Everyone who has been to Uganda told me to go to Jinja and
go whitewater rafting. I was a little anxious about whitewater rafting, for
while I had a most excellent and enjoyable experience with my sister rafting
down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon this spring for 2 weeks, my last
experience rafting overseas was in Thailand years ago, and during one
particularly scary capsize, I became doubtful for my ability to come through
alive. (Those of you who’ve been on this email list long enough will remember
that entry!!)
I later found out from one of the American guides (though
most were Ugandan) that of the 20 rivers he’s rafted on, the Nile (this
stretch) is the safest because it’s so large volume there’s little chance of
smashing yourself against a rock, and the rapids are short followed by long
stretches of flat water. I did learn, however, that while it is generally
crocodile-free since the villagers kill any spare crocs, there was a 15 footer
that was captured and killed a few months ago here. Yikes! Maybe this is the
reason I had that song “Never Smile at a Crocodile” inexplicably stuck in my
head most of the way down…
Luckily for us, no crocs on this trip. Lots of capsizing,
though! Out of 8 rapids, we flipped on 4, and I fell out on an additional one.
At first it was terrifying, being washing-machined around in the spinning
water, bumping up against the raft, being sucked back under, and, luckily for
me, the second time popping up was never back under the raft. But by the end,
flipping was almost blasé, (but not quite). I was pretty much expecting it.
Especially when you see a huge standing wave that is twice as high as your
boat, with lapping foam coming down
generously over the crest, just begging to flip you over (which it
inevitably did.) Luckily the water was 28C, as was the air, so it was just a
refreshing little swim to get capsized. Sometimes in the flats we would just
jump out and swim for the heck of it.
Jinja is located at the source of the White Nile, as it
leaves Lake Victoria. I found what at first seemed to be a too-good-to-be-true
budget hotel, right on Lake Victoria at the Nile Headwaters! How awesome is
that?! Really awesome. The views were incredible, in the morning mist, watching
the sun set, just so gorgeous and peaceful. A kind and gentle Dr Jekyll. Except
at night. Night was an entirely other entity here at the Hotel Triangle. It’s
when it’s evil Mr Hyde side came out. It’s when the lake flies came out. They
are kind of like mayflies back home-big, but harmless. At least, that’s what I
had to keep telling myself, as I tried not to panic walking back that first
night after supper (in the dark) walking along the outdoor balcony to my place,
the crunch crunch crunch over hundreds
of lakefly bodies, the walls looked black and alive and swarming rather than
the painted white I knew them to be. I swatted at my face as they kept
entangling themselves in my hair and flying into my eyes, nose, and mouth.
See how beautiful the headwaters of the Nile are in daytime!
Still glorious at sunset! Little did I expect what was coming!
No I did not get any night photos. Sorry. The less time being mauled by bugs the better. Plus there was NO WAY I was getting out from under that mosquito net, no matter how tempting the photo....you'll just have to imagine.
I stepped into my room, turned on the light, and closed the
door, relieved to be out of the madness. WRONG ORDER. In the microseconds
between turning on the light and then shutting the door, I’d been invaded.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of flies were now in my room. I was starting to get
demoralized. I quickly let down my mosquito net, but to little avail, for there
were almost as many bugs inside the net as out. I put the net down anyhow and
went on about a 20 minute killing spree making my white sheets black with
polka-dotted black bug bodies. I then covered the sheet tightly over me to
prevent me from feeling any more creepy-crawlies (which worked except when they
crawled on my face, or up from under the sheets).
I think I might have fallen asleep, but woke up in what I
first thought was a panic attack. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. And of course
I hadn’t brought my inhalers with me on this short weekend trip. I just wanted
fresh air, but there was NO WAY I was going to open that door outside again,
and the windows had no screens, so that was out, too. I decided to just blast
the fan and try to lay outside of my sheets and calm myself. But my lungs were
still feeling really tight. Finally I found a Benadryl which I took for sleep
more than anything.
Somehow I fell asleep and in the morning it was almost like
nothing happened. Most of the bugs had disappeared in my room, some of their
bodies were littered on the floors. Same with outside. No indication of last
night’s infestation, except for the crunch
crunch crunch over the thousands of bodies that littered the ground, but
were already being swept away by hotel staff.
Next night I was prepared. Before I went out for dinner, I
tucked my net down. Coming back, I opened and shut my door lightening-quick,
not turning on the light. Still a disappointing amount of bugs, but hey, at
least there weren’t many in my bed! Still had that tight, uncomfortable
panicked feeling though, like I couldn’t breathe. But it didn’t feel like
anxiety tonight…again, I took a Benadryl and eventually fell asleep.
The mystery of the tight lungs was solved the next day. I
forgot something in my room after breakfast, and when I went back to get it, I
could barely enter the room, so strong was the stench of insecticide. I had to
go back a few doors, take a gulp of air, hold my breath, run inside, grab my
stuff, and back out before I breathed again. I tried to open the windows for
some aeration, but got scolded by the maid who told me it would let bugs in.
Good to know. Very good that I didn’t have some even more asthmatic friends of
mine stay with me! I left the next day.
But on a good note, Dr Jean had recommended a local Jinja artist to me. I instantly fell in love with Angelo's work and got him to commission a piece for me! So exciting! I've never commissioned anyone for anything. Sadly, my camera was out of batteries they day it was ready for pick-up but you'll be able to see it displayed in my condo soon :)
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| Angelo working hard on his paintings |
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