Kingfishers vs Nile. PART II
8:30 am – Hungover, bruised, and bloody-knuckled, we returned to Nalubale Rafting the next morning with the thousand-yard stare of battle-hardened veterans. This time, it was personal. We were together in the 4-person "extreme rafting" floating bobsled for half the rapids, then boogie boarding the rest.
For the challenge, we three dawned our KingFisher unis and the sight struck fear and awe in the two English travelers that joined our adventure. (They bore witness to our celebration the previous night and didn't partake despite shots offered. They "had to get up early"...)
–
LEG 1
(Day 2. We were better prepared.)
And we're off! The extreme raft was insanely imbalanced. A small weight shift could flip it. This was evidenced in our first encounter with rough water when a small rapid sent our guide, Asha, to the drink. We had a good laugh but knew in our hearts we would share the same fate later that day.
(Tossed by a 3. LOL!)
Alas, for the first category 5, in accordance with Nalubale's sole safety rule, we had to ride in the big raft with the Brits. They were miserable paddlers and had zero cadence which greatly frustrated us veterans. Yet this time we made the waterfall and plunged off the 4m cliff...
Odeke bailed though after kneeing Armstrong hard in the back. So though the raft didn’t flip, Lady Nile claimed the edge, tossing one Fisher to the fish and smashing another’s lumbar vertebra...
(Down goes Frazier! Odeke takes a drink)
—
Now to boogie. It was daunting to be in such proximity to the reeling waves and indiscriminate power of the river Nile. Yet at the same time, we were strangely comforted by the river's touch as if protected by our intimacy with the beast. We lined up like Admiral Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar and dove through the same category 4 that almost drowned us the day before.
(Battle formation. Clamitus, Coimus, Convivimus)
Success. We didn't pass out high fives yet though. Our biggest challenge lay North of the Dutchman and this time 50/50 was ready for us.
--
We later discovered that 50/50 is 98/2 on the Extreme Raft (Asha, a 10-year guide, said he'd only made it twice). Asha made the sign of the cross as we eyed the unforgiving rapids and listened to their thunderous roar. It wasn't fear that gripped us, rather a sense of defiance in the face of impending doom.
As we barreled towards the exploding water and majestic turbulence, we stared down the Lady of the Nile as she swallowed us whole.
It was a full 20 seconds later when I felt something beneath my feet. I'd been tossed, turned, flipped, and body-slammed, and was barely alive. Yet beneath me was another human – impossibly, improbably, fighting for survival. It was Armstrong. And when he finally breached, the warrior clung to every breath like life itself.
(You can barely make out Armstrong's yellow helmet beneath the waves.)
The Lady of the River had ruined us again. Despite great triumphs early in the day, the KingFishers were losing with one category 4 to go.
--
It was then that Odeke did something brazen. Armstrong and I committed to the boogie. But Odeke would try the wild waters in the extreme raft, just him and a guide – an almost suicidal mission. We implored him – "Odeke! you don't have to prove anything. Stay this madness!"
Yet he was determined. For, while we KingFishers fought together, we each individually had to meet The Lady of the Nile and look that beautiful mistress in the face and say with full hearts and clear eyes: "We squawk! We Flock!!! and We always wait for the ladies to be seated at the dinner table first!!!!!"
(Surveying the entry point. In the heavier rapids, Lady Nile took control.)
Armstrong and I survived the rapids. The Lady Nile thrashed and tossed us, but in her raucous embrace, we found a semblance of peace, following her lead as she waltzed us through crashing, dancing white water.
(Odekeus and the Sirens of the River Nile. This was personal.)
Once through we looked back for Odeke. He was visible, then as quick as that, he vanished into all-encompassing whiteness. Seconds passed. My breath quickened.
Then, 100 yards from where we first saw him, Odeke broke through. He stood on his boat with oar raised above his head and triumphantly exclaimed: “Are you not entertained? Are you not entertained?!?”
--
Across the river, a black and white KingFisher hunted. He hovered, eyeing small ripples in the water as his prey zipped about. In an instant, he dove. A flash of light and his beak pierced the water like an elven arrow.
Seconds later he emerged with a fish in his beak. He looked across the now calm Nile and saw a welcome sight. Three brothers from a different land. The KingFisher looked at us and nodded with a knowing eye before flying off into the cloudless, blue Ugandan sky.
We had survived the rapids of the White Nile. And to us humbled KingFishers, that was a victory we would long remember.
"[Nile], you are my b*tch lover!' - Todd Cleary, Wedding Crashers" - Cap JE