I watch Paul lying back on the deck of the kayak, eyes closed, and the warm sun penetrating the spray deck and safety helmet he wears.  The tepid waters of the Nile lap gently beneath his boat, and I know that soon he will overheat again, and need to roll beneath the surface just to cool off.
It is very likely that Paul will never go London, never have to wake in the dark, pull on layers of heavily clothing and catch a tube to a suit-filled office.  If you haven’t ever lived in a cold climate, it is very hard to imagine what seems like another world.
At each thundering rapid of the Nile, Paul and his team of safety kayakers dance amongst the huge waves and pull into an eddy on one side of the rapid.  It is here they wait for the rafts to come through and to support the rafts.   Their primary job is to secure the emotional security of anyone who decides to travel solo or is unwittingly ejected from a raft.   Each of the rapids we raft have been swum safely by hundreds of people, and thousands more are likely to do the same.  It is however, of huge comfort to be greeted by a friendly face like Pauls’ when you have bounced down a mighty Nile rapid dressed in little more than your lifejacket.  From several inches above the surface, the Nile seems much larger than it actually is and already it makes the Thames look like a garden stream.  You have probably had some ‘downtime’ (been underwater) and your feet may have been over your head at some point.  Despite the size of your eyes, our safety kayakers welcome you aboard and offer a level of comfort far greater than most full service airlines in their premium cabins.
When Paul and many of our other safety kayakers joined our team they had grown up alongside the Nile.  As children, they had leapt from the banks, swum across small side currents and perched on the pan-hot black rocks mid-stream in the Nile.  They have now made the river a big part of their everyday lives.  Like their grandfathers who fished the waters before them, they spend the best part of their days in a boat.   However, their grandfathers feared the rapids, dared not to go near them and could not afford to send their children to school.  Our safety kayakers are buying land, building their own houses and making rafting with Adrift one of the most exciting and safest adventure activities on offer anywhere in the world.

In every direction game was on the move, tens of thousands of Uganda kob bounded out of our way, often leaping metres in the air. Tiny oribi (a much smaller antelope) that humbles the performance of any human gymnast, leapt repeatedly in the air, momentarily holding a poise with their back legs parallel the ground below, then bounded off for cover. Hundreds of warthog, mostly youngsters, trotted out of our way with their tails erect and a couple of shy young male lions also made for cover. Most impressive of all, however, were the giraffe. As if moving in slow motion, over thirty of them led our small convoy of vehicles across the plain, slowing when we did and gliding gracefully across the burnt grassland as we picked up speed. As if escorting us through this new territory, it was the most magnificent sight and one I hope you will have the chance to share.

I had often revisited the images in my mind of vast herds of game running across the vast plains of East Africa reminiscent of Karen Blixen’s tales. In recent times, I had discounted these views to what you might see from a balloon, or from a low flying aircraft and I had seen just this on my first visit to Murchison Falls National Park in 1996. The scene I describe above was last week in Murchison Falls National Park where we have just spent 10-days working with UWA (Uganda Wildlife Authority) to re-open roads, some of which haven’t been used for forty years. Using a 1964 map of the park, detailed topographical maps from the same era, a GPS and two rangers on the roof of the car we were able to negotiate old roads to the top of Murchison Falls from the North Bank of the Nile, and other access points along the river in the park. From their elevated position on the roof of the car, Niko and George could detect the subtle differences that marked the old road; different varieties of grass growing in the hardened road base or groupings of younger trees that had grown only since the road was neglected.

For decades, these areas have been too dangerous to visit as a result of a string of civil wars culminating in the LRA (Lords Resistance Army) presence in the park as recently as 2006. Their atrocities often made the world headlines but what is seldom recognised is the effect their presence had on game. Relatively small numbers of rebel soldiers lived in the park poaching game for their immediate needs. They murdered and terrified the local communities and kept other poachers, the military and even UWA rangers at a distance. The result was an explosion in population of plains game in the area. This is most noticeable in the huge populations of Uganda kob, buffalo, giraffe, warthog, elephant, Jackson’s hartebeest, lion and oribi. The re-opening of these roads will give visitors to Murchison Falls National Park one of the best wildlife experiences anywhere on the continent. Remember that your presence, in what are now little visited areas will help in our battle to conserve them. Poachers targeting buffalo, hippo and fish primarily find it more difficult to operate under cover, increased tourism brings more jobs for local communities, injects income directly into the areas surrounding the parks and helps the communities see as much value in conservation as we do.

