A lifetime experience to remember! Are you traveling to or planning to travel to Uganda? What is on your agenda of adventure activities? How about river rafting on a bamboo raft? In our experience river rafting in Uganda and particularly at the source of the Nile in Jinja is an unforgettable lifetime experience and ‘not to be missed’ activity, especially if you love water sports.
I travel a lot and from every place, I try to take away the best of the experiences on offer. In some places there are a lot of activities to do, in others, I just enjoy nature and relax. Personally, I do prefer to try activities and not just spend my whole time relaxing watching skies. Vacations mean travel time to me and being together with family and friends. I love cruises on fresh waters especially with falls and rapids like here, enjoying the countryside while sailing through backwaters.
In Uganda, one of my favorite places to go is Jinja. The scenic beauty, the various attraction s on your way to Jinja which include Mabira forest, the various sugar cane plantains and the overall scenic view. However, I am an outgoing person and a bit of an action-adventure so the last time I visited Uganda, the first day was awesome, but the next day I started feeling a bit bored due to the fact that I didn’t know where to go and how to spend my time. Luckily I met a tour guide who also happens to be a coordinator of eco-tourism in the country. He told me about a company that specializes in arranging outdoor activity programs and off road tours in Uganda. The great thing about this company is that they offer fully customized packages. You can choose any date, time, location and duration, and they make it happen for you.
White water Rafting
Uganda offers white water rafting at River Nile in Jinja located just 60km from Kampala-the capital city.Jinja is a small picturesque village with gushing rivers and whistling valley scenery. River Nile is not that fast or furious. It gives you more of a lake like experience while rafting. The water current is slow and a check dam makes it even slower. The river finally ends in Egypt another country.
Typically, 5 people are allowed to ride together, but sometimes they also allow for 6. All depends on how much weight a raft can carry and the guides take care of that. The river although calm, is really deep in some areas which we experienced while rafting. Listen to your guide; it’s important for your safety. Also, for your safety, they will have another raft following with a lifeguard on duty.
The rafting takes about 1 hour or a little more. In our case, they extended the session for 1 more additional hour for which we were truly thankful. This rafting sailed us through the streams, in some places the river is truly deep but most of the way we found it to be shallow. The ride was awesome and once we finished the only thought in our minds was to revisit the place again on our next vacation. The fun part, which we never shall forget, was when we stopped at a safe location and the sailor made the raft turn; we all fell into water! Everyone got wet and we laughed a lot knowing it was a deliberate act to add extra fun. The river water is so clean that one feels like drinking directly from the crystal clear streams.
Booking & Tariff
During busy days when it is tourist time, it is advisable to book rafting sessions 1 or 2 days in advance, so that you won’t need to wait for others to finish their ride.
White water rafting in Jinja is a thrilling experience that you can enjoy on a Uganda safari. This is an adventure you will remember your whole life. So why not take a deep breath, pack your bags and hit the road!
The Cost is relatively manageable. Maximum 5-6 people can be accommodated in a raft. You will have a lifeguard/guide/helper in the raft with you throughout the cruise.
Fishing
The one thing we did miss out on this trip was fishing. Our group was keen to catch some fish and cook it for our supper, but the guide told us that there was not many fish in that particular zone. He suggested an area where we could enjoy fishing but, unfortunately, we could not make it because of time constraints.
Though we were not able to go fishing, we did, however, experience some thrilling off-road jeep driving which included visiting some other tourist attractions in the same locality like Bujagalifalls,the source of the Nile as well as Masese fishing grounds.