Riverside Centre - The Blog: April 2009

The best eating emporium in town!

Hey all,

Well I have just got back from two weeks on the White Nile.

Basically the river begins in a town called Jinga as the river flows out of lake Victoria- the first few kms are pretty tame and you begin to wonder what all the fuss is about- that is until you reach the Nile River Explorers camp and the whole river goes a bit mental!

View from NRE camp- you can just see ribcage, hump and Bujagali on the right

It is here that you see the true nature of this river- it is basically pool, drop rapids- but fed up on a healthy diet of steroids with at least 1600 cumecs tumbling downstream.

Most of the rapids are pretty staightforward and most stuff flushes through- its just that its big and if you get too far off line it has the potential to deal out some pretty impressive beatdown.

The river at NRE splits into several channels, all working at different water levels or offering up different levels of paddling. For instance the rafters and most paddlers run Ribcage while the more adventurous give Hump a go- or why not go test youself on Brickyard or Bladerunner? Hey if you have a screw loose check out Widowmaker! Basically there is a rapid and a way down for most levels of paddler and it is all easy enough to walk.

Ribcage on the left and Hump on the right

Bujagali

The rafts then run Bujagali and 50:50 before the epic Silverback- Dropping down the ramp into this rapid has to be one of the most impressive entries to pretty much guaranteed carnage I have ever run- this is one huge crashing wave train that you can either run down the guts or try and punch the right diagonals. I ran this top section 6 times and only dry headed Silverback twice- but enjoyed the beatdown all the same (the time 4 of us rafted togther and floated down the ramp I think resulted in some of the best beatdowns i have seen on a river in quite some time).

Looking back up Silverback (on the right) and Jungle Book (left)

This section from NRE to Silverback is short (you can do the whole run in well under an hour) but really packs a punch and you can hop on a boda boda back to the top and go again!

Kids below Bujagali

The lads hanging out below Silverback

The section after this is flat for a few km before reaching Overtime and then Itanda- this is a beast of a rapid with some big holes, but a fairly straightforward line once you know the entry point- just make sure you miss Cuban and The Bad Place!

This is the start of the day 2 section which is a great plat run containing Hair of the Dog (In my opinion a better wave than Nile Special offering up huge air potential) and Superhole, which is pretty much what is says on the tin.

Then its down to Nile Special- this wave is world reknowned for its potential. Its a big, surgey, bumpy ride with a small take off and landing area at tow on levels that gets better as the level rises through the evening. The tow rope on makes for a unique experience, but the wave is fickle and hard to master- get it right though and you fly! At lower levels their is Club wave (the third in the wave train) I came to love this surging, trashy, powerhouse of a wave and enjoyed several morning sessions going big and getting beaten in return.

Anya flipping out on Club

Towing on at Special

The place to stay for this is an Island owned by a bunch of Aussies called the Hairey Lemon- a kayakers paradise 10 mins from the wave. We also got to know a load of the locals and they threw a party for 2 guys staying in the village who were leaving (Vanya a russian and Andy a Canadian)- on the bank at Special they rigged up a PA, mixing Decks, lights, shelters, pig roasts, beer and 150 locals and had a massive party complete with 1am paddle on session at Special- an evening i wont forget in a hurry!

The only way onto the Hairy Lemon

All partied out

This place is great to visit the peaple are amazing and their is paddling to suit everyone- so go before they dam the river at Silverback and the beast is lost forever.