The rafting trip

Near the end of our trip in Africa we went to a town called Jinja in Uganda. This is another self proclaimed "Action and Adventure Capital" of Africa, the third such type of place we visited. During the trip, I ignored most of these places but thought the time was right to try one of these activities. There was a rafting trip on the White Nile which promised level 5 rapids. This is the highest level of difficulty rafting trips go on. Anything above that is not navigable.

On a cloudy but not rainy day we ventured to our drop off point and proceeded to get trained on how to fall out of the boat, how to get back in and what to do if the raft turns over. Our guide was a slightly insane Australian who has guided rafting trips all over the world and his stated goal was to make this trip as exciting as possible. His way to do this was to lead us over a 15 foot high waterfall and through many rough water areas. Our boat did flip 4x during the trip and thanks to the preparation, we were able to make adjustments and get back into the raft (after being violently tossed and trying to drink much of the Nile).

I guess I would say that while I was confident in the safety gear and the three trail boats who would help anyone who fell out of the boat, you're not normal if you didn't feel some fear as we headed into some rough areas sideways with little doubt we were going to be violently tossed from our boat.

This photo essay follows our trip...











Remember the Ali- fRazier fight quote from many years ago?

Down goes Frazier; well, down we go...