Rafting the Nile and bungee jumping into it!

We left campus by foot at 6:50am on Sat morning to catch the bus to Jinja from downtown Mukono. We arrived in Jinja around 9:00am. The original plan was for half the group to bungee jump that morning and the other half to jump Sun morning. But, it had been raining all morning, so the ropes were wet. So, we left for rafting around 10:30am. There were 40 of us and about 30 other mzungus. We got into rafts and did a little practice responding to the guide's commands. Then immediately there was a class 2 rapid. I think that the guide purposely made the boat unstable because half of us, including me, fell out. That was scary. I got stuck under the boat for a few seconds. After that, we did more practice about how to pull people back into the boat and how to flip to boat back over. Then we went over a class 4 rapid. I remember the second we were poised on top of the drop that I was thinking: "we are all absolutely crazy!" The next rapid was a smaller one, probably a 3. The last rapid before lunch break was a class 5. On this rapid, it's pretty much impossible to keep the boat upright. We flipped! I managed to hold onto the rope on the side of the boat, so I came up immediately and wasn't too disoriented. My friend Faith was on my raft, and I happened to see her face as she floated through the rest of the rapid. It was priceless: a combination of absolute terror and hysterical excitement. We stopped at an island for lunch. We had delicious sandwiches! Salami, avocado, cheese, other veggies! Sooo great!! I actually had two sandwiches for energy (and because it was so delicious). The first rapid after lunch was a waterfall. It was about 7-8ft high. It starts with a class 3 rapid, then you have to paddle really hard to get lined up with the waterfall. Our group was the only one to go through easily without getting caught on the rocks at the top. At the bottom of the falls, the boat almost bends inwards in half before with snaps back into shape. It was amazing! Before the next 2 rapids there was a long stretch of river that very little current. We did a lot of rowing. We'd paddle until it felt like our arms would fall off and then the guide would let us rest. Every time he said "forward" again, I literally thought, "I am going to kill you!" My arms were aching so bad. The next two rapids were a 4 and then a 3. We went through expertly without losing anyone. It was like a very wet roller coaster. Awesome!! The last rapid is technically a class 6, so we couldn't go over it from the top. We landed and carried the boat to a point halfway down the rapid. From there, it was a class 5. We got in and made it through the worst of the rapid without losing anyone. But then, at the bottom in the last part of the rapid, the guide suddenly told us to jump out of the boat. I thought there was something wrong at first, so I jumped really fast. We found out afterward that he just wanted us to swim the last part. From then on, it was tough paddling (including going upstream a little) until we got to beach where the bus was to pick us up. We had been on the water for about 6 hours! When we got there, they had ice cold drinks and chapatis with steak and pineapple inside waiting for us. Yum! We then drove back to the resort. (There were hot showers!! Woot!) Later that night, we saw the movie they'd taken of us all going over all the rapids. Seeing the rapids on the movie was scary. We kept saying, "We must be crazy! Those rapids are nuts!" It was funny to see all the wipeouts, though. After the movie, I went directly to bed. I was very tired and sore. Unfortunately, I didn't sleep as well as I would have liked. I had a moment of panic when I woke up with a mosquito net on my face. It was still dark when that happened, and I didn't really fall back asleep after that.

Sun morning was bungee jumping! I went in the second group. We watched people jumping. It looked so exciting! When it was finally our turn, I wasn't really nervous at all. My friend Kate and I buddy-jumped. Once we were strapped together, we had to shuffle to the edge of the platform. We were told not to look down, so I was staring straight across to the opposite cliff. The guide kept telling us to move forward. I felt like I was walking the plank! That was one of the scariest parts: knowingly walking towards open space. Because we were jumping tandem, we couldn't really jump out. We just had to fall with a little push from the guide. There was a moment just after we left the platform that it registered that I was falling...and falling fast. My brain was telling me, "What the heck is wrong with you?! Why are you doing this to yourself?!" At the first bounce, I got the worst head rush of my life. I felt like my head was going to explode from an entire body's worth of blood rushing to my brain in an instant. Then we started spinning. I have to say, for most of the swing, I was not happy and in a lot of pain. But, it was also an incredible adrenaline rush. When we were finally dropped into the raft, I was completely disoriented. We learned later that it something about tandem jumping that makes the head rush worse. Also, I figured out that I was pretty dehydrated. If I ever get the chance to do it again, I would go by myself and make sure I'm hell hydrated.
All in all, it was an incredible weekend. There was good food and amazing adventures. :D