Hi Everyone!

Hi guys and girls! For those who don't know me, my name is Hugh and I've just started working in the shop at riverside now that Cath is moving on to the JR hospital. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone from the club that I haven't already bumped into.

As Rob said in an earlier post I've just got back from a 6 week trip to Uganda. I thought I'd post a few photos from the trip and let you know how awsome it is.

So I left on the 3rd of January with a mate from school, Paul Sopes (in the photo above I'm on the right and Scopes is on the left). We booked the tripwith 'Kayak the Nile'. If anyone is thinking about going out there, I highly recomend using these guys as they make it so easy! We started boating right away - on the morning of the 4th.

The first thing that you notice is that there is no shortage of huge rapids.

Above: Scopes running Kalagala and Bujagali (right line)

Me dropping into 'Blade Runner' previously known as Blade Breaker!

Green tree snake, photographed on the Hairy Lemon (right outside our tent!)

The wildlife is truly stunning! We spent 3 days on safari at murchison park. Here there is an incredible game park where we saw everything other than lions. Perhaps the biggest attraction here is the falls itself where almost all of the nile is channeled through a 5m wide gap where the river drops into the African Rift Valley.

But as you can see from the first two photos of the snake and dragon fly you don't have to go far to see amazing wildlife.

I think the main reason that I wanted to go to the White Nile was to surf on the Nile Special; this is a wave about 8-9 feet high that can deliver air time unlike any waves in the UK. To surf this wave however, you need to get the hang of the rope.

Once you've got the rope sorted its time to start throwing some stuff.

Below is a photo of me throwing a Pan-am on the nile Special.

Check out Peter Csonka doing a Clean Helix.

Oh and probably the best thing about kayaking in Uganda is there is no reason for wearing a kag!
The landscape of Uganda is really incredible, particularly at sun set.

Towards the end of our trip the water level dropped very low in the mornings (water levels can change depending on electricity requirements as the river is dam released). This meant that further down along the Nile special wave train Club wave began to work!

Scopes doing a 'donkey flip' on club.

Me learning how to 'Pistol Flip'.

It's always nice to do a bit of familiar low-volume play back at the Hairy Lemon Hole.

The people in Uganda are fantastic, they're friendly and really good fun. The picture above shows a few of the rope kids watching and apparently really enjoying the boating at the Nile Special.

Check out this video of our trip too (make sure you check it out with the HD option):

Look forward to meeting everyone.

Hugh