Bungee-croc-death
Yesterday 8 of us got in a bus and travelled to Jinja, a small town about 2 hours East of Kampala, at the source of the Nile river.
When we arrived, we were given the option of bungee jumping right away or doing it the next morning. I was one of three people who decided to jump right away.
As I've said before, I am a huge wimp when it comes to this stuff. I had always assumed that I would never attempt a bungee jump. The jump was from a round, rickety tower suspended 44 metres above the Nile. Prince William bungeed off the same tower a few years ago. Apparently he'd just shown up unnannounced one day after flying into the tiny airport just outside Jinja.
One of the other volunteers, Sailesh, jumped first. He'd never done it before and he hesititated as he jumped, and ended up falling feet first with the cord tied around his ankles. As it tightened he flipped around head first which made him swing back and forth as he bounced. He wasn't badly hurt.
One of the guides strapped the cord to my legs, which were wrapped tightly in a blue towel with bindings around it. I shuffled up to the ledge, and looked down. 44 metres is a pretty long way. I feel like I switched off my brain because I don't remember any thoughts going through my head, my brain just logged observations while my body functioned on autopilot. The guide having to tell me several times to let go of the rail. Then spreading my arms out wide at my sides, leaning forward and then the air rushing by my ears as I fell head first towards the river. The dip in the water, bouncing, and then being lowered too fast into the raft at the bottom, leaving me swimming in the Nile with a bloody nose.
After the jump was white water rafting. I was much less scared of this, and when the guide did a quick survey of who was nervous I didn't put up my hand.
It was a 6 hour rafting trip, covering 30km of the Nile river. Along the way we would cover rapids ranging from grade 2 to grade 5. Grade 5 is the most powerful rapids you raft without serious risk of death. Grade 6 is considered too dangerous to raft, regardless of experience.
Everyone in the raft, 9 people in total, paddles hard into the rapids and just before you hit the biggest waves the guide yells get down, and everyone turns and crouches low into the inflatable raft to lower the centre of gravity and try and prevent the boat from flipping upside down. The first big rapids we hit were grade 4, and when the guide yelled get down I didn't crouch in time and a wave knocked me out of the raft. I was pushed underwater and into rocks which bruised and cut my knees and back. I got back into the boat bleeding and a little shaken up but ready to try again.
The next set of rapids was grade 5, and the boat was flipped up in the air and everyone was thrown out. At some point I bit into my lip and when I got into the raft again I had another cut to attend to. We went through some grade 2 and 3 rapids which were pretty relaxed and an hour or so later we came to another grade 5 area, and we were all flipped out again. I managed to hold onto the boat and I wasn't hurt.
I got to the point where I was dreading any of the higher grade rapids, and I ended up taking the safety boat for 2 sets. One was a 3-5 metre drop down a grade 5 waterfall amidst shallow rocks, and the other one I skipped was right at the end, which was a grade 5 that had a 98% flip rate. During one of the grade 3 rapids our raft flipped and I flew into the air and landed on my stomach, hard enough that 2 clips on my life vest were knocked undone. The landing winded me and I was immediately pulled underwater for about 8-10 seconds. I think I swallowed most of the Nile.
As you can probably tell, I don't plan to go rafting again anytime soon.
Other news: Ivan has been cleared of all charges relating to the stolen computer, which is a relief. I'm not sure how that happened, but he is no longer considered a suspect.
I've also discussed the idea of the games cafe with the charity, and they're interested, so if anyone could help me track down 4 of the original playstations and some games that would be greatly appreciated! I plan to start small and expand once the business model is proven. People here don't have much if any experience with computer games so the simpler the games the better probably.
I'm also looking into doing a series of shows at the Lumas Club in Kampala. I've been getting a very good reaction with the locals here and a series of shows could be a fun way to raise some money for projects.
I also went to the audition for the movie and I'm getting fitted for my costume on Monday. I'm playing one of 6 British ex-pats, and will also be playing a hostage in a scene being filmed in the main airport in Uganda. Then on Tuesday I have a meeting with the Ugandan director of Feed the Children, who is going to show me around some of the work they're doing here and apparently has some opportunities for me to help out as well. I'll keep y'all posted!
