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Published: November 2nd 2009
yes mom and dad, i went to Uganda this weekend. =) and i'm now back in kenya safe and sound!
but seriously, this weekend was probably one of the coolest things i've ever done. i went white water rafting on the Nile! i can't even begin to describe how amazing it was. first of all, we were in Jinja, Uganda and it was soo beautiful! ...huge hills, so much green, trees and flowers! we went through this company called the nile river explorers and there were quite a few people going rafting on saturday and also lots of kayakers . we broke up into different groups for the rafts and the guide for our raft was Henry. we entered the river and first had some lessons about rafting. i've only been rafting once before so this was a good thing. Henry taught us how to float on our backs with our feet first, how to paddle, and how to flip the boat back over 'when' it flips. We went through our training and were ready for the rapids!
we would be going about 30 kilometers in all and there were four class 5 rapids, which are the hardest, and several class 1-4s between those. i was sooo nervous coming up on the 1st class 5 i thought i would pee my pants! it was such an adrenaline rush! henry was screaming out orders (left side forward! right side back! get down!) while waves were crashing from every direction! it was so awesome! and we made it through with only one casualty fall out and we didn't flip =) the second class 5 i will still very nervous but i made myself watch and keep my eyes open more. it made it even cooler to really pay attention to what was happening. and we didn't flip again. after the second class 5 there was several km of calm so one of the rafts with workers brought us lunch to our raft which consisted of 1/4 of a pineapple and glucose crackers. it was yummy. =)
during this down time I was mesmerized by the sights! people were washing themselves on the banks, all sorts of MONKEYS jumping from tree to tree, beautiful birds, flowers, trees... on either side of the river the hills went so high. it was overwhelming to comprehend how God could create something so beautiful. =)
we got ready for our 3rd class 5 rapid and henry was prepping us quite a bit for this one. we were getting closer and i could hear it but i couldn't see it! i knew this was bad. we got through the top of it and then briefly got stuck on a rock with our raft turned around backwards. i turned my head and saw a huge drop! henry made a not very nice comment about being scared which made me even worse! but our raft finally got off the rock and down we went. we got to the bottom and didn't flip again! when i looked back at what we had just gone through i couldn't believe it. i was like a legit waterfall. such a cool feeling.
and we finally came to the last one. we actually had to get out of the river and walk around at the beginning of the rapid because it was considered class 6. the class 5 part started halfway through the rapid and that's where we would get back in. this was an 'optional rapid.' i could see why. i think it should have been considered 5 1/2. but of course my group chose to do it and it was so worth it. i don't think it was possible to make it through without flipping or everyone falling out. we were all slammed with water and the raft quickly went upside down. i lost my paddle and i just kept telling myself 'concentrate on breathing!' =) my reliable life jacket helped me keep going through the rapids and i was finally rescued by one of the workers on a kayak. =) such an amazing experience and wish i could go back and do it again!
that night we stayed a place run by the same nile river explorer organization. they had a barbecue for us and there were even hot showers! the place was at the top of a huge hill overlooking the nile. the sunset was gorgeous. the hostel was full of backpackers so it made for a nice halloween party. =)
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Natalie
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WOW!
WOW Jenny! Your postings sound like something out of a movie! I cannot believe how many awesome experiences you are having day after day after day! I am SO happy for you! I'm not going to lie, your story about white water rafting sounds pretty dang scary, but so exciting at the same time. And what a fun way to spend Halloween! That is a halloween that will be hard to top, that's for sure! Jake and I dressed up as bikers with tattaoo sleeves on both arms and on our upper bodies. We looked pretty hard. Haha! I'll send you pictures. Ok, I better get to work now. Keep on blogging! :) I hope you're doing well and I miss you and be safe! Love you dear!