Rafting down the Nile River!

So this past Saturday a group of us decided to go rafting on the Nile. We went Grade 5. I have never been rafting before so I had no idea what to expect. We decided to do Grade 5 cause we figured, well we are already rafting on the Nile River, we might as well just go all out – so we did.

We got there and ate breakfast. Then we had to get in groups of seven and tell the man if we wanted to go mild or crazy. In the end this meant do you want your raft guide to flip you… We did not know it meant that. So Lindsey, Alayna, Leah, Becky, Grace, Jen, and I all yell CRAZY. The man completely in charge of everything must have thought that we were funny or something, cause he looks at us and then goes… You guys are with me! So we are super excited.

We start off last. As our guy was the main man, he had to make sure everyone else got out ok before his raft went. The whole day was a love - hate relationship with him. I got pushed off of the raft in the first five minutes that we were on it. He was teaching us how to ‘get down’ into the raft so that we would not fall out. So he used me as an example of what will happen if you do not get down fast enough. He tells me to fall out of the boat…. I say WHAT? And he just pushes me out, and then goes, why are you not holding on to the rope… Uhhhh…. It was funny. They he taught us – again using me how to pull each other up out of the water using our life vests. Our life vests were so so tight on us. They had to be so that we could pull each other out. We had helmets too – so no worries it was safe! Then we got taught what to do if we flipped. So we all held on the rope as out guide – Doug – flipped us over. Then he told us to get back in the boat… Not one of us could pull ourselves up, that is when we became useless he said haha.

After practicing how to paddle, fall out, pull each other out of the water, etc… We got to our first rapid. It was only a grade 2, but a taste of everything. We actually got told to jump out of the boat, and learned what to do if we were to fall out, we just floated down it with our legs up so that we would not get hit by rocks. The other thing to do is when you are under water to curl up in a ball in order to pop up faster. We rafted for 30 miles and had a lot of rapids. My raft got flipped twice, and I am pretty sure he did it to us on purpose, cause he never hit the water, but we were all drowning in Grade 5 rapids. They were fun, but it was crazy. In one of the rapids that we flipped in, I got stuck under the boat. The boat had been flipped but I was not in one of the parts where there was air, and waves were still hitting me. In my head I was sure I was going to drown in the Nile under this raft. I was able to crawl my way along the boat until I reached the surface. All my friends thought that I was like going to die, because my lips were blue from the cold and the life vest was so tight it was hard to get air. Alayna and I have laughed a lot about the first time we flipped, because we surface right next to each other holding on to the boat, barely able to get air, and all that I can say is I lost my paddle I lost my paddle, Alayna is like it’s OK.

For lunch we each got half of a pineapple and biscuits. It was so good. Then we kept rafting. There were a lot of flat parts where we just had to paddle and paddle. We are all SO sore today. One of the grade 5 rapids was CRAZY. Well they all were but this one especially. We had to go down this area with rocks and then we went down a 15-foot waterfall, our raft is 14 feet which means a vertical drop. He told us NOT to fall out unless we wanted to lose our life, and NOT to sit in the raft, only to be on your feet, unless you want, things I cannot write on here. We got stuck on the rocks so we had to bounce up and down and then on the waterfall you have to look off to the side so you do not smash your face into the person in front of you. Now, I am not a very heavy person, so as we go down I am looking off to the side to not get smashed and holding on the boat with everything I have, yet even still I practically fly forward, and body slammed poor Leah. Thankfully she was there though or I probably would have flown out. Our guide tapped my helmet and was told me he thought that I was going to fly out the front of the raft!

The other crazy rapid was at the end and was called ‘The Bad Place”. It was at the end of a Grade 6 rapid, which is one that could only be rafted by Kayaks. So we had to walk around part of it, and then get on at the end. All of the other groups went around the worst part in the middle and went down a still pretty decent sized rapid on the side. Our guide makes us paddle into the heart of this mass of waves and currents. It was INSANE. We are pretty sure that he just wanted to flip us. Cause we got out of it, and then he made us paddle BACK into it. Then he was mad that we did not flip.

The day was insane. We got called Team Estrogen by our guide all day, got loved and hated by our guide, got flipped over, went through crazy rapids and had one of the best days EVER. I am so glad I had the chance to do that. It is sad, because quite soon rafting on the Nile will be over, as they are building six dams on the river for hydroelectric power which is going to get rid of all but the last three rapids, which is quite sad. Therefore, I am super glad that I got to experience it now, before it ends. It was by far one of the most fun, and best days of my life.