Nile High Bungee: 3, 2, 1....BUNGEE!!

Having recovered from the previous day of white water rafting, the prospect of the bungee jump loomed.

Nile High Bungee

The bungee platform overlooked the dining area. I sat having breakfast, thinking of my previous bungee jump four years ago. I remember the speed of the fall. There is no "I can fly!" feeling, you plummet like a stone. It is terrifying but the thrill is incredible.

I climbed up the steps to the platform. I remember thinking Why is my heart beating so hard? Have I really become so unfit in Uganda that I cannot walk up a flight of stairs? My palms were sweating and my legs were shaking. Despite this, I believe that part of the thrill of a bungee jump is conquering your fear.

I was instructed to sit down and a towel was wrapped around my ankles to prevent friction burn. I was given a harness, where the bungee guy explained that the bungee was tied on the feet and clipped at the waist as a back-up system.
He asked me where I was from. I replied "Thailand". He pauses and says "they sent me to jail when I was there". I thought...shit, I've pissed him off, now he's remembering some bitter memory associated with Thailand and he'll avenge it with my bungee death".

Defying any sense of rationality, I got up as instructed and hopped over to the open platform with my feet tied tightly together.  He told me to hold onto the bar above my head, and shuffle forward until my toes hang over the edge. It was here the fear trebled tenfold, and his instructions blurred into meaningless jargon. 
Before I could gather my thoughts, 3, 2, 1.....BUNGEE! was shouted from behind and ignoring any sense of self preservation, I leapt. 

3, 2, 1....BUNGEE!!!!

Free-falling is a terrifying yet brilliant thrill. I remember feeling a crazy sense of relief when I felt the bungee cord catch me, so much so that I started laughing hysterically whilst bouncing around in the air (hopefully the spectators didn't think I was crazy).

I was lowered onto a waiting raft, where the guys joke "you're alive". Overall, Bungee Jumping is a huge, huge rush. The fear factor, the jump and the after feeling all make up a memory of a lifetime.

Bungee Details

• Company: Adrift (Nile High Bungee)
• Cost: $70 (£40 - £45)
• Height: 150 feet (45m)
• Tips: I opted for the water touch. Although I fell to around a inch above the water, I just missed it with my finger-tips. The guide said to never look at the water and make sure your arms/hands break the water first. 
• The bungee is incredibly fun! The worse part of the jump is the build up and leaping off, the actual fall and the rebound is an experience like no other. 

Bungee Platform

White Water Rafting, Adrift, Uganda.

$125 (£80.00) for:

• One and a half hour transfer from Kampala to Jinja.
• Breakfast, lunch, dinner & drinks.
• One night camping in Jinja.
• And of course a full day of intense white water rafting!

7:00am was the pick up time for white water rafting at Backpackers hostel, in Kampala. The night before, I met 2 Canadian medical students also going on the trip with me. The choice was 'Mild', 'Wild' or 'Extreme'? We agreed on Extreme of course!

We trundled through the morning traffic in Kampala, stopping at various hostels including Red Chilli which I had to move out of the night before because of a block booking. 
Upon arrival in Jinja, we were greeted by an enthusiastic, topless guide. From here; helmets, life jackets and paddles were distributed, we were divided into groups and each assigned a guide. 
Our group had 3 guys, 5 girls and Sadul as our lovely guide! 

Breakfast consisted of sausages, battered whole eggs, bananas and bottles of water served in a 'grab and go' basis. After breakfast, we were led straight to the water to practice some safety drills and then commerced the most wildest and most exhilarating grade 3 - 5 white water rafting Uganda has to offer!

Morning Rafting
The morning session began with 5 rapids through an estimated 15km of river. We warmed up with rapids grade 3 - 5, finishing with the notorious 'Bad Place'. 

Warm up fun rapids.

Grade 4/5.

Rescue Kayakers watch from the side.

Relief that we didn't capsize! :).

We paddled for around half an hour down a calm stretch of river, awaiting the next rapid.

Me and the guys swam down a portion of the river, aided by our life jackets alongside the boat. The water temperature was perfect and the backdrop was incredible. We floated past beautiful landscape, with different species of birds everywhere. There was a tree in the middle of the river where thousands of bats flew out from the branches....It is simple sights such as these which makes travelling so wonderful and free. 

Five minutes after being pulled into the boat (it was very hard to pull yourself up from the water!), we saw a large snake glide past on the surface of the water. We felt fear and utmost relief. We were lucky that we didn't encounter it when we were swimming!

We approached the 'Itanda' and the 'Bad Place'. From a distance, the rapid looked like a waterfall! The guide told us to paddle to the bank, as it was too dangerous to raft through the upper section, which was a grade 6 rapid.
We told him we were up for it, and he dismissed immediately, merely stating that "we could die". (To this day I am unsure if he was serious or not).

Our raft was lifted up by the porters, we clambered back and then came The Bad Place......

Ready, Steady, Go! 

