This is also where Mahatma Gandi's ashes were thrown.
Tree of Life?
Beautiful.
The Princess, The Bear & The Bug
The following are actual adventures that have occurred to the Princess, the Bear & the Bug. [Character names were given by each other years previously and no predjudice was used in naming such characters. Except for the Bug....she was too cute]
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
SOURCE OF THE WHITE NILE!
The Source of the Nile was just around the corner from the church.
This is also where Mahatma Gandi's ashes were thrown.
Tree of Life?
Beautiful.
This is also where Mahatma Gandi's ashes were thrown.
Tree of Life?
Beautiful.
RAFTING THE NILE!!!!
We got a later start on the river than I was expecting but eventually we were lazily floating down the river practicing maneuvers that we would need for the rapids with our guide shouting instructions to us. Our guide was a New Zealander in his 20's who is a professional kayak instructor. We had me and Princess, my IU resident friend and his wife, and a family from Australia consisting of a father, brother, and sister. We all got out and tested the water (although we would all be in the water a lot by the end of the day) and practiced flipping the boat. The Nile is in a beautiful canyon and right as we reached a particularly beautiful area near our campsite from the night before, we came to our first class 5 rapid (class 6 is so big that they don't dare take the rafts down them).
We set up to take the rapid down the right side, our guide kept telling us we had good power when we were all paddling so we were all set. As we went into the first rapid, we landed in a big huge hole of water and immediately the raft starts surfing the rapid. The raft keeps surfing just long enough to rotate the raft and put the back end of the raft I was on right into the biggest hole of the rapid and then the rapid spits the boat out of the rapid with enough force to dump me in. This is when I realized what I was in for for the rest of the day.
You see, when you raft most rivers, you might be under for a while and sometimes you get stuck under the boat or hit the bottom of the river. However, when you are rafting the Nile, the water is so deep and the force is so strong that you just get pummeled and the river takes you down for several seconds at a time. It takes you down so fast that you have a hard time getting a good breath before you go under and you usually end up inhaling some water. When you come up, you are desperate for air, but before you can get a good breath, the river will take you down again and again. It feels like you are in the middle of the ocean during a real bad storm with 10-20 foot waves and wondering if you are going to make it or not.
I came up that first time after 30 seconds of wondering what I had gotten myself into, coughing and sputtering from swallowing large amounts of the Nile River. The safety kayaks wait at the bottom of the rapids to collect you and take you back to your raft. One came and got me. I grabbed hold and wrapped my legs around the front so he could maneuver better. The whole time I was trying to get the water out of my lungs and trying to answer the kayaker who was asking if I was alright.
The next rapid was similar in that it was so strong that it dumped my whole side of the boat out (I set the record for most times getting dumped for the day). Again, the rapid takes you under so fast that you can't get a good breath before it takes you under and again you swallow lots of the Nile.
On the third rapid, the rapid was so huge that it dumped everyone out and turned the boat over. Maybe, I was more ready this time because I managed to keep a hold of the boat this time. Princess was right next to me holding on also. When the guide tried flipping the raft right side up, I let go not wanting to be under the raft, but then the rapids immediately swept me underwater and far away from the raft. It took me a long time of swimming and holding onto the kayak to get back to the raft that time.
We then had several periods of still water like lakes where we had to paddle our way across. We stopped for a lunch of biscuits (cookies) and pineapple. Then, we got ready for the most technical rapids of the day. This rapid had a waterfall with a 10 foot vertical fall. We would have to be very carefull to not to flip because the rapids are more shallow and we would not want to go down them without the boat. The first part you have to get a good runnning start, power across the left going slider while staying low in the boat, then get straightened out going into the waterfall on the right of the rapids. As you come to the top of the waterfall, you have the strangest sensation being in the back of the raft as the raft goes vertical and you are literally looking down on everyone else in the boat, then land on your chest on the bottom of the raft as the raft goes horizontal again.
