Advertisement
Published: September 5th 2007
BUG DEATH!!!
The grey you can see is the remains of a massive spontaneous bug death that we witnessed at the Bugagali falls camp site. They came, they flew, they died in the space of about ten minutes.OK so it wasn’t the home of the Ginger Ninja but it could have been…
Jinja was our first stop in country No. 2, Uganda. It is one of the larger towns in Uganda, in the East, situated on Lake Victoria and the source of the White Nile. It is Uganda's most popular backpacker spot, mainly because of the whitewater rafting.
After finally getting the bus across the border from Kisumu 4 hours late (Still getting the hang of the whole "Africa time" thing) we are dumped in the middle of the night in Jinja, at a petrol station, not actually knowing where on Earth we are in relation to Jinja, and it seems we are in for a Boda-Boda upgrade. The Boda bodas we had encountered so far were the bicycle variety. But oh no, these aren’t your common garden pedal Boda-Bodas, Oh no, these are your bottom of the market, bottom of the line, Heath Robinson, Gaffer-Taped, Jimmy-Welded, Jerry-Built, No-Susser, Motorised death Boda-Bodas from hell. MK III.
The problem with arriving at a petrol station in the middle of Uganda in the middle of the night is that your choice of transportation is somewhat limited. As
Adam next to the Bugagali falls
This is one of the Grade 5's. Luckily after we had already done the rafting... much as I thoroughly enjoy having my happy sack slapped by an Irate Dwarf (Apologies for being irate dwarfist (and for the mental imagery again Neil!)), I would have preferred a taxi. Oh well at least these have suspension. Sort of. Our problem was we had rucksacks. 4 of them. And there were only two Boda-Bodas.
No worries said the completely sober first rider…I’ll carry your (Marianne’s) bag between me and the handle bars (OK!). Adam and his bags took the second bike - being all "manly" he opted to keep his pack on his back and thus spent the next half hour clinging on for dear life as we bumped along the dirt roads in the dark. For the next half an hour all we could think about was how far away the nearest hospital was. Each low pressured swerve around each potholed corner was an emergency visit to a Knee/Head/Full-body surgeon. Gone Adams days of professional Rigby. Eeerm Rugby. And yet we arrived an Eon later at Nile River Explorers Backpackers (Been there, seen it, done, it, got a bit scared, nearly drowned. Bought the DVD), and even though it was late sorted out a room and
had a game of pool. We booked onto the rafting trip for the next day and collapsed into bed.
For those not aware of Nile River backpacker / rafting setup, these guys have been Kayaking/Rafting the Nile for an Age (about 10-12 years depending on who you listen to. Although there were more Crocs and Hippos then). They have an awesome setup both in Jinja (town) and Bugagali (on the river). Town is a chilled out backpackers type hostel and even if the campsite on the river is a bit Party Hard Overland Truck-tastic for some people, you can't help noticing the stuff these guys do for the local community. The river campsite occupies a great spot overlooking Bujagli Falls on the White Nile, the stretch you raft along.
The guides are very good, the Rafting courtesy of Mother Nature is AWESOME ("Yeah yeah,yeah! We'll be team awesome!" Right.) but could/will soon change courtesy of the Ugandan government and another hydro-electric dam on the river below the existing one(so get there before half the good stuff is gone forever!). There is also a Zip Line, Bungie Jump and Quad Biking nearby for those with adrenaline coming out of
their ears.
The day’s Rafting consists of a 30 KM 5-6 Hr down river sesh along the White Nile, taking in loads of grade 3-5 rapids with some not so optional grade 6'ers on the side. Also some chilled out drifting bits where you can jump in and swim, and some bits with crocs (allegedly) where you can’t. It would seem the grade 6's are for properly tapped psychopaths/highly skilled sportsmen only, as we were to see from the last set of falls. But its all a bit of fun as no one really dies...honest... and all you're going to get is a mild case of Bilharzia from Lake Victoria water and a few grazes so who's really worrying?
The falls all have really cool names like "The G-Spot" (Idly Spitting Adam out of the raft like a Chav disposing of a week old chewy), and the aptly named "Bad Place", which is the finale. Big Girls’ Blouses have the option of chickening out of the Bad Place but we went for it.
The Bad Place funnily enough follows an even badder grade 6 place that not even the guides have Cojones big enough to go down
(So they say, although our guide claimed to have bailed out in time to send a group of pissed Aussies down it on their own).
