Whitewater rafting on the Nile and first days in Kampala, Uganda

October 25, 2009

I am glad to be back in Uganda and beginning the “teaching and sharing” part of my sojourn in Africa. Being a tourist and constantly planning my days around how to have fun and find memorable places to visit pales for me after a few weeks. I want a better understanding of the places I am visiting and the experiences of the people who live here. So, spending six weeks in Uganda sharing Nonviolent Communication and mediation tools seems like the perfect opportunity for me.

Note: I am writing this blog after a week in Uganda; it is now October 29. So much has happened it seems like at least 3 weeks! But I do want to tell you about the whitewater rafting trip because it was very special, even though in some ways the experience is not as immediate now as it was 4 days ago. Gosh, I can't believe it was only 4 days!

I arrived at Entebbe airport Thursday night and was picked up by Larry, an employee of TATS (Teach and Tour Sojourners, the agency co-ordinating my visit and teaching). Larry said that the guest house I would be staying at was full that night because of the unexpected change in plans of one of the guests. I would stay at a nearby hotel in Kampala that night and move to the guest house the next day. Sounded OK to me. Well, the “hotel” was definitely a modest one and not well-maintained by my standards, but it had the basics, so I was OK with it. My only concern was the very loud music which seemed to emanate from an establishment extremely close to, perhaps underneath, my room. At the upscale hotel in Rwanda loud music ended at 10:30 pm, so I wasn't too worried. I asked somewhat jokingly if it would go all night and the woman answered, “No, not all night.” I wish that would have been the case. At 3 and 5 am it was still extremely loud; at 8 am when Larry was knocking on my door it was only moderately loud. Oh, brother! What a way to begin. Not what I was expecting for a Thursday night. I was very, very tired the whole next day.

Fortunately, things got better. The guest house that TATS runs to house teachers is quite comfortable and, because I am here at a time when few teachers are (as opposed during during July-August), I am receiving a great deal of personal attention from Larry and the few other staff as far as transporting me to meetings and classes, making arrangements for me to talk with Deans, principals, etc. The downside is that right now I am the only teacher TATS is hosting and it is kind of lonesome, in a way, not having others to talk to about their experiences. Also, because it seems a bit confusing getting around by myself and because he has offered, Larry has been driving me every place and somehow I think this has contributed to my not getting to have one-on-one informal conversations with people. I am talking with him about how I can be more independent. There doesn't seem to be as much concern about personal safety here as there was in South Africa and that gives me more confidence about taking this on. It is also so reassuring that English is so widely spoken and understood here; it is the language of instruction in all schools.

So, on to the the rafting. I saw a brochure for Whitewater rafting on the Nile and a description in the Lonely Planet guide. It sounded a bit more my speed than a 3-hour boat ride on the Nile that Larry proposed for a week-end excursion. My only concern was whether the physical demands might be more than my 64-year old arthritic knees could handle and whether the promised Grade 5 level rapids (6 is the highest grade given) would be unsuitable for a relatively nonproficient rafter. At the registration desk I was given a choice of a Grade 3 level excursion, but I was also assured that the Grade 5 level was suitable for beginners and when I asked if they had ever “lost” a customer, I was told “no.” So, I signed up for the 6-hour excursion and off we went.

It was pretty easy to tell the customers (all white and a few of Asian background) from the staff (all black). What might the natives be thinking of these young (pretty much all under 35) white folks from U.K., Europe, USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Scandinavia, spending the equivalent of 1-2 months income for them on a one-day excursion? Spending a half-year's income on a one-day gorilla tracking permit ($500 from the Ugandan or Rwanda governments)?

We were given an orientation about what to expect for the day and then asked to sort ourselves into groups according to interests – those who wanted to “trash” the river (go down the river in the wildest, most challenging ways), the “conservatives” who wanted more sense of safety, and the “moderates.” I decided to go with the conservatives and wound up in a raft with two 20ish volunteers from UK working with children at a nearby orphanage, two 30-year olds from Canada on an extensive holiday, and a veterinarian from New Zealand. Two of the group were non-swimmers and a bit nervous about that but we were reassured that our vests would bring us to the surface no matter what.

Well, the long and the short of it is, this was THE VERY BEST RAFTING I have ever done. OK, that's not saying a huge amount. I have only been rafting in the Pocono Mountains and in Vancouver, B.C. But the quantity of Grade 4 and 5 rapids, and the challenge of it all, was wonderful. One rapid, known as Overtime, involved going over a 21 foot waterfall. Talk about getting the adrenalin pumping! Trust me – when the guide commanded us to “Get Down and Hang On” I sure as heck did!

Our guide was an amazing man from Zimbabwe with an incredible gift for languages. French, English, Spanish, and a gazillion tribal languages it seemed. He was also wonderfully strong, patient and helpful. I had a lot of trust in his guidance which was certainly helpful. We had to practice how to recover if we dumped and it was a bit more scary being trapped under the raft in the river than I thought it would be. I was glad that we didn't dump on the trip itself. But we were accompanied by a slew of strong young native men who frolicked in the river in their kayaks and were paid to rescue us very quickly if we did dump.

The only hard part was a 100 meter portage through the woods instead of doing the Grade 6 rapids in the river. We had been instructed to leave our sandals in the truck and so we went barefoot. Well, the week before I had had a pedicure in Rwanda with a woman who only spoke Kinyarwandan. To connect, I showed her the photos in my camera, which included those of my present trip to Africa as well as previous trips to India, Thailand and Cambodia, as well as some family pictures. She was intrigued by all of these (she did know a few words of English) and perhaps as a reward she spent 2 hours on my feet, including removing every remnant of a callous that ever existed. So there I was on the rocks and dirt with no protection for my tenderest of tender feet. It was really, really painful.

That plus the final exit climbing some boulders, dirt and rocks up the river bank to the truck. Between the knee problems and the tender feet, I really needed help. My guide lent me his arm and half-way up a young staff person lent me his worn flip-flops. I was SO GRATEFUL! I don't know how I would have done it without the flip-flops, especially. I tipped both of them the equivalent, I am guessing, of several pairs of flip-flops. It was so worth it.

Oh, yes, and the second thing that made the rafting so great was the temperature of the water and the air. I had assumed that Uganda, being on the equator, would be very hot, humid and uncomfortable. I am told that it is pretty hot in January and February, but it is really quite temperate and pleasant now – I would say in the 70s most of the day, sometimes a bit warmer, in the evenings a bit cooler. And the river temperature was also pretty warm. Rafting in Vancouver we had to wear wet suits and were still pretty cold and uncomfortable. And in the Poconos, the only time you get true whitewater rafting is when the Spring snows melt and add to the water flow. You can imagine what it feels like rafting in that water! We were all pretty delighted with the conditions, especially the experienced Canadian rafters who just loved the warmth.