Rafting on the Nile

On Friday, 13 of us headed to Jinja, Uganda to take on the Nile. The Nile has many class 5/class 6 rapids. Usually in other parts of the world people are unable to raft 5/6 rapids successfully because it is often too shallow and too dangerous. The Nile is deep though so flipping onto rocks is not as much of a concern.

Anyway, many of us were still a bit apprehensive so we asked for a 'no flip' boat. Many of the guides will flip boats on purpose for added thrill, but since drowning wasn't really on our agendas, we opted for the 'mild' experience.

We started the trip with some safety training - learning how to get down, what to do if we flip, and how to get back into the boat safely.


Then we were off! Starting the day off with a class 5!

The nice thing about the Nile is that there are calm pools of water between the rapids so we actually spent a lot of time lounging in the raft and swimming where the guide told us it was safe. (the crocodiles also like the calm areas!)

Our guide did a phenomenal job keeping our boat upright. However, I wanted to experience the thrill of flipping one time so I switched to our other group boat for the last rapid. We went over a class 5 and suddenly we were all flying out of the boat. I managed to hold on to the raft for a bit but then the raft ended up bouncing again so I found myself surrounded by waves, taking every opportunity to get a good breath before the next wave took me under. This only lasted about 10 seconds until I was in a calm pool of water and grabbing onto a safety kayak, but of course if felt like much longer. It was scary but definitely one of the most amazing things I have ever done!!

We all made it back safely sans crocodile bites or schistosomiasis (well at least so far!) :)

The next morning we celebrated with a famous Ugandan breakfast...egg, tomato, onions, and avocado wrapped in chapati!! (chapati is similar to indian naan or a thick crepe) YUM


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