The internet has been down here for a few days so I have not been able to post sooner. Since my last post we have run all of the main rapids on the river. On Saturday we paddled from the bottom of Kalagala Falls down to Nile Special. Paul made it as far as a rapid called Vengeance before dislocating his shoulder and having to get off the river. On Sunday we paddled from the campsite down to Itunda (only to look at it – not paddle it!). Since then we have been running just the section down to Silverback from the campsite. On Monday we managed two runs down, running Bladerunner (one of the backchannels) on the second run. On Tuesday we experienced Boda-Boda’s for the first time when we took a trip into Jinja. On the way back we stopped off to see the Source of the Nile. In the afternoon we took run down to Silverback, in the rain, which made our first experience of transporting kayaks on the back of a Boda-Boda that little bit more interesting. The wet clay mud roads had about as much grip as an ice rink as Martyn found out when his Boda ended up spinning out on a corner and he ended up in the mud. Everyone made it back to camp safely in the end though. Tuesday night turned out to be quite a big one in the bar after someone suggested that we get out a pack of cards and play Ring-of-fire. Lots of drinking ensued and the dancing went well on into the (not so) early hours. This meant that we all enjoyed a late start on Wednesday – well, until it seemed that the workers on the campsite found all the machinary they could and started using it outside our dorm window. At about lunchtime we managed another run down to Silverback. This time the Boda ride back was much more sensible as the roads were now dry. The original intention was to do another run later on in the afternoon but this quickly went out of the window once we had all fallen asleep in the bar, vowing to stay off the beer for the evening!
This morning we have managed another run, starting with the Hump, down to Silverback – a rapid I am still to run without going over at least once. So far Martyn is the only person in the group to have managed that! There is something slightly sadistic about going over the lip of the rapid, looking down at the maelstrom of whitewater knowing that you are about to go straight into it and get a beating! They are blasting rock for the dam this afternoon so we are unable to paddle all the way down to Silverback. Instead we are going to run another of the backchannels – Brickyard.
Tomorrow most of us are heading up to Murchison Falls, returning here on Sunday evening, to do a safari. On Monday we are getting all of our kit transported down to the Hairy Lemon campsite and we are going to paddle down from Kalagala Falls to Nile Special, which is where the Hairy Lemon campsite is located. We are going to try and master the tow-on to the Nile Special wave – something I only managed to succeed at two times out of more attempts than I would care to remember last time.
I don’t really want to talk too soon, but the rolling course that Martyn went on after returning from the Alps seems to have paid off. He is successfully rolling in some of the biggest rapids that we will ever run! Since Paul’s swim on the first day when he popped his shoulder, we have not yet had any more swims!
Well, the river is beckoning so off I must head. Take care.