The next rapid was only a class 4 so all of us decided to do it without the boat. Again, you get pummeled so much that you wonder how you are going to make it through. Unfortunately, our fellow resident got pinned against some rocks and cut his finger.
The next rapid was a class 6 and they porter past it to go to the class 5 on the other side. This is the last rapid of the day and it was surely worth the trip all by itself. It is also at the takeout point. Many people decided to skip this part. The rapid has two parts, the "Bad Place" (appropriately named) and a second part. The "Bad Place" is a swell so deep and strong that if you fall out there, you are instructed to not hold on to the raft because the "Bad Place" has a tendency to grab the raft and hold it with such force that the raft doesn't get out for a while. And, if you end up in the water, the "Bad Place" will suck you down with such force that it is better to let it take you down before it spits you back out. We were also instructed that if we fell in that we should swim to the right.
So, as we head towards the "Bad Place", we start paddling with all of our might, but we don't have enough power to get us through it anymore, having had some of our crew get out. Then, as we go into the "Bad Place", we see the biggest strongest hole of a rapid I have ever seen, the "Bad Place" is literally twice as big as the raft with a wall of water on the other side. We proceeded to go straight vertically down into the "Bad Place", then straight up the other side until I am literally looking straight up at the rest of the crew falling down on me. Everything happened so fast that it was all a blur but the next thing I know I am being sucked down and holding my breath for dear life. After being under for what must have been over 10 seconds, I came up briefly and saw my paddle just a few feet to my left and had a brief thought that I should try to grab it, but as soon as the rapid took me under again, I decided I had better make sure I didn't drown first and maybe think about swimming to the right. After about a minute of being pulled under again and again, I came up and was found by one of the kayaks. By this time, I had gone way far down stream from the takeout point. The kayaker took me to our raft, which had been emptied of all passengers. We were so far down stream that only me and two kayakers were down that far. One of them put his kayak into the raft and was paddling upstream. We didn't make much progress until the other kayaker brought me another paddle and I could help get us back. All in all, it took about 15 minutes to get back to the takeout point. The rapids had been so bad that I was just glad to be alive but was also a little worried that Princess had made it alright. Apparently, she had been having similar thoughts about me. She had gotten back to the takeout point pretty quickly and was waiting to hear if anyone had found me. She was told that they had me at one point but it turned out to be someone else. Finally, after 15 minutes of struggling to paddle upstream, Princess saw me coming and even though everyone was insisting that she go up to the buses, she waited and made sure that I saw her before going up.
We have video coverage of all the rapids and also coverage of all the other rafts that day which makes for some really cool action footage. I can't wait to show it to everyone.
We set up to take the rapid down the right side, our guide kept telling us we had good power when we were all paddling so we were all set. As we went into the first rapid, we landed in a big huge hole of water and immediately the raft starts surfing the rapid. The raft keeps surfing just long enough to rotate the raft and put the back end of the raft I was on right into the biggest hole of the rapid and then the rapid spits the boat out of the rapid with enough force to dump me in. This is when I realized what I was in for for the rest of the day.
You see, when you raft most rivers, you might be under for a while and sometimes you get stuck under the boat or hit the bottom of the river. However, when you are rafting the Nile, the water is so deep and the force is so strong that you just get pummeled and the river takes you down for several seconds at a time. It takes you down so fast that you have a hard time getting a good breath before you go under and you usually end up inhaling some water. When you come up, you are desperate for air, but before you can get a good breath, the river will take you down again and again. It feels like you are in the middle of the ocean during a real bad storm with 10-20 foot waves and wondering if you are going to make it or not.
I came up that first time after 30 seconds of wondering what I had gotten myself into, coughing and sputtering from swallowing large amounts of the Nile River. The safety kayaks wait at the bottom of the rapids to collect you and take you back to your raft. One came and got me. I grabbed hold and wrapped my legs around the front so he could maneuver better. The whole time I was trying to get the water out of my lungs and trying to answer the kayaker who was asking if I was alright.