You get out and carry the boat around the grade 6 at the top of the Bad Place and put it back in at the top of the grade 5 which continues on down to a large pool. Peter our guide dropped us straight into the middle of the standing wave in the middle and the boat surfed it and got bumped around pretty hard for, oh I don't know, about three seconds with a few of us hanging for dear life. It then flipped and slapped those remaining onboard into the water. I have only ever held my breath to the point of thinking I was going to die ages ago when I was surfing and it scared me, the second time was at the Bad Place.
The next eternity was a white, dark, loud, left, right, up, down, washing machine pummeling that didn't seem like it was going to end. The one time it felt like swimming up was actually going to result in my lungs filling with air instead of floundering
around in the bubbles, ended in a lungs-not-working choking gulp immediately faced with another standing wave. I 'm very glad the safety Kayakers on the river are as good as they are because I was extremely glad to see one paddling right next to me when I finally surfaced. Coughing and spluttering and laughing hysterically.
After finally being hauled up the bank, I found Marianne, who also had the same near-death-in-a-washing-machine experience. Awesome!
We bought the DVD to see how bad we got spanked, and it was hard (I'll post it on YouTube if I get a chance).
As if near drowning wasn't enough you are greeted at the top of the hill after hauling your arse out of the water, by a crazy man clad in what is supposed to be some sort of animal skin, but looks more like an old Chamoix leather thats seen too much action and a pair of glaring white y-fronts. He then proceeds to show you his prowess at his interpretation of Kung-fu whilst swigging from a bottle of Nile beer. Class.
After that its as much free beer as you can get your hands on(Go in the back
of the open topped truck) until you get back to the campsite for a barbecue for some much needed. I don't know about you, but I need some serious nourishment when participating in a full day of exhilaration, and a couple of biscuits and a slice of Pineapple at lunch just gives me the shits?
We did have the privelage whilst watching the Kayakers at Bugagali, of witnessing somebody try to kill themselves. The Bugagali swimmers are a bunch of locals who for a relatively paltry sum will chuck themselves down the aforementioned grade 5 rapid with nothing but an air filled billy can tucked under one arm. If they lose their grip they will probably die. All to entertain a group of school children who had just arrived on a bus, thats the kind of teacher we need in schools dammit!
After that we mosied back to the Nile River Base in Jinja and chilled out for a couple of days. Nash the resident MTB freak, generally awesome bloke,and dirty stop-out, rented us a couple of mountain bikes for the afternoon so we could go out Matatu dodging and dust breathing and have a look at the
viewpoint up on a hill near Jinja. We were supposed to also take in the Dam, the Nile Brewery (Which you need to phone ahead to get a guided tour around), and the market in Jinja, but verging on heatstroke and dehydration and having already done a tour of the Charcoal area, the shout-random-abuse-at-the-two-dumb-Mzungus-cycling-around-in-the-midday-heat-with-helmets-on area and the stare-in-bemusement-at-the-dirty-sweating-Mzungus-verbally-abusing-eachother-and-pointingarea,we decided on Pizza and a beer.
The highlight of a trip to Jinja has to be to one of THE places to be. "Babes". It has a pool table, it has cold beer, it has a toilet with no light so that it's far to easy to put your foot in the urinal, and it has copious amounts of women that grab your crotch, or, for a bit of variation, your arse. Marvellous. If you're really lucky you can also be breathed on by the local pisshead who wants to be your best friend, ever. Oh, and his sister/girlfriend/mate/cousin (depending on how many beers he's had) really likes you. She didn't like me though, She wanted Dick. I hadn't met him unfortunately.
It was at Nile River that we met Brian. From Newbury. Who also wanted to climb Mount Elgon.
Oh it's a small world. No, he didn't work for Vodaphone (shock horror) but worked for Newbury town council as a town planner. (Sorry Brian if I've downplayed your plans for world domination!). So after packing away the tent and much rearranging of the packs it was off to the Matatu stand Mbale bound, Elgon here we come!
One thing which we have neglected to mention in previous entries is the African stance on theft. In Kenya, if someone is caught stealing, chances are they will be lynched if they are caught and will probably be killed. So you have to be careful shouting "stop thief!" when someone has just half-inched a pen as the resulting kicking may be a little disproportionately excessive. Here in Uganda they have the same sort of idea which is maybe more effective and not so violent. If the same thing happens here the offender is quickly debagged down to their birthday suit where they stand! Excellent! I think crime rates would drop anywhere if that stance was taken!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.06s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 11; qc: 27; dbt: 0.0355s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
kanash29@yahoo.com
non-member comment
thanks
thanks for mentioning NREso high good job on that, also for mentioning the bike ride and my name is so cool soon will be a star,so nice of will get more business now thanks. goot the link from a friend in australia please explain the frase dirty stop out dont get it, can we change trhat plese thanks nash.