I cannot completely recall what happened, other then utter mayhem! We rafted hard, straight into 'giant hole' that is the Bad Place. I don't know if we capsized, or if I was just dragged out by the force of the rapids.

The more you struggle, the deeper the rapid claims you. I fell into blind panic as I was caught in the undertow of the water, swallowing more of the Nile water then I'd ever want to. The paddle was torn from my hands. I'd bob up temporarily for a gasp of breath, only to be dragged under the water again by the rapids. I can only describe it as a 'washing machine' effect, you are being pulled and pushed by the water with completely no control of where you want to go.
There was a moment where I thought I would drown, until I felt a yank on the scuff of my life jacket. A rescue kayaker pulled me out of the rapid and told me to hold tightly onto his boat.

Grade 5 - The 'Bad Place'

He navigated his way across the rapids to calmer water. He asked me if I was OK and pointed out that I had a nosebleed. It was then I remembered that in the midst of chaos, I was headbutted by a helmet when the water threw us all out.

Our guide later informed us that we rafted straight into the most powerful rapids of The Bad Place, with half the boat falling out on the first wave and everyone else falling out on the second.

Afternoon rafting 
The 5 girls left in the afternoon, having only booked the half day rafting. One of the Canadian students left for the bungee jump, leaving our group with just me, Matt, Will & our guide, Sadul.
We moved into a smaller boat with just the 4 of us. Less weight in the boat = higher likelihood of capsizing!! The afternoon session consisted of 4 rapids grade 4 - 5 and around 10km of river. We capsized on around half of the rapids, with our boat becoming nothing more then a toy within the currents. 
One of the rapids was 'vortex' like, plunging the rafter deep in the water  that is perhaps 5 - 10 seconds in reality, but what feels like a complete eternity underwater.
With less people, Sadul was more lenient and he let us surf the rapids and even tackle some of them twice! There was no fear, only thrill. We were happy to capsize, merely enjoying the added adrenaline rush of being inside the rapids. 

3 out of 8 rafters left!

Afternoon Rafting

The last rapid!

With the day drawing to an end, we finished with a BBQ, a transfer to the Jinja campsite and the memories of an experience of a life-time. 

White Water rafting was terrifying, intensive and an exciting thrill that I cannot wait to do again! 

Links
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rxv5v8l_kVs
(Video of The Bad Place Rapid)

http://adrift.ug/adventures/white-water-rafting/guide-to-the-rapids/
(Guide to the Rapids & link to Adrift)

Getting up to mischief, as usual.

The Short Story
Here it is in a nut shell: Rock-o-nore, went climbing on a extremely erosive cliff, got reported by a member of public and rescued by the coast guard search and rescue team very near the top.

I don't really know why I'm blogging this really, it's a secret, I'm not telling my parents. I don't want the lecture: condemning my actions, you are careless, you're a girl so you have to be careful (Asian mentality).
This is just for a means of remembering it and definitely in the list of some of the crazy yet exhilarating things I've done.

The Full Story
Me and my sister have planned for ages to go to the beach together! We looked up the low tide tables for Hastings and walked to Rock-o-Nore, arriving about 10:00am to an absolutely beautiful beach setting.

Rock-o-Nore, Hastings! 

We ignored the warning sign of course, hence the first move that gets the ball rolling for our crazy little adventure....

Who conforms to signs anyway :D 

I saw the cliff. It looked easy from the bottom. The mere sight reawakened my inner stirrings for adventure and adrenaline! The thought of scaling all the way from the beach, up to the East Hill Country Park, woaah! Hence I announce the idea and we clamber up a few metres. It was easy and felt a little dangerous. Just a brilliant thrill so we continued. We learnt from the first few metres that the rock was extremely erosive, basically comparable to crushing a sandy stone in your hand. Did we turn back? naah! 

As we got higher, the crazy lingering fear increased, my legs started shaking and cliff inclined incredibly sharply to the point where it was not possible to stand on two feet securely, requiring four points of contact (hands and feet). 30% of the way up, we came across a extremely hard bit to climb. Literally requiring brute strength (pulling up body weight on extremely crappy crumbly handholds), a bit of sheer luck and a lot of sisterly encouragement. We surpassed this bit, then it kicked in: there was no turning back. There was no way in hell I would be able to get down safely. 

My lovely sister (the only person in the world who would want to do things like this with me)

A crumbled rock (tennis ball size) fell on my arm during this. Not hard enough to do damage but enough to scare the wits out of me. I was just lucky it wasn't my head! :). We hear a shout. There's a man and his son down on the rocky beach, warning us that it was very dangerous. We tell him we're ok and continue upwards.

