White water rafting on the source of the Nile river

The truck full of rafters rumbled down a dusty road to the Owen Falls dam, the source of the Nile from Lake Victoria. We stopped at the river's edge and got organized. Rafts can hold up to 6 people. Joining Portia and I was Colin and Isabelle from Canada and Bart and Daphne from Holland. We chatted a bit beforehand and all got along well and thought it would be a good group. Our guide was a local guy Peter. We got into our red raft and set out and a long stretch of calm water. While we floated along, Peter told us about the rapids and gave us a crash course in rafting skills and commands he would be giving us before and during the rapids. He was a funny guy, always joking and asking us if we ' are shitting ourselves?!'.
For our first rapid, an easy class 2, he told us to jump in the water with our helmet and lifejacket and just ride the rapid. This was fun, the warm was a perfect temperature and it was mostly overcast. Overcast skies can still deliver a searing sunburn and since I'm not carrying any lotion, I managed to mooch some off of Portia before we left, but I did wear long shorts and a t shirt to try and minimize my exposed skin. Floating lazily down another calm stretch, we saw something black and small in the water up ahead, swimming across. Peter joked that is was a crocodile or a hippo, which there aren't many left ( if any) in this 30km stretch of river we would be rafting. It was actually a Nile monitor lizard swimming across the river. Monitor lizards can reach lengths of 2m and are the second largest lizard in the world after the Komodo dragon. We hit our first real rapid called the Ribcage and it was an easy class 4. We made it through unharmed and it was fun. Going through a rough rapid is a rush but what's worse is sometimes we would just float on the calm stretch before the rapid talking about it and waiting for what, I'm not sure. The anticipation and suspense was killing me!
Bujagali falls was our next and our first class 5 rapid. Class 6 rapids are illegal and dangerous to run in the type of raft we were in. It was a little scary looking at it but we made it through, no problems. There was a safety raft with us all the time for those who wanted to chicken out on the rapids. The thing is the safety raft still goes through the same rapids but its weighted down and tries to take safer lines. There was also a bunch of guys from the rafting company in kayaks to rescue anyone who got thrown out of their raft and bring them safely to the nearest raft until they could meet up with their own raft.
50/50 was our third rapid and the name means that we have a 50/50 chance of flipping over. The class of rapids, at least to me, seem a bit misleading because I would think that class 4 and 5 are much rougher than class 3 but our raft flipped for the first time going through 50/50. I guess our luck wasn't with us on this one! I think and have heard that sometimes the guides flip the boat on purpose to up the fun/adrenaline factor. Somehow right after our raft flipped, Peter was on top of the upside raft and doing backflips. When Peter yells ' Get down!' he means for us to grab our paddle and rope tight and crouch down on our feet, facing the outside of the raft. I was crouched down before the rapid and when it flipped, it flipped towards my side so I went in somersaulting headfirst! I managed to hold onto my paddle and wasn't that far away from the raft when I surfaced and grabbed onto the rope around its length. Most of us were near the raft, i pulled myself in and then helped pull others in. The girls had a tough time of pullling themselves in. The technique involved a lot of upper body strength, you're supposed to pull on the rope until your arms are locked straight and then flop into the boat. I would straighten my arms tight and just chuck myself in. I had no problems but the girls, lacking the immense upper body strength I possess ( that's meant to be funny people!, my legs are probably my strongest muscles), had trouble getting themselves in. I tried to get in first because I knew I could help them in from the raft. I had an easy time in the water and thought it was kind of fun flipping but Isabelle had it rough and Portia was more or less terrified. She was trembling and spoke of a possible panic attack. She didn't expect herself to be this scared but she watched a DVD of the rafting before and knew what she was in for. They film all the rafting and watch the DVD at 9pm at NRE. The DVD's are for sale but at 45$, are quite expensive. I was a little confused as to what Portia was expecting but we were all very sympathetic to her, that is, except Peter. When Portia opted to join the safety boat for the next big set up rapids, Peter ridiculed her like crazy. Calling her chicken and making the motions of a chicken and everything. It was a little funny but none of us were that harsh with her.
Totoganda, a class 3, was our next rapid. This rapid used to be a class 5 but the building of the dam upstream diverted heavy water and turned the rapid into a lowly class 3. We went through it smooth and it was fun. Surf city was our next class 3 rapid. We also went through this smoothly. I must admit that the rapids were our boat didn't flip all kind of blended together unless something more memorable happened besides flipping.
The set of rapids was 200m long, class 5 and carried the ominous name of Silverback. Peter explained to us that there were 3 sets of sideways rapids and then a big one at the end, we would hit dead on and possible might flip us. Needless to say, Portia got in the safety boat for this set. These rapids looked intimidating upon approach but we were all as ready as we could be. I was holding on tight but apparently not tight enough because we hit the first rapid and I was thrown out of the raft as it flipped, or so I thought. Next thing I know I'm in the rapids and trying to get a breath when I saw the sky between huge waves of white water in my face. It was intense and a little scary. I went through the first few rapids but then was pushed over to the left in calmer water where another raft was waiting. I jumped into their raft, coughing and choking on the water I had just inhaled by accident. Next I saw Colin appear our of the rapids and we rescued him too. He was worried about his girlfriend as our boat wasn't in sight. We finally met up with our boat and to Colin and my surprise, our raft didn't flip. Somehow only Colin and I were tossed out, everyone else stayed in. I wasn't sure how this happened. I had a rough dunk in the drink but was ok and was ready for more. It became a joke later that Canadian men are so tough, we just willingly throw ourselves out into the rapids, we don't need a raft to go through them! Portia was in the safety boat for this rapid but it also flipped! Not much of a safety boat. She was shaken but ok and didn't have much choice but to take a hit from an inhaler and go on.
Jaws was our next rapid and was a hard class 3. The guides take the easy way through this rapid because before they used to flip and had people underwater for 50 seconds! That's a long time to be rolled around underwater. We made it through unscathed. Our eighth rapid and the last before lunch was the class 2 Pyramid and we made it through clean.

