Full Moon Paddle

There is nothing like paddling a run in the dark to see how well you know the lines. A full moon was the perfect opportunity to do a fun Silverback run. As I dropped down the entrance of the Hump, I realized it was probably the highest water level I have seen here in a long time. It was all good to go, but funny as I watched a friend disappear into the big foam pile down at the bottom.

After Bujagali, I floated on down, enjoying the view of the stars and the moon rising from the east. I thought back to all the fun full moon night paddles I have had over the years: midnight sessions on the Special, night rafting trips on the Nugget-Powerhouse run, or even kayaking the entire 34-mile wild and scenic Rogue River in one night. It has always been a test to see how well I know the lines, or just go with it, and hope for the best. Sometimes not being able to see things makes life easier.

My starlit daydreaming was put on hold as I floated through 50/50 to be greeted by spotlights and trucks hard at work. It was a reminder that Salini never stops. They are working 24/7 on the dam and it is one of the few Uganda projects that is actually making progress rather quickly. My friend and I looked at each other, wondering what kind of security they might be having on a night like tonight. We just realized we had to be faster than the one next to you. I figured if they did start pulling out guns, I would just flip and hold my breath as long as I could. We made it out alive, with a fun line down the new Silverback rapid at high water. No guns, no security that saw us, just maybe a few Salini workers wondering what these crazy kayakers were doing on the river at such a late hour. The first few rapids were under the moon, but the rest of the run was fully lit from construction work. Well done.

Staff Rafting Trip

After all these years of this project, which mainly employs Ugandans, none of our staff has ever been rafting before. Most do not even know how to swim, and generally still think we are crazy for being in the river. Some people avoid getting anywhere close to the river after the Idi Amin administration murdered thousands of people and threw the bodies in the river back in 1970s. The river was red with blood as the bodies floated downstream. I understand how these dark memories could haunt someone forever. Anyway, we finally managed to do a staff rafting trip. Everyone was invited to come, but only the brave ones were willing to go for the challenge. We took 8 of our staff members down the day 2 stretch, a mellower big water class 3 section. Only 2 of them know how to swim. However, by the end of the day, I managed to get Livingstone to jump out of the raft and swim downstream in the flats with me. I was impressed. They all had a great time and have already been asking about the next rafting trip. Who knows! Maybe everyone will leave us soon and start guiding for Nile River Explorers.