It is impossible not to be prejudice.  My earliest memories of her were as Purdy.  Some hints of what she was like off-camera were kindly passed on by Rebecca Harris, who had already spent many weeks filming with her – intelligent and fun.
The ITV series ‘Joanna Lumley’s Nile’ has already started showing on Monday evenings at 9pm in the UK.   She eloquently describes her experiences floating on the back of the camel Charlie Brown, and watches fellow passengers wrap their husbands in toilet paper aboard one of the less garish Nile Cruise ships near Aswan.  Next week on ITV, she will enter the Ethiopia and then a week later (TV time) she became one of first guests at Wildwaters Lodge, our incredible new property mid-stream in the Nile.

As part of our her journey up the river, Joanna and her team climbed aboard one of our wooden work-boats for the short crossing to Muyanja Island, mid-stream in the Nile.  The island is now home to Wildwaters Lodge and she stayed in one of the private rooms that overlooks cobra rapid.

The more Joanna heard about the Ascend the Nile expedition, the more she became fascinated with the journey we had made in 2005/06 from the Mediterranean sea to what has become known as the ‘Mac source’ in the Nyungwe forest – 6718 kms from the sea.  We unrolled the maps as I explained the difference between the Victorian Source of the Nile (where the Nile leaves Lake Victoria) and the Kandt source in the Nyungwe Forest in Rwanda.   During the Victorian era, legendary explorers of the African continent – Speke, Livingstone, Burton, Stanley, Grant and Baker all searched the great lakes region of central Africa for the prized source of the Nile and Speke was widely credited with the discovery.  However, in 1898, a German doctor trekked deep into the Nyungwe forest in Rwanda claiming that the source of the Nile was not in fact the outlet of Lake Victoria, but the streams at the head of Akagera River which feed into the world’s second largest lake.  Since Kandt’s claim, the world has largely accepted that rivers entering the lake are in fact the longest source of the mighty river.  Kandt was very close but not entirely correct and in 2006, the Ascend the Nile expedition with Garth MacIntyre, Neil McGrigor and Cam McLeay brought the attention of the world what has become the ‘Mac source’ of the Nile and I promised to take Joanna there.

However, before that, Joanna wanted to ride in the zap cats, the racy little craft that had carried us over 98% of the length of the Nile.  She didn’t disguise her genuine surprise at the size of our boats.  I remembered having the same reaction when Neil first proposed them – far too small.  We bounced up Bubugo rapid, spray from the rapids cooling us refreshingly and the welcome breeze  from racing along at about 40 kms per hour in our faces.   Crowds of villagers waved at us from their washing from the banks of the river and we mocked a portage for camera.  Joanna wanted to give her audience some idea of the challenges a modern explorer faced.  We unbolted the heavy outboard motors, dragged the boat upstream over a few boulders and talked about one of the most amazing journeys I have made in my life.

Joanna shared my enthusiasm for maps, especially older ones, and we talked excitedly of adventures ahead.  Gav and the film crew shot the action from the Wild Nile Jet and were particularly attracted to action sequences racing up and down Bubugo rapid in the zap cat.  Look out for this footage on ITV and for our trip to the ‘Mac Source’ of the Nile in Rwanda.

This article appeared in The Eye Magazine of April – May 2010
Link to the original article

For a moment, I envisaged him riding my bike but made it clear that he was to carry it. He smiled again, hoisted my bike over his head upside down and sat his bag on the crown of his head so the wheels were high in the air. I could see him for miles, like a Bugisu pied piper, he walked off up the trail with dozens of kids running behind him.