The next rapid was similar in that it was so strong that it dumped my whole side of the boat out (I set the record for most times getting dumped for the day). Again, the rapid takes you under so fast that you can't get a good breath before it takes you under and again you swallow lots of the Nile.
On the third rapid, the rapid was so huge that it dumped everyone out and turned the boat over. Maybe, I was more ready this time because I managed to keep a hold of the boat this time. Princess was right next to me holding on also. When the guide tried flipping the raft right side up, I let go not wanting to be under the raft, but then the rapids immediately swept me underwater and far away from the raft. It took me a long time of swimming and holding onto the kayak to get back to the raft that time.
We then had several periods of still water like lakes where we had to paddle our way across. We stopped for a lunch of biscuits (cookies) and pineapple. Then, we got ready for the most technical rapids of the day. This rapid had a waterfall with a 10 foot vertical fall. We would have to be very carefull to not to flip because the rapids are more shallow and we would not want to go down them without the boat. The first part you have to get a good runnning start, power across the left going slider while staying low in the boat, then get straightened out going into the waterfall on the right of the rapids. As you come to the top of the waterfall, you have the strangest sensation being in the back of the raft as the raft goes vertical and you are literally looking down on everyone else in the boat, then land on your chest on the bottom of the raft as the raft goes horizontal again.
The next rapid was only a class 4 so all of us decided to do it without the boat. Again, you get pummeled so much that you wonder how you are going to make it through. Unfortunately, our fellow resident got pinned against some rocks and cut his finger.
The next rapid was a class 6 and they porter past it to go to the class 5 on the other side. This is the last rapid of the day and it was surely worth the trip all by itself. It is also at the takeout point. Many people decided to skip this part. The rapid has two parts, the "Bad Place" (appropriately named) and a second part. The "Bad Place" is a swell so deep and strong that if you fall out there, you are instructed to not hold on to the raft because the "Bad Place" has a tendency to grab the raft and hold it with such force that the raft doesn't get out for a while. And, if you end up in the water, the "Bad Place" will suck you down with such force that it is better to let it take you down before it spits you back out. We were also instructed that if we fell in that we should swim to the right.
So, as we head towards the "Bad Place", we start paddling with all of our might, but we don't have enough power to get us through it anymore, having had some of our crew get out. Then, as we go into the "Bad Place", we see the biggest strongest hole of a rapid I have ever seen, the "Bad Place" is literally twice as big as the raft with a wall of water on the other side. We proceeded to go straight vertically down into the "Bad Place", then straight up the other side until I am literally looking straight up at the rest of the crew falling down on me. Everything happened so fast that it was all a blur but the next thing I know I am being sucked down and holding my breath for dear life. After being under for what must have been over 10 seconds, I came up briefly and saw my paddle just a few feet to my left and had a brief thought that I should try to grab it, but as soon as the rapid took me under again, I decided I had better make sure I didn't drown first and maybe think about swimming to the right. After about a minute of being pulled under again and again, I came up and was found by one of the kayaks. By this time, I had gone way far down stream from the takeout point. The kayaker took me to our raft, which had been emptied of all passengers. We were so far down stream that only me and two kayakers were down that far. One of them put his kayak into the raft and was paddling upstream. We didn't make much progress until the other kayaker brought me another paddle and I could help get us back. All in all, it took about 15 minutes to get back to the takeout point. The rapids had been so bad that I was just glad to be alive but was also a little worried that Princess had made it alright. Apparently, she had been having similar thoughts about me. She had gotten back to the takeout point pretty quickly and was waiting to hear if anyone had found me. She was told that they had me at one point but it turned out to be someone else. Finally, after 15 minutes of struggling to paddle upstream, Princess saw me coming and even though everyone was insisting that she go up to the buses, she waited and made sure that I saw her before going up.
We have video coverage of all the rapids and also coverage of all the other rafts that day which makes for some really cool action footage. I can't wait to show it to everyone.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)