Jinja Rafting and Kampala Christmas

We called Joseph, our new-found personal taxi driver, and he came to pick us up and drive us to Jinja and our lodging there, the Nile Porch, which is located next to the Nile River Explorers rafting center. The Nile Porch is perched on the steep banks of the Nile and has a sweeping view out over small rapids with Bujagali Falls in the distance and beautiful green hills. I was a little worried about what my dad would think of the charmingly rustic thatch roof tents with open bathrooms off to the side, but I think the view won him over.

We took in a striking sunset of a bright pink-orange sun sinking in a clear sky behind darkening hills, and then headed to the lodge’s restaurant, the Black Lantern for dinner. We had incredibly good food—tilapia for my parents and the best pork ribs for me. And we rolled ourselves off to bed again. However, I set my alarm to wake up by 8 to check on whether or not there would be room for my parents and myself on a half day rafting trip. There was in fact, and so we quickly pulled ourselves together and headed over to NRE to board the open-air truck that bounced along the dirt road to the downtown site where we picked up the rafts and our lifejackets and helmets after some breakfast and a briefing.

My mom and I decided to do the half-day rafting while my dad opted to float in the supply boat for a more relaxing experience. My mom and I were in a boat with a very nice Dutch family from Botswana, a father and brother who were visiting the daughter who was about my age who had been in northern Uganda for a few months researching chimps. The five of us, plus our rafting guide, Alex, took off down the Nile from our launch point, crossing over some grade 1 and 2 level rapids while practicing drills of what to do if we flipped the raft in a large rapid—how to approach a rapid and try to hang on to the raft, how to “swim” the rapid safely, and how to get back in the raft. The water was warm enough that it was actually quite nice getting dunked in, aside from the occasional water up the nose, but getting pulled back into the boat by the shoulders of our lifejackets made one feel less than graceful!

My dad floated along quite happily and watched as we got dunked into the water during our drills and then we waved goodbye to him as he was dropped off at our campsite as we approached our first big rapid, a grad 5, Bujagali Falls. We made it down the first part of the falls, and then on the churning water at the second drop we flipped. Everyone managed to hold on, though I gave my mother quite a fright as I made the impulse decision to stay under the air pocket created by the boat. My mom held on though—I was quite impressed! A little shaken, we were all fine and climbed back in, ahem, were dragged back in to the raft. Next we had some fun grad 3 rapids and then a grade 4 and 3 which were no problem.

We got in for a swim at the calmer stretches. It was past midday as we neared our final big rapid—the Silverback, named for the giant gorilla. Alex prepped us on the four waves that make up the Silverback and I tried to steady my nerves. I don’t really recall four distinct rapids, mainly just a moment when I looked up from my crouched position in the raft to see a wall of water coming towards us. But we survived intact in the boat. Success! Then it was time for a some pineapple for a light lunch on the river as we floated along before taking another plunge into the cool waters and floating along in the strong current and small rapids. We

The half-dayers finished up around 1pm and we made our way to the shore and took another bumpy truck ride back to the campsite with refreshments in hand. Reunited with my dad, and some friends from Kampala who had come to Jinja to go rafting the following day, we had some lunch and spent the afternoon relaxing by the pool that had equally spectacular views as our tent. That night we dined at Black Lantern again, and then went over to NRE bar where they were showing the video of our rafting day. Of course there was the token shot of me stuffing my face with pineapple—just me—that was bound to happen! Then I enjoyed some drinks at the bar with my friends who were going rafting the next day and agreed to hike down to the Bujagali Falls to take pictures of them as they passed by.

So after a leisurely breakfast, my parents and I hiked down to the nearby Falls, and took in the crashing water as we waited for their arrival. Three red rafts approached and we watched as they tackled the Falls, as my mom and I had (not so successfully) done the day before! After some more lounging on the veranda at the Nile Porch, Joseph arrived to take us back to Kampala. My parents moved back into the Bourgenviller, and that afternoon my mother and I undertook the unappealing task of organizing my stuff and giving her much of it to take home so that I’d have a lighter load for my coming travels. An Italian Christmas Eve dinner ended another long day (though not before I took my mother to Bubbles for a drink!) and then I was up the next morning to meet up with my parents to go to a restaurant for Christmas brunch with my cousin’s family and friends. It was delicious and fun and then my parents and I returned to the hotel for a relaxing, tropic Christmas afternoon lounging by the pool. We had a nice Turkish dinner (opted out of the traditional Jewish Chinese meal) and then headed to a fancy hotel for some dessert—albeit with some serious special hire issues, which only confirmed our love for Joseph the driver!

The next day my mom and I took more supplies to Meeting Point and then headed over to the Craft Market in town for some serious shopping. When we had 6000 Ush left to our name we had to call it quits and beg a taxi to take us back to the hotel for only that. A few more errands to run (I treated by mom to a police shack viewing when we went to report my stolen cell phone, etc.) and it was time for our last dinner (thank goodness, I hadn’t really felt hunger pangs in days!) and time to say goodbye, which I’m definitely no good at. All in all it was a wonderful trip, they’re wonderful parents, and despite a few “teenage” moments on my part, we had a phenomenal time.