Growing up in New Zealand, I had done most of my mountain biking in the Southern Alps and yearned for some more challenging trails. The Mudangi cliffs, however, are a bit too much. The Sasa route on Mt. Elgon begins with a walk through community land. In one of the country’s most densely populated areas, arabica coffee and onions give way soon enough to the National Park and the Mudangi cliffs. The trail zig zags up them in a series of ramps and rock climbs that are too steep to ride, and soon we were rewarded with magnificent views across the foothills of Mt. Elgon and the plains of Soroti. A few metres on from here, I dumped the bottled water from my camel back and refilled it from a small stream. There is nothing quite like the taste of mountain water.

I hadn’t really been prepared for riding the first day and buried my biking shoes and helmet deep in one of the porter loads. I did ride awkwardly in my heavy hiking boots, stopping to listen to the Ross’ turaco or catch a glimpse of the elusive black and white colobus. However, it was on the second day between Sasa River Camp (2800m) and Mude Cave Camp (3500m) that the mountain biking really became world class. The day began in the forest and despite the relatively dry conditions, there were a couple of steep muddy sections, a few hefty tree roots and several places I had to walk; I don’t like getting off my bike. I was very pleased with myself on a number of occasions, however, cranking on my pedals courageously and jumping the bike over large roots; something possible only when clipped into your pedals.

Near Sasa Patrol Hut (3300m), the vegetation opens to moor land and the view of the peaks become inspiring and the track is almost entirely rideable. You can expect to be very short of breath (due to altitude) and I took many occasions to soak in the view. One can ride, through surreal landscape, most of the way to Wagagi ummit (3421m). Heather forest gives way to giant senecias (groundsels), peaks of the immense crater peep from the swirling clouds, flocks of swifts ride the air currents and you can fall off your bike into soft moss and lichen as much as you like. Chances are the embarrassment is only yours and anyone who happens to be looking from above. Best of all is the downhill. From Mude Cave Camp (3500m) to Wagagi Summit (3421m) takes anywhere between 1.1/2 and 4 hours to climb on foot and only 45 minutes of sheer exhilaration to descend on a mountain bike!

‘Forward, left-turn, hold on.’ I reach for the rope that traverses the perimeter of the raft and grasp my paddle tightly as the river drops away beneath us. Seconds after I fill my lungs with a healthy gulp of fresh air, a giant wall of green water is towering above us. The raft buckles as the bow explodes into whitewater and droplets of spray sparkle in the sunshine. Moments later we are under water.

Dressed lightly for a day in the sunshine the slightly cooler waters are a welcome relief. A split second later we emerge ecstatic as the raft summits a giant wave in what has become the Nile’s roller coaster. Another trough looms ahead and I exhale an enthusiastic whoop before preparing for the next dousing. I have rafted all over the world but nothing has quite prepared me for the Nile. Minutes later the raft is rocking gently in the calm pool below the legendary Big Brother rapid, no-one escaped the dunking and it is smiles and disbelief all around. Some of us turn upstream to watch as the next raft races down the long green tongue of the rapid and accelerates toward the first towering wave.

In popular paddle-rafts, each person joins as a member of a team and a professional guide captains the team. Paddlers are instructed comprehensively on how best to enjoy themselves on the water and on all aspects of safety including the use of safety kayaks which accompany every raft trip on the water. The highly-trained safety kayakers are world class paddlers who adeptly pilot their tiny boats through the mountainous waves of each rapid ahead of the rafts. When rafts flip upside down or people are washed overboard they are nearby to provide assistance in getting people back to their boats.

The trip on the water begins slowly and the first few kilometres give the raft guides an opportunity to train their crews fully on all aspects of Nile rafting. The young river dances into action at Bujagali Falls as if anxious to race to the thirsty deserts downstream and one major rapid follows swiftly after another for most of the morning. By the time the rafts drift toward Wakisi island, a wholesome and inviting lunch is waiting eager consumers. There is nothing quite like a morning on the Nile for whetting one’s appetite. Succulent pineapples, giant avocadoes, crisp bell peppers and tasty carrots are all organically grown in nearby villages. Fresh bread, roasted ham, salami and juicy tomatoes all combine wonderfully well to satisfy even the most insatiable appetites from a morning of fresh air, wildwater and sunshine.

