Rafting the Nile, Bungy jumping and scuba diving in Kenya

As written on 6 Feb, 2004 from Africa

The source of the Nile

Well this will be my last trip update as alas it's all coming to a close too soon - we're due back in the US on Feb 10. Well, after the Gorillas in Uganda, we felt the need for some water activities, so went on a full day whitewater rafting trip at the source of the Nile - the longest river in the world - in Jinga, and was thrown around in a rubber boat over four Class 5 rapids and several class 4's.

The class 5s were over 2 meters (7-8 feet) high and just sheer walls of churning water, with names such as Bad Place, Sibling Rivalry and Total Gunja.

Of course we all were thrown out of the raft several times, but hey that's what your pay for, isn't it? Met some great people on the rafting trip, from Canadian gals working in Kampala to Aussie and US med students doing interships in East Africa.

1, 2, 3, BUNGY!!

And after a full day of rafting, we STILL needed more adrenalin,

so bungy jumped into the Nile from 45 mtrs - definitely not the

highest bungy in the world (South Africa has one that is 245 mtrs),

but a good starting point none the less. We both loved our first

bungy jump and will long remember the absolutely insane feeling

of throwing yourself off the platform and hurtling towards the river. We camped the night at the Rafting campsite along the river and after a huge buffet meal and several cold Nile Specials, slept very soundly. The next day we had a big travel day as we took a mini bus back into Kampala, picked up our luggage from the Backpackers (our home away from home) said our goodbyes and boarded a bus to Nairobi.

Nairobi

As is usual in Africa the bus was over an hour late leaving which meant we arrived in Nairobi (fondly referred to as Nairobbery by travelers and locals alike) at 1:00 a.m. the next morning, in the sketchiest part of town. However it was so late and raining that there wasn't really anyone around to mug us (how nice!) and we found our way to our travel guide-selected hotel within 20 mins. The next day we had planned to go to Hells Gate National Park for the day and then take a night bus to Mombasa on the coast, but a travel crisis had just developed in Kenya as the Gov't cracked down on buses and matatus for safety reasons and 1000's of them were ordered off the road until they complied with new regulations. So no night bus for you! In fact we were lucky to get a bus at all.

We spent the day at the National Museum which was very interesting, and also watched The Last Samurai at a fancy movie theatre for $3.00. Another night in Nairobi, and the next day we boarded our (5 hour late) bus for Mombasa. Arrived in Mombasa too late to get up to Malindi(which is where we are now), so stayed the night in a noisy guest house close to the bus station (whoever invented ear plugs - we owe you big time!).

Malindi

Up at 5:30 a.m (WAY too early when you are supposedly on holidays) and squeezed onto a matatu for Malindi (again we were lucky to get any transport) and arrived at our time share accommodation in Malindi at about 8:30 a.m. So good to have a nice place to call home for the next 5 days. This is where we can actually relax on this trip, as the resort has 3 pools, a nice bar and restaurant and we have a self- contained unit with AC and way more room than we need.

However, never ones to lie idle for too long we have already done

a scuba dive here (was OK, but not great vis) and are going to

explore some ruins and another little coastal town tomorrow.

Malindi is a mecca forItalian package tourists and they all stick to themselves pretty much, so unfortunately we haven't met very many people here. The town overall is very quiet - suffering from a major slump in tourism - it's sad for the small business owners here - they are nice people but very desperate for the tourist dollar.

We are due to arrive in the US on Feb 10, but have been hearing

about some more airline cancellations, so will have to see if we are affected or not. Otherwise another week or 2 in East Africa would sure be fine with us!!