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What @ low water still has more…the White Nile!!!

The White Nile has seen a remarkably large amount of traffic (international boaters) for somewhere as deep and remote as central Africa. The internet is saturated with pictures, videos and blogs of this awesome river (and who could blame them), so much so that I felt like I knew the line down Itanda before even setting foot in Uganda (as it turned out I didn’t).

So, I then had the tough task of writing a trip report that would (atleast try and) be different from what you have all read before.

Unless you’re a paddler that has been living in the bundu for the last coupla years you have no doubt heard about the dam construction that will completely wipe out all the rapids from Bujagali to Silverback. Upon learning all this I made it my mission to get up and experience the Nile before it is completely gone.

But this is where my mistake came in (so relax Sam) - many people believe that once the dam construction is complete there will be no point visiting Uganda anymore. The truth is - though we might be losing Bujagali to Silverback - there is still world class whitewater which, may be affected, but not destroyed by the dam. This will include the section from Overtime and Dead Dutchman rapid to the triple crown channels (Kalagala, Hypoxia, Itanda), along with the entire day two stretch will be there, which includes the Nile Special and Malalu. There is also the optimistic hope that the dam might create another epic playwave somewhere along the stretch, although this might be very wishful thinking. Speaking to Jamie from Kayakthenile.com, I was told that the dam may not eliminate the back channel rapids by Bujagali, so those who would like to scare themselves on Widowmaker may still have the opportunity.

view from NRE

I arrived late on Thursday night, my hair still standing on end after countless near miss accidents from Entebbe to Jinja - and I maintain I was more afraid on that night drive than I was at anytime on the river. What greeted me was a 500ml Club Pilsener before I even had the chance to take my boat off of the car roof, curtusy of Chris Lee (the enthusiastic NRE video boater and good friend).

My first day on the river was fuelled by a major hangover and I was shown the lines by Dan Griffin, who was feeling even worse than I. Dan an Irish paddler who has just finished varsity and we became rather close mates over a short period of time and I was glad to have someone like him as my own personal guide; over three months in Uganda Dan had run all of the toughies, including Widowmaker, Hypoxia, Dead Dutchman and something like 17 runs of Itanda, not a half bad summer in my opinion.

Unfortunately, the levels were perfect right up until a coupla days before my arrival when it dropped. So what I had available was a tow-on Nile Special and rapids that weren’t runnable in the form of Widowmaker, Dead Dutchman and Hypoxia (which I can’t say I was too sad about anyway). My first run from Bujagali to Silverback was taken at a leisurely pace with a hefty beating at the bottom of Bujagali Falls to clear the sinuses. During the afternoon, we checked out some of the back channels and ran Brickyard and Escape Hatch.

Escape Hatch is Craig’s favourite rapid on the river and he made me swear I’d run it. It didn’t disapoint, a really fun and technical line, something different from the common one move rapids that make up so much of the big volume rivers. In order to run Escape Hatch a paddler needs to paddle the lead in to Widowmaker and then make a scary ferry across it to make a channel on the left and avoid one of the burliest rapids on the river- hence the name Escape Hatch.

Widowmaker lead in

Heading for Escape Hatch

Scott in Escape Hatch

Dan and I, both, promised ourselves my second night would be a quiet one and then in the morning be fresh and ready for our matatu (taxi) to the Hairy Lemon. As it turned out, 2 beers turned to 4 and 4 beers turned to shots and before we knew it, it was 6am and getting light. With my second hangover in 2 days we piled our boats onto the matatu, grabbed a few chapatis (local gourmet pancakes) and were on our way.

Matatu waiting to take us to the Hairy Lemon

Whenever, I make a trip to one of these big volume rivers (Zambezi or Nile) I always seem to run into a crowd of Irishmen and always have a grand ol’ time - not only was I jamming with Dan but also met up with Kate Harris, from team Doubleyouess, and her boyfriend Furgil. The original idea was to spend two nights at the Hairy Lemon - but tow-on Nile Special proved to be a lot more fun and the atmosphere at the Lemon far more relaxing than I originally anticipated - so two nights turned into three which turned into four.