After a leisurely lunch on beautiful Wakisi island, the rafts enter Wildwaters Reserve which is a private conservation initiative started by Adrift to protect the unique flora and fauna of the mid-stream islands of the Nile. There is more time between the rough water but the rapids on the Nile become larger and more spectacular. In Overtime rapid (when the Nilometre is reading above 10 cubits) the Adrift rafts leap over a 4.5 metre waterfall, race downstream to the ever surprising Retrospect then teeter hesitantly at The Bad Place. At Itanda, the young Nile gathers far too much power for our rafts and we are forced to portage around the top of the rapid on land and then contemplate the huge hole at the bottom.

The Bad Place is optional but those choosing to raft through it take with them only a slim chance of staying onboard the raft. Once in The Bad Place, the raft takes on the character of a wild horse being ridden for the first time. It often surfs in the huge breaking waves (probably the largest hole rafted commercially anywhere in the world) and rears, bucks and kicks like thoroughbred saddles for the first time.

It makes the most spectacular video footage as riders are often thrown in the air before hitting the racing current and being swept downstream to the calm pool below.

I gripped my board tightly and raised my left arm firmly fighting a little resistance from the water. The board continued to bounce like a dolphin on the wave and all I could see was white. My mouth was sealed to avoid swallowing more of the Nile and in a fraction of the second the board dropped like an elevator catching me unaware.

I went with it and soon could breathe! We thumped on the green face of the wave gently, leapt forward and then started oscillating gently to the rhythm of the racing water. A feeling of total exhilaration overwhelmed me and I gently straightened my arm to turn the board on the face of the huge wave.

Just to my right a wall of whitewater avalanched forward onto the green raceway and I carved away again anxious not to be claimed by the maelstrom of churning water. Above the swish sound of water escaping from beneath my board and the crash of whitewater that blanketed my feet and fins, I could hear wolf whistles and excited yelps from the bank. The gathering crowd was clearly enjoying the show.

After spending a beautiful night on the river camping mid-stream on Kadogo Island you could wake to the spirited sound of the Great Blue Turaco or the loud cry of the magnificent Black and White Casqued Hornbill. After a hearty breakfast and the second day the Nile brings more adrenaline pumping rafting rapids and the chance to try river surfing. Equipped with a set of fins on your feet, confidence from the instruction of our expert guides and the support of our safety kayakers, you can ride the surf on the Nile.

The light-weight boogie boards will allow you an incredible thrill on the waves of Nile Special or Malalu where fresh water waves roll upstream every day of the year. There is no need to drive for miles on deserted roads in search of your favourite break or hope for the big swell on your days off, we can offer you a surf ride 24/7.

If you have the time, we highly recommend the 2-day trip and the chance to spend a little more time in the Nile, to sit back between the rapids, to relax and to watch the world go by. Watch local waragi (banana gin) being brewed in crude distilleries alongside the river, fisherman pull remarkable looking catches from the deep green river or tiny rock pratencol dance over the rapids.

More on our 2-day rafting / river surfing adventure

The possibilities were always going to be fantastic.  I knew from the Adrift rafting experience that we had run the river for years without exploring every channel of it – some we still have not explored.  In most sections of the Nile in Uganda, the river is divided into multiple channels, solid mounds of pink granite and black ‘steel’ rock form very permanent islands and the river very slowly carves away at the African continent.  These islands, over thousands of years, have become heavily covered in vegetation.  Giant fig trees wrap their roots around the rocks and penetrate the cracks between them, ferns nestle amongst these, towering musisi are a favourite of the fruit bats and vines heavily drape over almost every island.  Which channel to choose, where to go; what is going to give us the best ride?

I was anxious to make the first jet-boat operation on the Nile work.  The boats were invented in our home country, New Zealand.  In our South Island, many rivers are shallow and braided and impassable by conventional propeller-powered boat.  The jet unit inhales water from the beneath the boat, compresses it and shoots about 20 litres per second from the stern of the boat.  Not only does this jet propel the boat forward at speeds up to 90 kilometres per hour, but it provides a means of steering the boat.  At these speeds the rapids do not need to be very big and we leave the largest rapids on the Nile to the rafts and kayaks.