When we arrived, we were given the option of bungee jumping right away or doing it the next morning. I was one of three people who decided to jump right away.
As I've said before, I am a huge wimp when it comes to this stuff. I had always assumed that I would never attempt a bungee jump. The jump was from a round, rickety tower suspended 44 metres above the Nile. Prince William bungeed off the same tower a few years ago. Apparently he'd just shown up unnannounced one day after flying into the tiny airport just outside Jinja.
One of the other volunteers, Sailesh, jumped first. He'd never done it before and he hesititated as he jumped, and ended up falling feet first with the cord tied around his ankles. As it tightened he flipped around head first which made him swing back and forth as he bounced. He wasn't badly hurt.
One of the guides strapped the cord to my legs, which were wrapped tightly in a blue towel with bindings around it. I shuffled up to the ledge, and looked down. 44 metres is a pretty long way. I feel like I switched off my brain because I don't remember any thoughts going through my head, my brain just logged observations while my body functioned on autopilot. The guide having to tell me several times to let go of the rail. Then spreading my arms out wide at my sides, leaning forward and then the air rushing by my ears as I fell head first towards the river. The dip in the water, bouncing, and then being lowered too fast into the raft at the bottom, leaving me swimming in the Nile with a bloody nose.
After the jump was white water rafting. I was much less scared of this, and when the guide did a quick survey of who was nervous I didn't put up my hand.
It was a 6 hour rafting trip, covering 30km of the Nile river. Along the way we would cover rapids ranging from grade 2 to grade 5. Grade 5 is the most powerful rapids you raft without serious risk of death. Grade 6 is considered too dangerous to raft, regardless of experience.
Everyone in the raft, 9 people in total, paddles hard into the rapids and just before you hit the biggest waves the guide yells get down, and everyone turns and crouches low into the inflatable raft to lower the centre of gravity and try and prevent the boat from flipping upside down. The first big rapids we hit were grade 4, and when the guide yelled get down I didn't crouch in time and a wave knocked me out of the raft. I was pushed underwater and into rocks which bruised and cut my knees and back. I got back into the boat bleeding and a little shaken up but ready to try again.
The next set of rapids was grade 5, and the boat was flipped up in the air and everyone was thrown out. At some point I bit into my lip and when I got into the raft again I had another cut to attend to. We went through some grade 2 and 3 rapids which were pretty relaxed and an hour or so later we came to another grade 5 area, and we were all flipped out again. I managed to hold onto the boat and I wasn't hurt.
I got to the point where I was dreading any of the higher grade rapids, and I ended up taking the safety boat for 2 sets. One was a 3-5 metre drop down a grade 5 waterfall amidst shallow rocks, and the other one I skipped was right at the end, which was a grade 5 that had a 98% flip rate. During one of the grade 3 rapids our raft flipped and I flew into the air and landed on my stomach, hard enough that 2 clips on my life vest were knocked undone. The landing winded me and I was immediately pulled underwater for about 8-10 seconds. I think I swallowed most of the Nile.
As you can probably tell, I don't plan to go rafting again anytime soon.
Other news: Ivan has been cleared of all charges relating to the stolen computer, which is a relief. I'm not sure how that happened, but he is no longer considered a suspect.
I've also discussed the idea of the games cafe with the charity, and they're interested, so if anyone could help me track down 4 of the original playstations and some games that would be greatly appreciated! I plan to start small and expand once the business model is proven. People here don't have much if any experience with computer games so the simpler the games the better probably.
I'm also looking into doing a series of shows at the Lumas Club in Kampala. I've been getting a very good reaction with the locals here and a series of shows could be a fun way to raise some money for projects.
I also went to the audition for the movie and I'm getting fitted for my costume on Monday. I'm playing one of 6 British ex-pats, and will also be playing a hostage in a scene being filmed in the main airport in Uganda. Then on Tuesday I have a meeting with the Ugandan director of Feed the Children, who is going to show me around some of the work they're doing here and apparently has some opportunities for me to help out as well. I'll keep y'all posted!
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