Moses Could Part the Red Sea with His Abs

9/16/09: Nile River, Uganda

There have been days where I’ve woken up and thought, “Today’s going to be a really good day – a new episode of Survivor is on!”

Don’t get me wrong – those are really good days. This morning though, I woke up to the thought, “Today I’m going to white water raft the Nile.” And then I realized I’m not in Kansas anymore.

Our rafting expedition was hosted by Nile River Explorers (NRE). From what we had heard, they were one of the best on the river. On this particular day, there were three boats of six or seven people each. In addition, NRE always sends one safety boat and about four safety kayakers down the river.

Safety boat: A guy named Moses sits by himself atop a chair built into the eight-person raft. Moses is perhaps the most physically fit person I have laid eyes on. Think Terrell Owens, but smaller, quieter and with more muscles. I doubt he even works out away from work. Each day he takes this gigantic raft 20 miles down the river using two giant paddles that are attached to the boat. In comparison, I got tired doing one eighth of the work that he did (given the seven others in my boat helping me out).

The reason it is called the safety boat is because if you ride in this boat, you will be safe from the rapids. You don’t go around them – Moses takes you right through them just like the rest of the boats, but he doesn’t tip. Rumor has it that he lives up to his name and parts the rapid before going through it. Another rumor has it that he’s never flipped a boat with passengers in it.

Safety kayaks: Several kayakers go down the river ahead of the passenger rafts, then wait after each rapid to help any people who have fallen from their boat or lost their paddles or both. A couple of the NRE kayakers returned from the world championships in Sweden a week ago, and you could tell. They handled class 5 and 6 rapids as if they were in the kiddie pool.

Rapids: Outside of America, rapids are ranked on a scale of 1-6 (we’ve heard Americans rank their rapids from 1-10). A class 1 rapid could perhaps be the ripples created from a duck swimming by. A class 6 rapid is a miniature version of Niagara Falls – tour rafts are not allowed to go over class 6 rapids for safety reasons. Class 7 rapids are suicide, so they don’t exist.

Our trip: After a light breakfast (Side note: I had an egg with three yolks in it! Three full yolks! But I didn’t have my camera with me so I couldn’t take a picture… (Side side note: I do not count a three-yolked egg as a new food, even though I’ve never had one)), we drove to our launching point and met our guides. I bet you didn’t remember how that last sentence began by the time you got to the end.

This particular 20-mile section of the Nile is set up perfectly for touristy rafters, as the first five miles are calm waters that set up nicely for lessons and practice flips, etc. Then spread out over the next 15 miles are the six big rapids. Remember Bujagali Falls from a two posts ago? That was the first and easiest class 5 of the day.

The actual details of the experience are quite dull, even though the experience itself was quite… not dull. Our raft only flipped once, and Zhou and I were the only two who survived the flip still hanging onto the raft. When we were done, we went back to the campsite and had a barbeque.

One detail worth mentioning though is that they are building a dam that will block the river where one of the big rapids is now. It’s sad to see that the river is losing its naturalness, but the Nile is definitely a good source of untapped power, so I suppose I understand the project. It’s supposed to be completed in a couple years, so soon you won’t be able to experience the river as we did today. Go now!

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Scrabble Picture: Even though we haven’t yet played a game of Scrabble, we still know how to spell. With any luck, pictures like these will be a running theme of ours.

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Picture of the Day: This may be the worst picture of the day yet, but please enjoy this particularly spectacular shot of our campsite in Jinja where we spent three nights.

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It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! No, It’s a Bird!

9/15/09: Jinja, Uganda

I think I speak for everyone who was there when I say I have a new hero.

We had paid our 3,000 Uganda Shillings ($1.50) apiece to hike down to the first class 5 rapid that we will raft over tomorrow on the Nile. After a short trek from our campsite, we arrived at Bujagali Falls.

It’s a bit hard to tell from this picture, but this rapid is a mammoth. Trust me, it would make even Chuck Norris cry if he saw it. I think it once swallowed a blue whale. The guy next to me wet himself in sheer terror.

The rapid consists of two different harrowing sections about 15 feet apart from each other. There were about five of us standing around screaming when we noticed a long-necked bird near the top of the first rapid dive under to catch a fish. Seemed pretty daring so close to the rapid. When the bird came up with its back downstream it quickly drifted toward the upper monstrosity. In a split second, the bird was gone, swallowed by the rapid, never to be seen again.