Because the jet boat moves at speeds much faster than the river, we can race up and down the rapids and at times the entire boat leaves the water.  We have now found some of the most exciting and interesting runs I could ever have imagined, racing between the rock islands in the river, bouncing up swift flowing currents and drifting in shallow pools marvelling at the magnificence of the Nile.  One of the most exciting aspects of the jet-boat ride is the ‘buzz’ where we can race, at full speed, against the shore or a mid-stream rock and ‘buzz’ the rock with the bow of the boat at the last minute.  This is the time for the camera, as the expressions on the faces of the participants at this time is always one of sheer exaltation and surprise.  Brace yourself for the screams.

What makes Wild Nile Jet experience on the Nile so exciting is that it is an experience for everyone and some of our loyal supporters are no more than three years old.  Up until a year ago, options for the very young or older were limited to our family rafting trips.  These are incredible trips but the Wild Nile Jet ride is only 30 minutes long.  For those short on time, there can be no more exciting way to visit the Victorian source of the Nile.

]]> http://surfthesource.com/918/gavin-fahey/feed/ 0 http://surfthesource.com/914/josh-melcher-operations-manager/ http://surfthesource.com/914/josh-melcher-operations-manager/#comments Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:40:57 +0000 import http://adrift.ug/?p=914

‘I am not sure I can get up there?’ Josh called from below.  ‘Lets try without your pack’ I had returned.  We had just spent two nights high on Mt. Kaddam in Southern Karamoja looking for a route to the summit.  We were due to lead a commercial trip to the summit for ‘Focus Humanitarian Aid’ over New Year and the only local guides who knew their way to the summit were now too advanced in the years to climb themselves.   Dozens of ‘Kaddama’ climb the mountain every day to harvest ‘mirrar’ (a leaf widely chewed fresh throughout the East Africa trucking community for it’s stimulants).  However, the challenge for us was that the mirrar forests grow only about 1/3 of the way up the mountain and all of our ‘guides’ had never been further than this.  It was very unclear to us when we employed Dominic a few days before that he did not know his way to the summit.  We had been oblivious to a simple rule that later became more obvious, to get most sense for a mirrar harvester, it is best you talk to him early in the day before he starts chewing the drug.

The ‘mzee’ (respected elder) had sketched out a route in the sand, he had explained the route in the local language and it was clear from Dominic’s gestures that he understood.  However, two days later Dominic was looking tired, scared and increasingly unsure of himself.  ‘You will get blown off…the lightening will strike you….there are things up there that are not good’ and so went on a string of verbal warnings against our reaching the summit of the mountain.  We continued on……read more about our journey on the ‘Mountain of Mirrar’ next month as we attempt to summit despite the warnings of our guides and the chorus of calls from the Colobus monkey populations.

Josh is back for his third visit to Uganda and despite the recent challenges of ascents on Mt. Elgon (4310m) and Mt. Kaddam (3068m) the river operations are running smoother than ever.  Over our 13-years of operation in Uganda, we have built the capacity of our Ugandan crew and most of our river guides and ALL of our safety kayakers are now Ugandan.  They have seen dozens of visiting international guides over the years but there are few who demand more respect that Josh.  He understands our crew well, works with them smoothly and is able to deal with the team easily on a day-to-day basis.  Welcome back Josh.

Despite his great company in the mountains, Josh is most at home on the river.  He doesn’t like wearing much more than a pair of board shorts, a lifejacket and some sunscreen and this is not the ideal clothing for the mountains.  Josh particularly enjoyed his share of the drinking chocolate (in fact probably our share as well) but was disappointed at the lack of Heinz ketchup on the trips.  He can be sure that the Riverbase and on all the two day trips he runs, there is more than enough Heinz to accompany all of his meals.  You can be sure that the safety and quality of the Adrift rafting trips on the river are as good or perhaps even better than they ever have been.