We had a long calm stretch of river for 45 minutes and during this time we had our lunch while floating. Half a pineapple and glucose biscuits were for lunch and we always carried a 4 litre bottle of drinking water with us. This was a time for fun and relaxing on the Nile. Most people jumped in the water and floated along. We all stayed in the boat. I had been in the water enough for now! Peter told us a funny story while he was guiding a boat of 4 Japanese and 2 British guys. The Japanese didn't understand much English, so Peter put the 2 English guys up front and told the Japanese to do whatever they do but this kind of backfired when they came to a rough set of rapids. The English were thrown from the raft and upon seeing this, the Japanese also threw themselves out of the raft!

The last 4 rapids of the day were 2 class 4 and 2 class 5. The first rapid after lunch was called Overtime and had too much water going over it, so we had to walk around it while the rafts went over with just the guides. Too much weight in the boat and it could flip which would be really dangerous here. The class 4 rapid called Retrospect was next and this one stuck out in my mind. We went into the rapid and our raft lifted high out of the water on my side. I was anticipating to fall backwards but then somehow our raft managed to right itself and we didnt' flip. We all breathed a sigh of relief after this and laughed it off but we knew we weren't out of the shit yet.
The last class 4 rapid of the day was called Bubugo. It was hard rapid but short. We hit it and flipped. It wasn't too bad for me this time and soon a kayak was there to pick me up. Our last rapid was at the end of a very intimidating set of class 6 rapids. The rapid was class 5 and called The Bad Place or The Washing Maching, neither one a promising name! Peter assured us that our raft would flip for sure here, so if you didn't want that, you should get out now. The girls all decided to play it safe so it was just Colin, Bart, Peter and I. The rafts were all taken out of the water and portaged around the class 6 rapids and set back in at the beginning of The Bad Place. I watched 2 rafts go before us and they took a slightly safer chicken route and didn't flip. Now it was our turn. Peter told us that we would paddle hard for a few seconds and then to through away our paddles and just hold on tight. My heart was racing but I was ready, bring it on! I wasn't about to chicken out on our last rapid after all I had been through. I figured I had already been in the water 3 times, what's once more?!
I paddled hard for a bit and then threw my paddle before anyone and held on. We went down a huge wave and then got caught up on a wall of white water. The boat stalled here and began to violently shake. Peter was the first to go, he just rolled backwards off the back of the raft. After seconds, I lost my grip on the rope and was being jostled around uncontrollably. This didn't last long and before I knew I tried to get a good breath before being pitched out of the raft. I was immediately caught up in the washing maching. I knew why they called it that. The other rapids were so fast moving that I was soon free of them but here I was just being rolled around and didn't feel like I was moving anywhere. I didn't know up fr0m down and tried to swim upwards but I could have been swimming deeper, I just didn't know. I just wanted to get a breath. I was doing ok for the first bit, having some breath left but then it kept going on and I began to think about extreme possibilities. I thought 'Please, don't let me be the first to drown here!' But then as things started to get really, really scary I finally breached the surface and my lungs pulled hard for that first breath of precious oxygen. I was choking and coughing and my sinuses hurt like hell but I was alive and swam towards the saftey boat to avoid going down the next set of class 3 rapids only 45m away in just my lifejacket. I climbed onto the safety boat, heart pounding and full of adrenaline. My chest hurt and I was shaky but I had no regrets, in the end it was intense fun. Once on shore I was super surprised to see our raft float by with just Bart in it. By some virtue of luck and miracle ( it was his 22nd birthday) he had managed to hold on against all odds and ride out unharmed. I talked with Isabelle on shore who watched all the action unfold. She saw me go under and not come up. She kept saying 'Were is Dan?!' She was worried about me because she couldn't see me for a while and was relieved when I finally surfaced.
We all went to the waiting truck and had water and plantain chips and then began driving back to NRE camp. The dusty road went through small villages and all the kids waved and said ' Hello'.
A huge spread of food was ready for us when we got back and was included with the rafting, alogn with 2 free nights camping, 2 beers and transport from Jinja to Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. I filled my plate and finished and washed it down with a beer. I cleaned myself up and rested for a bit in my tent. In the eveing I sat with my friends from the raft and we talked about the events of the day. At 9pm they showed the DVD filmed of us that day. The bar was packed as the footage was beginning to be shown on a huge screen. I saw myself in it a few times as our raft flipped. The highlight of the day was Bart's surfing on the raft in the washing machine. He was franticalled trying to grab onto anything that he could as the rapids bounced him around the boat. It was amazing to watch. I saw myself being thrown from the raft but never saw myself re appear. I didn't buy the DVD because 45$ for 20 minutes of footage is a lot of $ and I'd rather save mine for the national parks. Sitting there watching the days events brought back the feelings I was experiencing as it happened. It was truly a day never to forget and I'm so glad I did it. I had rafted before in Ecuador and Costa Rica but we never flipped and it was nothing like rafting the source of the Nile.