The Nile Story

(Be warned: this is mainly for our record and we completely understand that you will probably get bored and stop reading.)

The adventure began at 4:30am as we left Kigali. We boarded a “charter” bus for Uganda, not realizing that 1) we would spend the next 14 hours on it and 2) it was probably the most dangerous portion of our journey. Rwanda is such a small country that traveling 3 hours from Kigali in any direction brings you to the border of another. You have to file paperwork to leave Rwanda and to enter the next country, a process that still befuddles me. I lived up to my reputation of champion sleeper and was able to snooze my way through the long ride.  The “bathrooms” along the way left much to be desired; namely, a toilet, a stall, toilet paper. There was also sometimes a fee for the experience which we would have preferred not to pay. We finally made it to Jinja, and thanks to our excellent friends, who navigated our way in the dark to the hostel we were staying at.

The hostel is run by Nile River Explorers and we had a great experience with them: hot water, water pressure, towels, decent food, reasonable prices. The day we went rafting, we didn’t have to pay for our stay and were provided 3 meals.

The rafting experience was great. We had a short training on how to fall, how to get back into the boat, and how to paddle before embarking on the rest of the river. The only downside was that we weren’t placed in the boat with the other 7 teachers, but there were only 2 boats and so we were able to watch their adventures.

All day long, we were just stunned by the beauty of the Nile. There were lush green hills surrounding it, the water was clear and pleasant. We saw a monitor lizard, even though our guide said it was a baby crocodile, and I was the lucky one who saw a monkey in the tree. We laughed all day at the people who surprised us jumping off rocks as they were bathing in the river since we didn’t see them until they catapulted off the side. We ate lunch on the boat, floating peacefully, eating delicious pineapple and glucose crackers with a sad faced little girl on them. We never quite figured out why that picture was used.

We’re going to try something new here.  This is Levi writing now.  If you see italics, it’s Levi writing, if it’s normal font, it’s Erin.  We’ll see how that works out.

As for the rafting, we were also were surprised to see thousands of pine trees along the river.  Thousands of pine trees, for quite a few kilometers along the east side of the river.  Lasted for maybe 5 kilometers or so.  Being a bit taken back by the pine trees (I suppose you wouldn’t think a pine tree would be shocking, but after a few months in Rwanda you‘d be surprised), we asked our guide what the story was.  He told us that there had previously been “fishers” there, folks that had done their fishing by using dynamite.  Bad for the Nile.  So, the government came in, planted acres of pine trees, and told the fishermen that they were now Christmas tree farmers.  And so they are.

Like we mentioned in the early post, there were 12 rapids over 18.6 miles and four of them were Class V. It was pretty amazing to look back at the rapids we just finished. We only fell out 3 of the 12 times, which wasn’t so bad, and felt a deep sense of accomplishment when we didn’t. There was always a moment of trepidation as we were coasting along and then heard the rapids as we prepared our strategy. We were followed the whole way by expert kayakers who were there to rescue us whenever we fell. There was also a medic raft, complete with a platform, that we thankfully never needed for anything other than our bag of sunscreen. The kayakers took the Class VI rapid we had to walk around and they were amazing. There was a big group of people along the river who were watching them. We have a copy of the time on DVD, but haven’t seen it yet. It was definitely an amazing experience that we will always remember.

We ended the day with a fantastic barbecue and a spectacular view before heading back to the hostel for much needed relaxation. The next day we walked the town of Jinja and even treated ourselves to some delicious ice cream. We saw Lake Victoria and it was also great just to see parts of the country of Uganda. Jinja is supposed to be the adventure capital of Africa and judging from the activities advertised it seems to live up to it: rafting, kayaking, horseback riding, bungee jumping over the Nile. It is also supposed to be source of the Nile, so that makes us feel important. :)

We arrived at the bus station at 11:30pm, as directed, and were told that the bus would most likely arrive between 1am and 2am. It actually was pretty nice as we sat under the stars and played games and chatted together. It was just the 9 of us at the station and the company worker provided chairs for us. We were so thankful the way that the travel details worked out because we sat at the Jinja station for two hours instead of at the Kampala station for two hours. Kampala made us appreciate the cleanliness and order of Kigali we didn’t even know we should be thankful for. The bus finally arrived at 1:45am, and we rejoiced that there were, in fact, the 9 seats reserved for us, relatively together.

When crossing the border leaving from Uganda, we all got off the bus, did our paperwork, and walked the ¼ kilometer back into Rwanda.  That in itself was interesting.  Once we had done all this though, and were ready to get back on the bus, the bus employees started taking everyone’s bags off the bus.  This had not happened on our way into Uganda.  While we were guessing why they were doing this (perhaps to get us all into our assigned seats?  Ha ha ha…), the employees started opening peoples’ suitcases and bags.  We still didn’t know what was going on until they caught someone with the dreaded contraband – PLASTIC BAGS!  So, a few folks got yelled at, got their bags (the plastic ones) taken away, and we boarded the bus, only a couple hours more until we were home.

We made it to Kigali in the early afternoon and enjoyed some rest before the usual routine of school began again.

If you want to see photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2601770&id=2513425&l=d57f278fe5.  It doesn't matter if you're not on facebook.