It had rained very heavily the afternoon before and we had erected our tent in the rain, slightly anxious that the downpour might not stop before dark.  Bare topped and soon drenched the skin, we used several towels to mop the inside of the tent.  The thunderstorms had performed their wild dance across the hills of the Congo and had cleared the air. In the soft light of a new day, the ‘Snows of the Nile’ peeked very briefly from huge thunderheads that still threatened and in the foreground the Kazinga channel glistened, a silver ribbon between Lakes George and Edward.  Hippos snorted noisily from Lake Chibwera several hundred metres away and looking directly into the new sunrise, thousands of pink flamingos danced across Lake Nsenyi.

I could not think of a more enchanting site for a tented camp.  Brad and I wandered along the ridge marking sites for the new Adrift tented camp, ecstatic at the possibilities. Adrift have signed a concession agreement with Uganda Wildlife Authority to build a permanent tented camp on a ridge between two stunning crater lakes and we were working on the site plan.  We commented on a dozen or so Uganda Kob grazing nonchalantly at the base of the hill not more than one hundred metres from where we stood.  As I pressed the screen to mark the waypoint on my GPS, a shrill alarm whistle erupted from the grazing kobs and they scattered, running away from us.  I spilt some coffee and looked up to notice one of the kobs was entrapped by what I initially thought to be a poachers snare.  It had been widely discussed that our planned presence at Lake Chibwera would reduce small-time ‘bush-meat’ poaching.

Brad and I both looked in astonishment, sympathising with the kob’s predicament and wondering what on earth had ‘snared’ the kob.  A substantial flash of white underbelly and Brad said ‘…it’s a python’.  I spilt the rest of my coffee, ran along the ridge line to get Arch and Bay and witness one of Africa’s most remarkable hunters finish the job.  There was no way the big snake was letting go despite the powerful kicks of both rear legs, and the kob bleated for no more than ninety seconds before she was asphyxiated to death.

The python had struck from a small clump of long grass, probably tempted from the swamps of Lake Nsyeni by the wet grass and moist conditions.  The initial strike had given the giant Central African Rock Python, a firm grip of both rear legs of the kob (they usually go for the head or neck).  Renown for their vicious attacks, this fortunately keeps them in little demand for the western pet trade but makes them a significant predator of the kob, Uganda’s most prolific medium-sized antelope.  We estimate that the mighty serpent weighed over 100kgs and measured about 3.5 metres in length (unconfirmed reports suggest they may get as large as 7.5 metres in length!).  While I may not see this again for some time, the remotest possibility of witnessing another python attack are a huge incentive to go back to our Chibwera site and begin work on that tented camp.  We hope to have most of the camp completed by the end of this year so the occupants of tent no.7 can sip chilled gin and tonic in comfort while they wait for a repeat performance.

Extraordinary.  Unique.  Unforgettable.

There is nothing more rewarding than seeing a dream fulfilled.  One dream was to raft the Nile and after first casting my eyes across the river in 1986, I had promised myself I would return one day to raft it.  A second dream was to build unique accommodation on a mid-river island and this came about 10-years later in 1996, when Adrift made the first ever descent of the Victoria Nile in Uganda (the rapid section between Lakes Victoria and Kyoga) and I was struck by the beauty of the mid-river islands in the Nile.  This would give visitors a chance to see the many bird species who call the islands home, to encounter river otters and monitor lizards up close and to experience the power and majesty of the young River Nile.

Particularly those islands protected by huge rapids remained pristine, untouched and havens of bio-diversity.  In the 13-years, we have now been running the Nile, we have seen a human population explosion and a devastating de-forestation of the riverbanks and islands along the sections of river we raft.  Adrift started actively purchasing kabanja (squatters) rights to the islands early this century and part of a millenium goal to protect them.  At the heart of this conservation initiative is Wildwaters Lodge, an eco-lodge that will help protect these islands by creating direct benefits for the adjacent community.

Brad McLeay has taken on the challenge of building the lodge and is doing the most incredible job along with our construction team.  The logistics of building on an island in the middle of Kalagala Falls we underestimated.  Before we could even begin construction seriously, we have built over 500 metres of raised wooden walkways through the forest just to enable us to get the building supplies to site.  All the furniture is a unique design Brad has created incorporating materials from the island and even the wash basins are being carved from pink granite recovered from the island.  We already have bookings for May of this year when we open and hope to see there soon.