Jinja: "Let me guess. We're about to go over a HUGE waterfall."

Who the hell came up with whitewater rafting? Like, "Oh, let's go down this river in an inflatable boat and try to go over these waves?" It's so stupid.

This is what I was thinking after I had rafted about 10 km down the Nile River in one such inflatable boat, about to go into a rapid with two waves, called "Bad Place" and "Other Place" respectively. We had already rafted over a waterfall and had flipped in a separate rapid.

This epic saga began back in Jinja, at Backpackers Hostel. I had met there with the other interns on my program--we were planning to hang out that night and some of us were planning to go rafting on the Nile the next day. We had a couple drinks at this restuarant called Two Friends, which is the poshest place I've seen here. It's actually exactly what you would expect when thinking about what Africa would look like if you base it on movies like Casablanca. There were some tables near the bar, and scattered over a wide space there were big couches and chairs lit by candlelight. On the other side, there were more big tables. It was filled with old white people, and we couldn't figure out why these people would be in central Uganda. I mean, I'm not hating, but unless you happen to be here for work or are an outdoorsman (or woman, Kasepiki does not discriminate), there's really not a whole lot to do here. We eventually concluded that they were petroleum, telecom, or sugar cane tycoons who were here making shady deals. Seriously, the place looked like it could have been the villain's lair in a Bond movie.

Anyway. After Two Friends (may I recommend the Nile Special? If you like crisp beers, you should give it a try) we headed back to the hostel and talked until lateish.

The next morning we got up at 8 to leave for rafting at 9 am. There were six of us--me, Kirk, Mikey, Liz, Robert, and Billy. Becky was supposed to come, but she was really sick that day, so she stayed back. Mikey and Kirk were extremely hungover, to the point of being barely functioning. All in all, an inauspicious start to the morning. We managed to get our gear (helmets and lifejackets required) and hopped on the bus that would take us to our launching point. After 45 minutes of driving through the beautiful Ugandan countryside (it looks kind of like the Smokey Mountains, but with all red dirt), we got down to the water. We blithely got into our raft and sailed away, blissfully unaware of the day ahead. I should probably mention that none of us had ever been whitewater rafting before this.

Alex, our guide, told us what to do if the boat flipped and how to float down the river. Then we got over to the first rapid, called Overtime, and we could have gone over a normal wavey rapid, but Alex steered us OVER A WATERFALL on purpose. Mikey and Liz were in the front of the boat, and I just remember Mikey looking over the bow and going, "Oh SHIT" before we plunged off. We made that one without flipping, but then on the second one, we flipped. Despite my massive arm strength, I couldn't keep a hold on the safety rope, so I was hurled into the rapids.

For about 5 or 10 seconds I was tossed in the waves, barely managing to take little breaths before the next wave would hit me. Then I saw Liz, which was a relief, since Liz is definitely one of the most competent people I've ever met. We got hauled into one of the boats like fish and eventually made it back to our boat. On the next rapid, Kirk and I sang "Tik Tok" on the way in, and we didn't get flipped that time. Coincidence? I think not.

We got onto a stretch of flat water after that, and--my older brother would have loved it--there was this jungle-y island in the middle of the river where bats were swarming. They were like a cloud over said island, which was pretty big. It was like that scene from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom where they see the bats flying overhead and Willie is like "Ooh, big birds!" And Indiana Jones is like, "Those aren't birds...they're bats." It looked just like that. (Alex, I wish you had been there. You would have loved rafting on the Nile. We would have had so much fun.)

Now, back to Bad Place/Other place. There are two main waves--if Bad Place flips you, you aren't supposed to hold onto the boat because Other Place will continue flipping the boat. We, of course, got flipped in Bad Place, but with so many waves, it was hard for me to tell which wave was THE wave. Basically, I managed to hold onto the boat the one time I wasn't supposed to. I was getting pulled with the boat for a little bit, and eventually it came to a relative stop. I was holding my oar and the rope with the same hand, so I tried to get my other hand on the oar so I could let go. That was when I realized that my arm was pinning Liz to the boat by her neck.

"Letgoletgoletgo!!"

I managed to get free so that she could breathe, and two kayakers picked us up, along with Robert, who was in the same general area. We eventually made it back to the boat--all of us were scattered across the flat pool immediately following the rapid. Alex gave us fresh pineapple (chopped right on the boat and very ripe) and Billy managed to skip a few of the peels on the water between rapids.

Before the last rapid, we were on a stretch of flat water and Alex started pushing us all into the water, so I just jumped in. Kirk and I floated in the Nile for a good 20 minutes (staying in the current so we didn't get left behind) while Mikey and Billy did flips off of the bow. That was a fun interlude. Also, I probably have worms from swimming in the Nile, but whatever, there are pills for that.

Fast forward to the last rapid. It's called the Nile Special, and has one big wave called the Club Wave. Alex steered us into the most intense part of it, and promptly jumped ship so that we would be left on our own. A few seconds after we got into the waves, I see Kirk go flying out of the boat (he's about six feet tall, so it was weird to see him just get chucked into the water). Liz was was also thrown out, but I didn't know that until later. Billy then realized that Alex was gone, so he started screaming, "PADDLE PADDLE PADDLE!" in a rather hysteric fashion. I got up to paddle better but a strong wave threw the boat down and threw me into the bottom of the boat. I looked up to see Mikey at the bow, which was mostly submerged, clinging to the safety rope for dear life and gaping back at the rest of us who had managed to stay on board. Suddenly we were out of the waves and I somehow had Billy's legs on either side of me--I'm guessing he got thrown to the bottom too. We kind of looked around for a minute.

"Holy shit! We're alive!"

We picked up Alex, Liz, and Kirk ("How the hell did you guys manage to stay in the boat?") and then got off at another point on the bank, where BBQ and beer were waiting. The guys went straight for the beer; Liz and I went straight for the changing room (none of them had brought dry clothes or sunscreen, for that matter). We ended up going back to Backpackers and regaling (regaling? regaleing?) the other interns with our harrowing tale.

So now I am back in Kakira, and we'll have work tomorrow--we will finalize our project proposal and draw up a work plan so we can start implementation. But hey, I survived the Nile, so hopefully I can implement a successful project, right?