Uganda

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Uganda Travel Log Part 2.

Ok, so now it's Saturday, and we're staying at he Jinja Nile resort. It's lovely. Our room is set slightly back from the Nile but we're still only around 100 metres away from the shore.

Yesterday we hooked up with a group of 3 others, and a guide and went white water rafting on the Nile itself. First we were shown how to get in the boat in case we fell out, and next we were shown how to turn over the boat if it flipped. It was a good job, as we flipped twice and Tom fell out of the boat on 12 of the 14 rapids.

White water rapids, it seems, are graded from 1 (hardly more than moving water) to 6 (completely untraversable). Once someone has successfully navigated a grade 6 rapid, it is reclassified as a grade 5.

The final rapid we crossed was part of a monster grade 6 named Itunga (The bad place). We pulled up just before reaching it, and some locals pulled out the boat for us and moved it towards the end of the rapid to a place, which was then technically a grade 5. Our guide instilled us with confidence by saying, "This bit is purely optional, but the boat will flip."

Heading her advice, we all jumped back into the boat and paddled furiously towards the center of the rapid. When we got there, we managed about 4 seconds of surfing the massive waves before being cart wheeled out of the raft, and tumbling around and down through the remainder of the water.

It must be said at this point that it is extremely unlikely, having seen what we'd have to do that we.d have gone through with it if we weren't a completely insane bunch. Before rafting we were given the option of a 40 metre bungee jump over the Nile itself. One girl accepted immediately, followed by two others, and Katie and Tom, not to be outdone, followed suit.

"Just look straight ahead," the guy said. "If you look down, you'll realise what a really stupid thing you're doing - throwing yourself off a tower, 40 metres off the top of the Nile, with nothing but a rubber band tied to your feet. Ok, now you're going to touch the water, but this is not an exact science, so you might get a bit wet. Ready?"
"No, not really."
"Ok, 3..... 2...... 1..... GO!"

Panic set in, and rather than jumping up and forward, I fell forward into a swan dive. Rather than touching the water as I was expecting, I found myself headfirst into the Nile up to my knees! The adrenaline was massive, but nothing compared with the head rush following "The Bad Place".