Then we saw it again, head up, looking forward after the final whitecap of the top tier. If birds could talk, this one would have been in stunned silence. But there must have been a really pretty girl bird ashore, as he rode the current into the bottom, even more terrifying rapid. Whoosh – he was gone again.

Five seconds later he popped his head out, having slain the aqueous dragon. He floated to the next rock and climbed aboard for a rest.

Then a hunter shot him. (Ok, not really. Bad joke? Sorry.)

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Scrabble Picture: Zhou, in her wordgear shirt, standing in front of the Nile (of course in Color Accent mode)

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Pictures of the Day: The snap of the shudder is like the Siren song to Ugandan village children, as they flock from miles around to join the fun.

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Catching a Moment as it Flies By

9/15/09: Jinja, Uganda

There are lots of things that go on each day that I want to write about but don’t, like:

• when I accidentally stepped on a flamingo skull at Lake Nakuru
• how Kevin decided he should be in charge of all of our important documents because I tend to lose things and then I tested him by stealing our passports from his bag in the airport at Nairobi but he didn’t notice
• how interesting it is to talk to people from other countries about what they do and what their lives are like and how they have a three-legged cat named Bosco
• how I love when the little kids wave to us when we’re riding on the truck and then break into these huge, delicious grins when we wave back

In 8^th grade, my civics teacher (Mr. Dale) once told us that the goal of life is to catch each moment as it passes. “There goes one right now. And another!” he said. For some reason, that really stuck with me. And I think that on this trip, I’m learning more and more how to catch each moment and savor it. I feel like a squirrel hoarding nuts for winter, except I’m hoarding memories for later.

…

Anyway, this morning we went to an AIDS orphanage, which was a pretty cool experience. The kids were really excited to see us (especially Kevin, whom they regarded as their own personal jungle gym) and as soon as we came into the gate, they swarmed us, grabbing our hands and dragging us out onto the playground. So I wish I could say that this was a life-changing experience and really opened my eyes and made me want to be a better person, but I think that would be a huge exaggeration. I had a lot of fun, yes, but going to the orphanage didn’t want to make me come back out to Uganda and spend the rest of my life volunteering. But what really did stick with me was one moment in particular. When we were leaving, the kids were getting their breakfasts in these little lunch pails. And as I walked out of the gate, this little girl, maybe all of four years old, took her slice of bread out of her pail, pulled off a piece and offered it to me. She. Offered her breakfast. To me. It’s one of those things that really hits you hard and totally unexpectedly. And that’s the moment I’ll remember from today.

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Puzzles for Postcards

“Against The Big Game It Wouldn’t Be Fair At All” Anagram:
In a Fair Fracas

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Picture of the Day: Two of the kids join in our volunteer work

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We Must Be Here, Or We’re In Denial

9/14/09: Jinja, Uganda

Zhou and I have a long trip ahead of us, so we are closely monitoring what we spend. When the opportunity was brought up a couple days ago for us to join some of our group in white water rafting the Nile for $125 per person, we politely declined.

Today we reached the source of the Nile.

Here at our campsite in Jinja, the river sits in a valley surrounded by lush green forests. It’s much wider than I would have imagined, and I don’t know if it’s the body of water itself or the mystique of being at the Nile, but it has left me in awe each time I have peered at it from the edge of our campsite.

The Nile and its surrounding environment exemplify how much greener and wetter Uganda is than Kenya. Almost as soon as we crossed the border today, the landscape turned green, and the skies turned dark and ominous. Before we arrived at our destination in Jinja, they opened up, leaving a muddy, buggy, nasty campground to greet us.

As stereotypically “safari” as our first night in Lake Nakuru National Park was – the wide open campground under the starry sky, the threat of large, carnivorous animals – tonight will be our first real uncomfortable camping experience. It looks like it is going to rain again, so we will be trapped in our little tent. Geckos line the walls of the toilets, and there are bugs and spiders everywhere. It’s a far cry from our nice bed and air conditioning just less than a week ago.

But the beauty of our surrounding environment, the grandeur of the nearby river and even the thought of the monkeys we’ve seen playing in the trees make tonight one I can’t wait to experience.

And weather-permitting, in two days Zhou and I will be white water rafting down the longest river in the world.

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Picture of the Day: In Jinja, Jenga is a real man’s sport. Look at the sweet tower we have going here.

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