Source of the Nile

After the conference, Doug, James and I hit the rapids at the Source of the Nile near the town of Jinja with guides from Adrift Adventures. I’ve wanted to do some white water rafting in Africa, but the horror stories from the Zambezi (Zambia/Zimbabwe) were off-putting. Adrift and the Nile, however, have an established reputation for safety. Then again, these types of activities are often marketed as “wild, but safe” regardless of their actual injury/fatality statistics. However, feedback from colleagues who rafted a few weeks back was reassurance enough.

I think signing the non-indemnity form before doing these types of things is the most gut-wrenching part. You think, “Oh shit! What am I doing?” There’s no assurances of “wild, but safe” on the non-indemnity from—just a reminder that you can’t sue if you shatter your pelvis or dislocate your shoulder.

Once we loaded the boat, however, I forgot about clauses of non-liability and just enjoyed the ride. Our guide was a Kiwi with significant commercial experience, but had been on the Nile for only two weeks. His local inexperience showed when we missed the four meter high waterfall that we were supposed to go over and instead parked on rocks on an adjacent, narrow through way. With an assist from the camera man, we managed to free the boat and shoot the narrow spill without any problems.

Other than that, things seemed to be under control. A few flips here and a thrown paddler there—all in a days work. I ate it pretty hard though on the last rapid (see the pic of everyone’s feet). I think I was flipped off in the opposite direction of everyone else and got sucked through the rapid a couple of times before being flushed out in the middle of the fast part of river. Everyone else went under once or twice, came up, and doggy paddled to shore in calm waters. I had to wait for one of the kayakers to come pull me back from way down the river.

Pics: I’m the guy in the red t-shirt, yellow helmet, and blue shorts.