Safe sitting bit :)

50% high. A dog walker stands watching us, probably thinking 'stupid teenagers'. The most difficult part of the climb here. I managed to give my sister a boost up using my hands positioned on my shoulder for support, then it was my turn, I had no boost :P. Just a single foothold and nothing to grasp my hands on. I literally went through every emotion here: frustration, anger, fear, determination, enthusiasm etc etc! I admit it. It took me at least twenty minutes to get past this mere bit. I just couldn't do it. Everything I tried to hold onto crumbled in my fingers and there were no plants to grab like earlier on. My sister couldn't reach me to pull me up, merely risking herself if I pulled too hard and if she leant over too far. 

Tah dah!! The brain wave, I took off my red hooded jacket, we doubled it over to prevent ripping and I handed her one end. A count in, a massive exertion in effort and WOO. I crawl up in a very undignified manner, lightly scraping my arms but we're here! Past the most horrible bit of the climb.

Here, the cliff gets extremely, extremely steep. We sit down, and literally slide our way up, using our bums as the 'anchor' and our feet and hands for moving and stability. We hear another shout. There's two people in blue overalls, helmets and with binoculars. We're too far up to hear what they're shouting, so we merely give the 'OK' hand signal and continue onwards. My first reaction: annoyance. We don't need help. We're nearly there. I wonder who called them etc etc. 

WE'RE HERE!!! THE TOP. or not. I was deceived. We crawled through the small trees and plant growth at the top and find a small tent and fire! There is a homely flower decoration stuck in the tree and old coffee pots on a 'log' table. The site looks very, very recent. I still wonder to this day how the person got there and how they managed to bring camping things to this location.

Undergrowth near the top 

We continue upwards, not so much on a cliff anymore, just a very very steep/slippery fine stoney hill. There are a lot of plants and we realise the way forward is blocked up by prickly plants and thorny blackberry bushes. We're so near the East Hill! There's plants!!! We shuffle along the extremely steep hill. It is stoney other then the odd growth of horrible spikey plants that put tiny splinters in your hands when you touch them. 

We reach the clearing I was aiming for, and see a 30 ft crumbly cliff-face. I knew East Hill was here. Then there's a shout. There's a man in blue overalls and a helmet. He asks if we're ok and to sit down somewhere safely and that his team are here. I do what he says, thinking garrgghhh!!! How did you find us all the way here. I was so near the top and wanted to scale it without help. 

We wait for about half an hour. I check the time and realise there is no phone signal here. My bellys rumbling because I left home without breakfast. The guy is setting up some kind of tripod and a lot of ropes. 

As he abseils down, we watch and the cliff crumbles everywhere, He tells us quickly to turn around to duck our heads to protect from falling debris. He's talking on his radio again, referring to me and my sister as "the two casualties". Heheheh. We weren't hurt or anything. 

He reaches us, says he's glad to find us unscathed. He attaches a harness on me and a million ropes and hands me a pair of goggles and helmet to wear. Jeez, safety or what? 

We begin to abseil up, while my sister waits. Then it dawns to me, there was absolutely, no way up. No foot holds/grabs. Just nothing but a 30ft crumbly cliff face. I realise then that me and my sister would've been stuck here and I'm up suddenly really grateful that they followed us here. I mumble my thanks to him, a little embarrassed of this whole search and rescue thing. 

I clamper over the top, the ropes quite taunt. I notice a digital camera filming. Grr I wish they didn't take photos/film this. Then I realise, WTF?! There's a team of eight of them looking for two of us! I immediately feel really shy, one of the guys ask if I'm ok then tells me to sit in the corner. I watch them work as a team, bringing up my sister. 

I make conversation, asking one guy how they found us. (East Hill is MASSIVE). He said with difficulty, and said they sent out a lifeboat to help work out our location on the cliff when the undergrowth covered us from view at the bottom. There's one lady amongst the guys, and she asks why we 'ran away' from them midway up the cliff. We didn't run away! I told her I thought we were very nearly at the top and were unable to come down anyway.

I see my sister come up and the guy asks me to write down both our names, addresses and age. We walked through the undergrowth/blackberry bushes that looked very recently hacked at and they drove us back home  in their coastguard jeep thing.  

Reflections

• I know it was stupid and dangerous, yet extremely exhilarating, I felt extremely energetic/adrenalised for the rest of the day.
• The coastguards were all volunteers. They found us again near the top and did such a wonderful job. The cliff-face was impossible to climb and extremely brittle. We had no phone signal and would've literally been stuck there without their help.
• We climbed and looked down, the tide was in. Reckless, I know.
• They didn't threaten to tell our parents. They didn't tell us off for climbing crumbly cliffs, nor did we get a 'slap on the wrist'. They genuinely were there just to help us when we really needed it and I'm really grateful for that. They did a brilliant job :).
• Cliff climbing is fun, but don't do it. It is very dangerous and it was merely luck that I got up there unscathed.
• I'm so thankful a random member of public phoned the coastguard when they saw us, otherwise what would we have done? I will always bare this in mind when I'm out and about. The 'I'll mind my own businss' mentality never helps anyone and it was out of a random guy's good will that the coastguard knew we were there. 

Low Tide....

High Tide...