I have just had the most fantastic weekend! We booked our trip through a company called Adrift, who, as you can see from their website (www.adrift.ug) are heavily endorsed by President Museveni, Geri Halliwell and our own Prince William... so they must be good.
We set off at 7am on an old coach and the journey took well over 3 hours. Most of us slept on the coach, but a particular highlight for me is when you stop at towns and everyone comes to the windows to sell you things.
I really enjoy this drive-through service, but it can be quite intimidating when you just ask for a soda and ten million pop through the window (into your face).
This picture is of my friends Beqy (left) and Doris (right) in this exact situation. We bought some barbecued bananas and they were delicious!
So we arrived at 10ish and had a disturbingly short health and safety talk... and then off we went! I always think that White Water Rafting is going to be something I'll hate as it contains so many elements that I dislike... physical exercise, extreme danger and rocks, possibility of drowning, having to look awful in a tatty life-jacket... the list goes on. But again (for the second, and I expect not final time in my life) I buckled under the rafting peer pressure and went along willingly.
The worst part for me is all the stuff you have to do at the beginning, practicing falling in and practicing capsizing. You wait on the boat, knowing it's about to happen! I hate that! But the water was so warm and the Nile is so deep that it's not really so bad at all. So now I will post an array of nice pictures for you to look at:
Unbelievably, I didn't fall out! Not once! I got out a couple of times, on my own terms, and had a swim through the flat parts. But after musing that "the Nile is very brown" and one of my shipmates suggesting that it was due to the algae and hippo poop, I soon got back in the boat. Really wish I hadn't swallowed so much!
In the evening we went to the strangest nightclub in the world in Jinja. It was a shopping centre, but at the stairs to go to the floor above there was a metal detector and a bouncer. Then upstairs, where you imagine there to be more shops there was a VERY strange room where about 50 people were sat at desks watching the Champions League Final. Another room where there again was the football on, but this one had a bar and a band (playing keyboards with the sound set to 'steel drum'), but strangely, you had to buy your drinks outside from a lady with a crate of beer. In another room was a really expensive casino. Then later we went into another room which was a proper nightclub (or as proper as you can get out here) which really reminded me of Planets in Herne Bay.
We didn't stay out too late, but everyone had bad headaches in morning. We then trotted along to Jinja Nile Resort and paid 6000UGX (<£2) to use the pool for the day. It was a really nice one where the bar was at pool level and you can swim right up and order a drink! Like on a travel show!
Then Dan, the nutter, went and did a bungee jump. It was terrifying to watch! I will NEVER do it! not in a million years.
We left Jinja at 5pm, and because of limited space in my friend, Marvin's car, 4 people had to catch the dun-dun-dun Public Bus. I volunteered as I was desperate to catch a public bus! They're called matatu's and totally fun! Especially if you're really crammed in with loads of bags! Sadly there was a by-election in Mukono which meant that the buses weren't running all the way to Kampala because of security. So we got part of the way and then had to meet up with the car that we originally "couldn't all fit in" and cram in.
Then we drove straight into LOTS OF JAM!!! And sat in it for 5 hours!
Marvin, however is the most cheerful driver in the world and smiled as we were overtaken by presidential vehicles, ambulances and riot police, whilst cheekily trying to undercut the big lorries in transit.
When I got home, I was ready for bed.
As I am now.
Sweet dreams!
We set off at 7am on an old coach and the journey took well over 3 hours. Most of us slept on the coach, but a particular highlight for me is when you stop at towns and everyone comes to the windows to sell you things.
I really enjoy this drive-through service, but it can be quite intimidating when you just ask for a soda and ten million pop through the window (into your face).
This picture is of my friends Beqy (left) and Doris (right) in this exact situation. We bought some barbecued bananas and they were delicious!So we arrived at 10ish and had a disturbingly short health and safety talk... and then off we went! I always think that White Water Rafting is going to be something I'll hate as it contains so many elements that I dislike... physical exercise, extreme danger and rocks, possibility of drowning, having to look awful in a tatty life-jacket... the list goes on. But again (for the second, and I expect not final time in my life) I buckled under the rafting peer pressure and went along willingly.
The worst part for me is all the stuff you have to do at the beginning, practicing falling in and practicing capsizing. You wait on the boat, knowing it's about to happen! I hate that! But the water was so warm and the Nile is so deep that it's not really so bad at all. So now I will post an array of nice pictures for you to look at:
Unbelievably, I didn't fall out! Not once! I got out a couple of times, on my own terms, and had a swim through the flat parts. But after musing that "the Nile is very brown" and one of my shipmates suggesting that it was due to the algae and hippo poop, I soon got back in the boat. Really wish I hadn't swallowed so much!In the evening we went to the strangest nightclub in the world in Jinja. It was a shopping centre, but at the stairs to go to the floor above there was a metal detector and a bouncer. Then upstairs, where you imagine there to be more shops there was a VERY strange room where about 50 people were sat at desks watching the Champions League Final. Another room where there again was the football on, but this one had a bar and a band (playing keyboards with the sound set to 'steel drum'), but strangely, you had to buy your drinks outside from a lady with a crate of beer. In another room was a really expensive casino. Then later we went into another room which was a proper nightclub (or as proper as you can get out here) which really reminded me of Planets in Herne Bay.
We didn't stay out too late, but everyone had bad headaches in morning. We then trotted along to Jinja Nile Resort and paid 6000UGX (<£2) to use the pool for the day. It was a really nice one where the bar was at pool level and you can swim right up and order a drink! Like on a travel show!
Then Dan, the nutter, went and did a bungee jump. It was terrifying to watch! I will NEVER do it! not in a million years.
We left Jinja at 5pm, and because of limited space in my friend, Marvin's car, 4 people had to catch the dun-dun-dun Public Bus. I volunteered as I was desperate to catch a public bus! They're called matatu's and totally fun! Especially if you're really crammed in with loads of bags! Sadly there was a by-election in Mukono which meant that the buses weren't running all the way to Kampala because of security. So we got part of the way and then had to meet up with the car that we originally "couldn't all fit in" and cram in.Then we drove straight into LOTS OF JAM!!! And sat in it for 5 hours!
Marvin, however is the most cheerful driver in the world and smiled as we were overtaken by presidential vehicles, ambulances and riot police, whilst cheekily trying to undercut the big lorries in transit.
When I got home, I was ready for bed.
As I am now.
Sweet dreams!
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