Surf and sunshine on the Nile
Having finished my teaching job in December, I have spent a few weeks remembering how to paddle again. The water and work situation together did not allow for many days on the river, however I am now making up for it! After Christmas I spent several days on Hurley on a good two, trying to get my blunt back and get my boating muscles back into use.
I have now arrived in Uganda and I am spending 4 weeks on the White Nile. There are 7 of us who travelled out from England together. We didn't all know each other and are all of different abilities, but we have been paddling well together - the Nile is a great river for both novices and experienced paddlers alike.
The first few days were spent staying at NRE and paddling down to Silverback, the water level is really low so the rapids were different to the last time I was here (Oct 2004), generally a lot smaller. There are also some different play features that aren't about at high levels.
We paddled the Day 2 trip down to Nile Special, unfortunately the water was too low for Vengeance (nice green wave at medium levels), and 'hair of the dog' (fast wave) was really difficult to get on. We finished at Nile Special, which has also been frustratingly low and very difficult to get onto (but very easy to flush off!). My Weather Witch ability may not be working for the guys at Hurley but it is certainly working for this river!
We have now spent a couple of days at 'The Hairy Lemon' campsite just near to the Nile Special. This place has grown a lot since I was last here - I previously loved the remoteness of it and just 4 or 5 people staying on the whole Island, although it is still pretty and remote there are currently around 20+ kayakers staying there!! Good business for Rob and Erin (the owners) though, so I'm happy it is working out well for them.
Unfortunately it doesn't look like the water level will be going up to high levels any time soon, so we won't be getting our late afternoon surfs on a green Mulalu wave (it is currently a hole). Hopefully the water levels will go up a bit though, it has been doing so for a short time each day, so we can at least get onto the wave for a few surfs! In the meantime we will be doing some more silverback runs and a day trip and hopefully a few back channels up at NRE, and of course some chilling in the sunshine!
I have now arrived in Uganda and I am spending 4 weeks on the White Nile. There are 7 of us who travelled out from England together. We didn't all know each other and are all of different abilities, but we have been paddling well together - the Nile is a great river for both novices and experienced paddlers alike.
The first few days were spent staying at NRE and paddling down to Silverback, the water level is really low so the rapids were different to the last time I was here (Oct 2004), generally a lot smaller. There are also some different play features that aren't about at high levels.
We paddled the Day 2 trip down to Nile Special, unfortunately the water was too low for Vengeance (nice green wave at medium levels), and 'hair of the dog' (fast wave) was really difficult to get on. We finished at Nile Special, which has also been frustratingly low and very difficult to get onto (but very easy to flush off!). My Weather Witch ability may not be working for the guys at Hurley but it is certainly working for this river!
We have now spent a couple of days at 'The Hairy Lemon' campsite just near to the Nile Special. This place has grown a lot since I was last here - I previously loved the remoteness of it and just 4 or 5 people staying on the whole Island, although it is still pretty and remote there are currently around 20+ kayakers staying there!! Good business for Rob and Erin (the owners) though, so I'm happy it is working out well for them.
Unfortunately it doesn't look like the water level will be going up to high levels any time soon, so we won't be getting our late afternoon surfs on a green Mulalu wave (it is currently a hole). Hopefully the water levels will go up a bit though, it has been doing so for a short time each day, so we can at least get onto the wave for a few surfs! In the meantime we will be doing some more silverback runs and a day trip and hopefully a few back channels up at NRE, and of course some chilling in the sunshine!
posted by flea at 12:53 pm 
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