are still in the middle of the rapid at this point but in a relatively more calm spot. Jeffrey flipped the raft but in the process everyone ended up with their backs against the rocks and the raft pushing against their chests and slamming them into the rocks. Alex described Jeffrey’s face as looking really concerned and he grabbed her with one arm and another girl with his other arm and threw them back into the raft and proceeded to get everyone else back in. Evidently, he did not intend to pin his entire raft up against the rocks. Once they picked me back we compared war stories and Ally and I decided there was not way in hell we were flipping again that day. I threatened to climb into the safety boat if Jeffrey could not guarantee no more flips. I think some of the kids on the raft were happy to remain right side up but I also got the feeling that the “old people” were ruining their good time. Well, we finished the day without any more swimming and finally landed at the campsite, changed clothes and drank some much-needed beers.

Sunday was much more relaxed. We only went over three rapids and spent most of the day cruising down the river. Along the way that day we hooked all three rafts (only three rafts stayed for the overnight/ 2 day trip) to the safety boat, relaxed in the sun and were pulled down the Nile. At the last rapid we surfed, which is when you maneuver the raft back into it the rapid and catch yourself in the currents where you can stick for awhile, getting tossed all around but not flipping or anything if it is done correctly. Surfing was actually fun, Jeffrey took a raft of four of us, Alex, Ally, me and another girl Sally. Because we did not have as much weight as some of the fuller rafts (8-10 people) the raft was bent in two, we were thrown into the air all the while holding onto the ropes for dear life. But only Sally fell out and it was an adrenaline rush but no near misses. We opted out of a second try at surfing deciding we didn’t want to press our luck.

The best part of the whole weekend was the fact that we were on the Nile. I had to continually remind myself that we were on the Nile; it seems so foreign and romantic. One good thing, that I should mention is that the company we went with Adrift, has never had any serious injuries nor deaths occur on their trips, so am sure what occurred to me and everyone else is par for the course. I later learned that in their brochure they actually have a quote that says, “I thought I was going to die, it was the best time I ever had”. Not sure if knowing that would have changed my mind but it will be a cold day in hell before I raft that stretch again.

Besides the details of what happened over the weekend, being in a large group of well-to-do white kids, touring anywhere always gets me thinking. First I would like to state for the record that I despise tour groups. I realize that they are some people’s preferred method of travel and I do not pass any judgment on this but they make me feel uncomfortable and my experience is that they rarely get a honest picture of a country or its population. Furthermore, I have a terrible time justifying spending Uganda’s per capita income on one weekend of rafting. Using their river, their lifeline, water source and bath as a recreational tool. What is really going on in the minds of the individuals bathing and doing laundry along the river banks as raft loads of muzungus* float down their river, day after day? I just hope they don’t know how much we are all spending. It’s another example of activities that are only for the “privileged”, which in developing nations never seems to include anyone local. It is true that we are contributing to the tourist industry, there are some Ugandans employed as river guides, etc, etc... But nonetheless it is something I struggle with when taking tours or doing activities like this. One thing that bothers me is the people who are blatantly rude or disrespectful of the locals and their culture. For example there was one man who was bathing by the side of the river as our boat came down, our presence obviously made him aware of his nakedness so he crouched down. In this case I tend to think it is we, the rafters, who are invading on his space, not his nakedness that is exposing himself to the tourists. My point being there was one girl on our raft who commented on how inappropriate he was, as she could not stop herself from staring. Ummm, is it inappropriate to wash yourself while naked? I am going to say- no. All in all, regardless of the near misses, the enormous groups of tourists and the high price it was a great weekend and I am really glad I went. Furthermore now I can say I rafted the Nile and to anyone not reading this can make it sound glamorous, make myself sound courageous and leave out the terrifying details.

*muzungu literally translates as white person but does not carry the negative connotations of gringo for instance.

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