Trip report: White Nile, Uganda

Africa, I've been dreaming of sufing monster waves in Africa for more than a decade ever since the days of "Wicked Liquid" movies which still continue to blow me away. Finally came the time to make it happen, but then there was the tough decision to head for either the Zam or the White Nile.  It wasn't an easy decision since I had always wanted to surf the Zam but after researching the logistics of both and the fact that the Nile is currently being dammed it turned out to be a no brainer, so we bought tickets to Kampala, Uganda and packed our bags.

Upon arrival in the town of Jinja one of the first people that I even saw was Steve Fisher, I was pretty stoked to talk to him and catch up about the good ol' days of rodeo and within a day or two we were hanging in the bar doing just that.  Just a short Boda ride (motorcyle) from Jinja is the village of Bujagali where all the action happens.  We rolled up to Nile River Explorers campsite and I looked down at the frothy goodness for the first time.  The deck from camp overlooks Bujagali falls which is a series of different rapids that contain no less than 5 different back channels all containing epic class 4-5 drops.  So needless to say I was stoked from the get go, now I just had to find some folks who knew lines to hook up with.  Well, that didn't take to long as I hung out with a group of Brits that were all great paddlers and super fun just hangin with at camp.  A few days later an American named Andrew showed up who had been guiding on the Zam all winter and he was in the same boat needing a paddling partner.  Andrew was a true Godsent for me, he and I ran so much good shit together including the infamous Dead Dutchman, Kalagala, Itanda, and many many more. 

After a few full day trips on the upper with raft groups I started to learn the river a bit but its just so mind blowing the sheer volume involved when any one of 4 or 5 channels still has 10 times the flow of the Snake even when peaking...we're talking hundreds of thousands of CFS here now so it really changes everything that I'd spent 13 years of kayaking learning.  But  damn is it fun, the rapids are so big and yet forgiving and the variety of lines are endless. 

Those days on the upper section made me jonze hard to see the lower stretch that famously cullimnates at the world famous Nile Special and Club waves, the waves so good that they named beers after them. When I finally got down there I wasn't dissappointed.  The lower run was even more fun than the upper for me, the play is just better plain and simple.  At Hair of the Dog, I had to stop throwing airscrews because I was afraid I may had broken my ankle simply from landing so hard, at Special I had a blast just front surfing and throwing side kicks because its just so fast and bouncy that you dont need to do anything else to enjoy the ride, and at Club directly below Nile Special, you could throw any trick you wanted because the huge pile wasn't about to let you flush.  Once down there we stayed several days on an island at the Hairy Lemmon, and this place has absolutly nothing to do but relax and surf, it's just a 5 minute paddle from Special so you just bring a book and surf your ass off. 

The number of international rippers on the scene was impressive to say the least, national team members from all around the world training there, so its fun to just kick back and watch the action when you get tired. 

After a few weeks of the best paddling of my life it was time to head for the beach and some safari for a couple of weeks.  But when it nearly time to go home the river was just to good to leave just yet, so we rented a car and headed to the river for a few more days of epic whitewater and surf.

For anybody considering a trip to Uganda...all I can say is go, and go soon becuase there will be some very good suff lost for good when this damm finally gets finished.
Till next time  remember, we don't tame the white dragon, we're just along for the ride. 

                                                                                                   Snug