As for the Nile Special, I might not have caught it at optimal levels but there was still enough of it to beat nearly any wave on the planet…once you got the hang of the tow-rope, of coarse. As my average day went on the Hairy Lemon, I would wake up have breakfast go and paddle Club Wave below Nile Special, come back have lunch and chill for the afternoon before the levels would rise and Nile Special would come in.

: Scott getting some hangtime

Dan with a massive blunt

going for the clean

To give you an idea just how relaxing the Hairy Lemon is, Sam Ward is convinced that Dan Griffin had taken chilling to the extreme - during his time in Uganda Dan had aquired Deep Vein Thrombosis, now this was a while after his flight over and Sam’s theory came from Dan spending too much time chillin’ at the lemon, so much so that it would endanger his life.

I went over with a medium Fluid Nemesis, this had its pros and cons for me (being a smaller paddler). A Con being that I would be more retentive in big holes that I wouldn’t want to be in but on the plus side of that I could cruise over all the burly boil lines with ease. Another was that the boat was a bit big for me to stick the more technical moves like helixes and clean blunts but a BIG pro was that the added volume combined with my lighter weight meant massive airtime. So next time you are looking at boat sizes be sure to weigh up what you’d like to be achieving when you are on the water and choose your weapon accordingly.

Airscrews were aplenty

Scott with nice righty

Dan smiling at the green water below

: Giving the Nemesis hull some evening sun

volume + light weight = lift

After five days of big air and unhealthy chilling it was time to head back to NRE. On our way back we stopped by Kalagala for a quick park n’ huck. I apologise for the poor picture quality but all I had with me was a video camera, but it does give you a fair idea just how low the levels were.

plugging Kalagala falls

Undoubtedly, my favourite rapid on the river was Itanda. People often associate it with #9 on the Zambezi but I’d prefer to compare it to #7 at higher levels. It is long, big and technical with lots of have-to-make moves throughout it. Getting to the bottom for the first time gives you such a feeling of accomplishment. I was lucky enough to go back the next day to see an increase in the water levels which makes the rapid all the more impressive and scary. It puts a small smile on my face to know that Itanda will still be around long after the dam has been completed because I’d go back to Uganda just for that experience only.

Scott following Will Clark down the entrance ramp of Itanda

making the move to ride the pencil sharpener on Itanda rapid

avoiding the cuban

threading between the Ashtray and the Bad Place to complete Itanda

My last few days I spent re-doing the Bujagali - Silverback run in an attempt to get my fill before they disapear forever. It was quite fitting that on my last day on the river that I completely mess up the entrance to Escape Hatch and nearly ended up running a very gnarly Widowmaker, this was followed by an almighty thrashing in Silverback, which I took as possibly one final good-bye.

Just a quick word on the kit I used; I was thourally impressed with the new GOYA recce PFD I was using, its low cut and clever straps makes the jacket hug the body tightly and doesn’t inhibit movement whatsover; more over the bouyancy is fantastic and would feel safe no matter the down-time I am faced with. I went over with the new Maxpaddle whitewater paddles and again the blades performed brilliantly, especially when playing on Nile Special; it is going to be a fantastic paddle when the crank shaft is introduced into the market. As I mentioned before the Fluid Nemesis performed amazingly and next time i’ll look to take a small size and make a proper comparison. Snapdragon spraydecks have proven themselves time and time again with the best in the world and it was great having peace of mind when paddling into some of the biggest rapids around.

paddling toward the Hump

in the thick of Silverback

getting effed in the widowmaker lead-in

some more big air on the Special

: splashing out in the evening sun

Well, I’ve rambled on for a long time now about things you may well have read countless times before. But if you are to take anything from this article it is that the Dam might be ruining a good stretch of whitewater but it is only a minor stretch on the grand scheme of things and the mighty White Nile will still have a lot to offer kayakers for many years to come.

So until next time

Good lines and Big Air

Scotty R