About a week ago I went whitewater rafting at the source of the Nile. It was quite an experience. I hadn't been at all sure that I wanted to go. All the brochures put out by the companies that do the rafting show people falling out of boats that are flipping over. These pictures are supposed to make you want to go rafting, but they had the opposite effect on me. Still, practically all the wazungu in Africa have gone and everyone was telling me it was incredibly fun (even if a bit scary at times).

There were three rafts full of people going with our rafting company the day I went. My guide was named Chloe and the rest of the "crew members" were Christopher (in front of me), Damian (behind me), and from front to back oin the other side Dave, Justin, and Jonas. The morning started out with rafting lessons where we learned how to paddle properly and the basic commands: forward, backpaddle, forward left, forward right, backpaddle left, backpaddle right, hold on, and get down. We also practiced a flipover, how to get in and how to do rescues (helping others back into the raft).

Then we were off down the river. The first set of rapids we went through were Grade 2 (grade 1 being flat water, grade 6 being undoable). It wasn't too bad, but it was bad enough that it left me thinking that I really wasn't going to enjoy my day since mostly we would be going through Grade 4 and 5 rapids.

The first set of real rapids we went over were Bujagali Falls, Grade 4. They were quite exciting. Just before we went over Damian somehow managed to fall out of the raft. Chloe started frantically yelling "backpaddle, backpaddle" so that she could rescue him before we went over the falls. Damian just yelled "I'm fine." What he didn't know was that there were rocks right at the beginning of the falls. Happily, Chloe was able to pull him back in before we went over.

I didn't really enjoy the first set of rapids, but I didn't really have much time to think about it, so I can't say that I was particularly scared. As soon as we were into some rapids we were way to busy following Chloe's instructions to think about much of anything else. Until she yelled "get down" anyway. You have to get down when paddling is no longer useful and you are just trying to stay in the raft. It involves pivoting around to squat down facing the river, one hand on the end of your paddle, the other hand over the paddle holding on to the rope on the outside of the raft, head facing the shoulder of the arm over the paddle. This position can actually be a bit difficult to get into in the midst of raging whitewater, but it is amazing how much quicker I was able to get into it in the rapids compared to in practice. Once we were down there wasn't anything to do except make sure you were breathing in when there wasn't a wall of water crashing into your face. The boat was just being rolled around by the swirling water. It did seem like I was about to fall out a couple of times, but given that we were right down at water level and already soaked, it didn't seem as if it would be much of a change. Still, the experience was not fun and I really didn't want to fall out.

(For those of you who think this all sounds really dangerous, its not. The Nile is so great for rafting because the water is very warm and there are few rocks - except where Damian managed to fall out. Also, we all had really good life jackets and helmets on. Additionally, there was a safety boat and a few kayakers whose job it was to retrieve anyone who had any trouble getting back to their raft.)

We all managed to stay in the raft through that set and soon Chloe was yelling "back on the job" and we were forward paddling and in calmer waters. It was a real rush having made it through.

Then Chloe was telling us to "relax" in the same sentence as she was telling us that the next set we were about to go over were Grade 5. The first Grade 5 was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Lots of swirling water, but I was no longer afraid of falling out. Just figured that if it happened it happened, no big deal. I'm not sure if it was on this set of rapids or the next Grade 5 that Christopher and Damian fell out of the raft. The raft was really tilting and everyone was quite surprised that I had managed to stay in when the rest of my side went over.

My favorite set of whitewater was a section called Hydraulic where we were just swirling around and around, the scariest had been Bujagali, and the most eventful, for me anyway was the last set of rapids, know as The Bad Place. The Bad Place is a set of Grade 5 rapids near the end of a larger set of Grade 6 rapids. We had to walk around the Grade 6 rapids and our guides all showed us the Bad Place and gave anyone who wanted to bow out the chance to go on the safety boat. Everyone in our raft decided to go for it.

We had barely even started paddling through the rapids when Chloe yelled "get down" adn then there was just tons of water pushing at me. I knew that there was no way I was going to stay in the raft and just let go. The next thing I knew I was under water and had barely enough time to think "my lifejacket will take me back up" before I was up at the surface. At which point all I had time to do was take a breath and see the wave that was about to crash over me. Then I was up again and the raft was only a few feet away. Surprisingly, I was still holding on to my paddle. But I couldn't swim with it, so I let go of it to get back to the raft. Chloe pulled me back in and the water was calmer and we were all soon back to paddling. (Somebody had grabbed my paddle - and an extra that had fallen out from one of the other rafts.) Christopher and Damian had also fallen out, but the other side had managed to stay in. Apparently it was quite an acccomplishment (read - luck) that we hadn't flipped over, since most rafts do at the Bad Place. All in all, I think it was probably less than a minute that I spent in the water, though it seemed like longer.