Day 5: Rafting & Boozing

The Rafting...

Today I faced one of my fears; White Water Rafting. When this trip to Uganda was being planned, I swore that I was not going to get on the raft due to the fact I was totally and incomprehensibly terrified. I used to love being in the river and in the sea, then, all of a sudden I became afraid of the water; of the currents I guess and how powerful it is was. I think it might have something to do with the Tsunami. I wasn’t directly affected by it; I was at the Kenyan coast when it hit but I gained this huge amount of respect for the water and how much damage it can inflict. A couple of weeks ago, my friend in Australia posted something that inspired me. She said that life is about conquering your fears and for the rest of this year, she would tackle something that she was afraid of. When I read her posting, I booked myself for the rafting.

I was nervous when we got onto the red truck that was taking us to the ‘base camp’ where they would brief us, give us a light breakfast and sort us out with helmets and life jackets. I was trying my hardest to think of all the positive things that people have said about rafting.

Ian arrived on the shuttle from Entebbe only a few minutes after us. He was bubbling with excitement, ready to capture all of our faces on his go-pro (which he attached to his helmet). Mum and I were quiet, nervous and unsure. My brother was in his element, and very excited to get in the water. Finally, the time had come and we made our way on the truck to the entry point. There was a guy sitting in front of me on the bus who I had briefly spoken to at the base camp. He was intending on river boarding down the Nile- mad if you asked me (although he loves it!). He was calm and collected and I’m sure bursting with excitement. We reached the spot. I think I had a minor heart attack.

On the banks of the river, the guides were explaining to us the rules and what we must do. As I was sat listening to him, I felt like I was turning pale and I had that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I was terrified. I was questioning my own sanity and why I would want to do something that scared me so much.  It was time to get into our rafts.

The instructor on our raft was showing us how we must paddle, what we must do when we approach a rapid and explaining to us what we must do if we flip. He asked if we wanted to do trial flip, but mum was adamant that she didn’t want to get wet.We started paddling, and as I heard the rapid I panicked. I looked to the shore and wondered if they would take me back. I didn’t say anything, but my family saw the terror in my face. I was focusing on my breathing and going over in my mind what I needed to do. I could see the rapid. “Forward paddle... hard forward paddle... get down” our guide shouted as we went over the drop of the first rapid.

I closed my eyes; I didn’t want to see the rushing water. I could feel my foot slip under the seat and hit something as we landed. My heart was in my mouth. We made it- one down! Once we were out of the rapid and back on the calm water, I looked down. My foot was blue and turning black. The instant bruise was incredible. At that point I couldn’t feel anything, my adrenaline was pumping and I was in shock. Of course it would be me that would get hurt!! As I calmed down, it started to throb and amazingly the colour started to disappear. We then approached the next rapid. It was fine, no drops, and again I had my eyes closed! I then received injury number two and sliced the side of my baby toe open.  What else can happen? We had two more rapids to go before we called it a day. As we neared rapid 3, our guide asked us what level of difficulty we would prefer. Mum and I shouted "easy" but we were outvoted. Medium it was, with a 50-50 chance of tipping. 

Eyes tightly closed, crouched down in the raft as we hit the rapid, and the next minute I am in the water gasping for air. I didn’t see us flip, I don’t even remember it happening; one moment I was in the raft, the next minute I was in the water.  It all happened so quickly, and I know that I bumped into someone.  As I came up for air, coughing and spluttering, I felt the back of my lifejacket tug. I had a moment of panic as I thought I was caught on a rock and being pulled down, until I heard my name. It was the guide who had grabbed me and was pulling me back to the raft.  Once back on the raft and out of the water I breathed a sigh of relief. I had survived the flip. One more to go. The last was a level 6; therefore we had to get onto to the shore and walk around it, and only join up the last section of it (thankfully!). The river boarder wanted to go down it, but he too was made to walk around. I cannot describe to you the relief I felt as we completed the last one, and made our way out. The whole experience was not as bad as I had imagined it to be, I was glad to have faced and survived one of my fears, but I don’t think I will be going down any rapids any time soon!

                                            * Photos courtesy of Nile River Explorers*

Booze Cruise...

This is exactly what it sounds like and it was bloody amazing.  We had paid for ½ day rafting and the cruise, so once on board it was an open bar. We all decided to make the most of this and began with our gins and bitter lemons immediately. There were some lovely people on there; the group of Aussies from the overlander truck, a couple from America/ China and a couple from Cape Town (the boyfriend went to Stellenbosch and stayed in Academia, and the girlfriend was studying at UCT).  Music was playing, snacks were provided, and the company was great. The cruise was about 2 hours long and by the time we got back we were all pretty sloshed! More drinking and sambuka shots followed suit. It was a great fun evening, but due to my total intoxication I missed the Brazil-Germany game (but with the total walkover it was probably for the best!).