Today was a journey throughout the famous Nile River. The car ride down was about 1 hour, not to bad, a little bumpy along the way considering the massive pot holes in the road. But all in all a smooth ride compared to the adventure in the river. In my group was three other people from our group and three other people from the States. When we first got into the raft, our guide for the day, Tu-Tu (spelling might be off), started to explain the safety procedures. It was all very simple like rowing, tipping, and swimming to a kayak. Anyways after that was done we went down our first rapid. I believe it was a level one. Honestly, it was a nice massage, a smooth yet fast pathway to the next rapid. In the distance I could see construction sites where a new dam will be built which is funded by the World Bank. Throughout the last few days I have noticed a lot of Japanese influence. There are Japanese auto shops, Japanese flags, and Japanese posters all over Uganda. Recently new oil resources were discovered here in Uganda and so I think that Japan has taken a step in developing Uganda to eventually get into the oil source. Japan has already started to build schools, fix some roads, etc. This shows that the Japanese are taking an approach to do the good first in order to cover up for the bad. Back to the dam that I saw being built is one representation of how the Japanese are influencing Uganda. Te World Bank is saying that this dam will bring in a flow of money, but as seen with other dams it might be prosperous for 20 years, but then after 20 years the money rolls backwards. Just seeing all the equipment on the side of the Nile is devastating because it's completely ruining the wildlife there and will also ultimately destroy the two main rapids (level 3 and 5) that I went down today. It will be forever gone. To be honest, I'm one of the last few people who had the opportunity to raft down those precious rapids. It's a horrible thing to grasp my mind around because once this dam is in place, there is no way of turning back time or rebuilding the rapids.
However since I was very lucky to be go into the rapids today I lived it up! Truthfully experiencing these rapids is so hard to put into words because my facial expressions and the way my body felt was priceless. But I'll try my best to explain it. The rapid we were able to flip on was a level three. Tu-Tu gave us the option to flip or not, but of course I wanted to take up the challenge! So we paddled forward, harder and harder until the rapid just took our boat it. We dipped down and then all of a sudden out of nowhere a big tsunami looking wave comes crashing into the boat. The next thing I know I;m twirling underwater, holding onto my paddle, searching around for the boat. People might say it seems like you're fighting for your life, but that's not really true. Yes, it takes you under quite hard and it's difficult to stay calm but because of the life jacket and the flow of the water, you almost instantly pop right back up. it's almost like a Snapple top to a drink, you push down and it bends but when you let go it automatically comes up. However, I'm definitely not saying I wasn't scared nor swimming for my life, because I was. Just the feeling of a sumo-wrestler type strength of wave pushing me is frightening. anyways, somehow I ended up right by the boat, I grabbed onto the rope by a couple other members but with the currents pushing in every direction possible it was hard to hold on, plus keep in mind the boat was wrong side up. Once Tu-Tu was able to get the boat turned onto the right side, the current pushed me probably a quarter of a mile down. So i had to swim against the current. This felt like running to a person whose hand is pressing against his/her forehead. Meaning that I got almost nowhere. The boat eventually was able to pick me up and I arrived safely in my seat, pumped up and ready to take on the next monster rapid...a class 5!
The last rapid we went on was probably one of the more dangerous ones, but that one will also disappear when the dam goes in. Tu-Tu was very serious about this one, he told us we should try not to tip because there are many rocks near by, yet 60% of the rafts do flip on this rapid. He gave us 4 different options to find safety. The way he described the rapid and the sound it made was terrifying itself. It was like a witch cooking her spell in a huge pot. As we paddled closer, I noticed some mist. That was when my head was not prepared for the wave that I was about to experience. But we continued on, me scared or not, paddled harder and harder, coming to a a cliff of water. It was like when you're coming up to the top of a hill and you know something is at the bottom, but until you go over the hill you can't find out what's there; it was exactly like that! We came to this hill of water, paddling my little heart out and just like the peak of a roller coaster, our raft flew down that rapid. Tu-Tu called the down position, and in literally 3 second I see an storm of water. It had a mind of it's own. It was like looking at the tallest building in the world and watching it coming over you. So that wave of water came down, the boat was filled and I was under water, gripping the rope for my dear life. But then out of the blue as you would think it'd be over, another massive wave came toppling over us. This time I was like oh no, I'm definitely falling out. Its terrifying to watch something zoom over you with no control at all! The second wave was like Mount Everest. It had the same effect on the boat and I was just stuck in a pickle. My hands were shaking, my body was twitching, but all I could say was, "Wow. That was amazing, so when can I do this again?" The feeling you get from flying into those rapids gave me such a thrill. It's risky like bungee jumping but the after moment is simply wonderful.
I felt one with nature. Let me tell you, it was a feeling I have never felt before!
No comments:
Post a Comment