Moses and the (Fast-flowing) Nile...Part I

Growing up, one of the parts of the Bible that brought so much adventure to my young, wandering mind was the story of Moses. I loved how, as a baby, he took a joyride down the Nile in a basket, and ended up being able to be cared for by his mother, under the legal guardianship of the Pharaoh’s wife. To be honest, that’s a pretty awesome way to start a life.

The story of the Moses, and the subsequent history of life in Egypt, with the history of the Pyramids, and King Tut, have always been things that have fascinated me. So has the Nile.

The mighty Nile is the longest river in the world, and also happens to flow in reverse. Water in the Nile begins from Lake Victoria, in the city of Jinja (like ‘ginger’ with a thick Boston accent), Uganda, and then continues traveling through Sudan and then Egypt before spilling out into the Mediterranean Sea. It takes a reported 3 months for water to travel this long journey!

Luckily for me, at the early stages of the river, there are some amazing rapids. Some of the world’s best for white-water rafting. So you can imagine the temptation to hop into an inflatable raft and throw one’s life to the wind and take my own “Moses” journey. I had to do it!

I planned the trip with my Welsh colleague Tred over a long weekend. We had mentioned it to a couple other friends. So when the time came, there were a total of 7 of us. Me, Tred, our South African colleague Ruco, his American wife Kristi, and Ruco’s family who were in town visiting. We had booked the weekend with Equator Rafts, at a very reasonable $75 a piece, which included meals and lodging—the cheapest in the area.

We arrived in Jinja late Friday evening, and had a late supper at Ling Ling’s, one of the best Chinese restaurants I have ever been too. The sweet and sour chicken was like a little piece of heaven, especially since I mostly survive on rice, beans, and mashed plantains.

We then settled went to where we were staying. Me, Tred, and Ruco’s little brother got a dorm room, overlooking the Bujagali Falls. These falls would mark the beginning of our journey the following morning. Since we’d arrived at night, though, I couldn’t actually see the falls. But you can believe I heard them! I’ve kayaked and canoed on white water before, but never rafting. So this was definitely a new adventure for me! And rafting gives you the opportunity to go on much more difficult (and dangerous) rapids because of the nature of the boat. I was very excited!

I hadn’t seen my buddy Tred in a month and a half, so we had to catch up, and watch an episode of “The Office” (the Willy Wonka episode) on his laptop before turning into bed. Things like this are so much better when they’re with people you care about, eh?

I awoke early the next morning to the sound of rain on the tin roof, which was a big surprise since we’d been in the dry season for the last couple of months. Since no one else was awake, I put on my rain jacket and went for a walk--I had to see up close what we were going to be throwing ourselves into, literally. The falls were not falls as we think of, but more a long series of rapids and drops. The roaring sound of an oncoming army that I heard the previous night didn’t at all deceive what I actually saw.

We had a 9:30 breakfast call with our guide at the reception area down by the water. So we met up with everyone, including 4 others that would be joining our group of 7. After a nice breakfast of fresh pineapple and watermelon with some great local coffee, we got the lesson on how to put on our life vests and helmets. Enoch, the Ugandan doing the orientation, stressed the importance of this to our staying alive, which just added to our anticipation and excitement. We then walked about 200 yards to a little cove area to the side of the falls. We were split into two groups by two guides for two rafts. Ruco and Kristi and their family were assigned to Enoch’s boat. And me and Tred were assigned to the other boat, along with the 4 other out-of-towners who came for this adventure.

Our guide introduced himself to us. And his name? Moses! Would you believe it? What a coincidence! Not only would I finally be able to tackle the Nile, but I was doing it with Moses! He explained how he was born and “grew up on the banks of the Nile.” Moses was a short, small, and very dark-skinned man, with an infectious smile and an always-present and contagious excitement for the day. I was glad to be with him. We got in the boat, without trying to slip on the muddy and slippery rocks going down. My position was in the front, on the right.

In the calm water of the cove, we practiced our rowing techniques. As we looked nearby to the inevitable drop we would soon be going down, we were all mixed with excitement, regret, and a sudden urge to wet ourselves. There was talk of if we would flip in the rapids, or if we would get knocked out. Would it be possible to stay dry the whole day? (Secretly, though, staying dry was the last thing on my mind).

Then Moses answered the question. “Ok group, all move to one side. We’re going to practice how to get back in the boat after flipping.”

We all looked at each other. Moses answered our puzzled looks.

“Yes, we’re gonna flip right now!” he said with a mischievous grin.

So everyone moved to one side, and then after “1…2…3” we flipped over, on purpose. The water was surprisingly warm, and then we practiced how to climb back into the boat after flipping--a much more difficult task than one would imagine. There are two ways of doing this awkward move. You can either have someone pull you up by the shoulder pads of your life vest over the inflated hump. Or you can try to pull yourself up on the side. Either way, it puts you in a beached whale position—flopping around trying to roll back into the boat—leaving you sprawled out with arms and legs going everywhere as if you’re trying to swim on dry land. Any ounce of dignity we had went “overboard” when we did.

Then Moses said we were ready to tackle the first rapid. He apparently had more confidence in us than we did ourselves. As we headed towards the first part of the waterfall, I got real excited (and for the first time, a little nervous)...

Coming up...