Nile High Club

Last weekend 17 of us from SIT met up in Jinja at the source of the Nile and went white water rafting and BUNGEE JUMPING! It was the most adrenaline-filled day of my life, and I have never been on such a natural high!

The day started for me, Eileen and Sam in Kapchorwa at 1:45 am (after a night of no sleep) when we had to get up to catch the 2 am taxi to Jinja. To our surprise, though we had warned the hostel staff of our early morning departure, we were locked into the hostel. We knew the taxi would leave without us if we didn’t get out in front on time, so we frantically snuck into the bar part of the hostel and hopped over the bar to see if we could open it another way. No luck. Then, we realized the back of the hostel had a garden with a fence. We hopped the fence and sprinted the long way around, just in time to catch the van pulling up in front. For the entire time we’ve stayed in Kapchorwa, Sam and I have woken up at about that time every night to a taxi honking its horn for about 15 minutes. We finally were able to experience the other side of that when we drove around Kapchorwa to all the passengers’ homes and honked outside their house until they came out. Not a fun way to wake up.

The ride to Jinja took about 5 hours and there were still stars out the entire ride as we tried to sleep. When we got there, it was still dark and we didn’t have much of an idea where to get dropped off. We guessed “Jinja center” would get us somewhere. Once we were dropped off, at a random gas station, we asked a few boda drivers if they could take us to the “rafting place”. Unfortunately, our friend in Kampala was the one who had organized the whole thing, and we had very little idea of where to go. For a lot of shillings, the boda drivers took us to A rafting place, which of course, since it was 5 am, was locked and closed. Stranded on a dirt road in the dark in Jinja, we decided we’d find a hotel to have breakfast at until the rest of our group got there around 8. After a few failed attempts at finding a hotel (one of which included being chased out of someone’s home by 6 dogs and a man with a gun) we found the nicest hotel I’ve ever seen… in Uganda. We ordered breakfast and drank about 4 cups of coffee each. We were a giggly, overtired, over-caffinated mess by the end, and so ready for our Nile adventures. We found out from the hotel staff that our rafting place was different from the one we had been at earlier, so they helped us get bodas to the right place.

When we met up with the rest of the group, who we hadn’t seen for a few weeks, we realized just how much our social skills had plummeted from being in rural Uganda. It also probably didn’t help that we hadn’t slept and were shaking from drinking so much coffee. We all got suited up for rafting and hopped on the raft!

I’ve been white water rafting before, but it was in Maine and the rapids were much less intense. Our guide was great and taught us how to handle all the different rapids as we drifted down the Nile. The first set we went through were class 5, and we flipped over! When the water was calm, we were allowed to swim by the boat, which was nice. The water was so warm! I asked about crocodiles, and our guide said not worry, they’re vegetarians in Uganda. Yeah… okay.

After rafting, they provided us with a huge Mexican lunch. It was delicious, mostly because it was something different and because we were so hungry after white water rafting. It’s a workout! Then we headed back on the bus to the base camp where a bunch of us were going to bungee jump.

Bungee jumping was the best part! There was a tower next to the base camp that reached out over the water. I wasn’t that nervous until I started climbing the stairs to the tower, but I knew I wouldn’t chicken out. I was the first to go out of our whole group. I put on a harness and then sat in a chair on the end of the tower, where a guy strapped my feet together and tried to distract me by talking about where I was from or something. I had to hop to the edge and hold the roof with my hands. The scariest part was right before I jumped because I looked down and realized that I’d be free falling all the way down. So, I looked up at the sky and then he counted to three and I jumped.

We were told to jump out with our arms spread. You could go feet first or head first. I decided to go head first J The initial fall was the best part! It was probably a 4 or 5 second free fall and it was the coolest feeling ever! Completely free! I fell until I almost hit the water and then the bungee pulled me back up. My body was twisted and jerked around, but I was so limp that it didn’t even matter. The whole thing took about 4 minutes, and then I was caught and brought back to land by a raft below. As soon as it was over, all I wanted to do was go again. Unfortunately, my funds would not allow this, but I am already looking forward to the next time I get to go bungee jumping.

The last week of my practicum flew by. Joseph had a lot for me to do at KACOFA including helping the UN WFP (World Food Program) loan 200 tons of maize into trucks. Don’t worry, I wasn’t the one lifting. I got to tally the number of bags as the lifters loaded the four monster trucks. On Tuesday, Joseph brought me to his house to meet his wife and three adorable daughters. I was very impressed with their beautiful home up on the hill. It’s so high up that we could actually see KACOFA from their back porch. They made me a huge meal and chai and gave me a tour of the neighborhood.

One of the greatest parts about being in Uganda is the connections I have made. The people are so incredibly warm and hospitable. Joseph’s wife told me next time I come to Uganda, I must stay with them. The cool thing is they’re not the first family to offer that to me! I am constantly giving people my email address and phone number (though my number here will not work in America). I have real intentions of coming back here someday, but I do have a hard time answering when people ask me when I’m coming back. I wish I could tell them “next year” or some definite answer, but I can’t. Joseph told me he wants his girls to keep in touch with me so they’ll continue to be motivated in school enough to hopefully study in America for university.

I am now back in Kampala. Life has instantly picked up speed just from being in the city again, but it’s nice to be in a more civilized area again. It was sad saying bye to my friends at KACOFA and in Kapchorwa, but it is also nice to be back and surrounded by familiar faces in Kampala.

I have attached a bunch of pictures from the past few weeks below. Videos to come…