We set off at the crack of dawn early one morning, on a
13 hours, several stops and a marriage proposal later we arrived at the coach park where we met our wonderful driver Fred! We (Tara, Elise, Livvy, Allison and I) clambered in to his wonderful red van ready for what was described as a 'dangerous' journey to Jinja. As we gradually neared Jinja the panick began to set in. I kid you not, I asked Fred every question about the risks of bungee jumping, has he ever seen anyone die? Has anyone gone blind? Has anyone broken their hip? Has the rope ever snapped? Has a crocodile ever snapped the head off a jumper? This list of irrational questions continues...
After we all applied our 'natural' looking make up and I had finished my letter to my parents 'just incase' we arrived at the base camp. We were sadly informed that we wouldn't be able to jump until the morning as it was 'too late'. Engulfed with rage and maybe
Anyone that knows me at all will know I am anything but a morning person. So when the alarm call echoed around our dorm room I was not happy. As everyone else jumped out of bed and began to get ready for our action packed day, I laid in bed making the most of my last ever nights sleep. I reluctantly wandered down to the base camp where i had the delight of signing my life away and meeting the men who would have my life in their hands. Half an hour and a lot of moaning and 'i'm too young to die' scpeel we made our way towards the bungee tower, climbed the stairs and then REALLY began to panick. There was one other idiot who was jumping with us, he seemed pretty fly and insanely extreme, so we all decided he should have the pleasure of jumping first. The order in which we were jumping was strategically planned, Mr. Extreme* was to jump first, be calm and give us (me) reassurance that I wasn't jumping to my death, I was to jump next so I didn't have time to chicken out/think things through too much, next was Livvy, then Elise and lastly Tara as she is super cool and wasnt phased by her impending death.
Mr. Extreme jumped no problem, so next up was me. I sat in the chair whilst they tied a towel and rope (harcly seems sufficent to keep me from plopping into the Nile and being devoured by crocs, right?!) round my feet and attached me to the bungee cord. The thoughts running through my head were horrific, I was not prepared to die or go blind, and I began to cry and cry and cry. Sobbing I hopped to the edge of the platform, my toes were dangling over the edge and the only thing stopping me from falling was my SOLID grip onto the bar above my head. In those few moment before my jump I was a shaking quivering mess. This is probably a good time to mention the amazing instructor Jacque. At this point Jacque is standing behind me holding my shoulders and just generally being the coolest man in the world.
Whilst crying I turn to Tara, Elise and Livvy and give them a thumbs up and wave at Allison and the photographer who are smuggly standing in the safety of the bar.
The next few minutes are a complete blur, I rememeber trying to convince myself I was just jumping onto my bed at home (likely story when I'm 44 meters above the Nile with nothing but a cord around my legs), hearing 3,2,1,BUNGEEEEEEEEEEEE, i don't really recall jumping but then thinking FUCK I'm going to die, and split seconds later THISSS ISSS FRICKINNNNN AMAZINGGGGGGGGGGGG.
I don't know how I found the courage to jump, but I am so glad I did it was out of this world! While hanging upside down I had some sort of verbal diarrohea, I was screaming and shouting and everything inbetween...
Two lovely men lowered my down into their boat and rowed me to the shore, where I just had time to run back up to watch everyone else jump.
We'd all jumped and returned to safety by half 9... one of the most insane moments of my life happened before 9 O'Clock...
I am now a convert, I LOVE mornings!
Me, my new extreme outlook on life and the girls all embarked on a half an hour bus journey to the start of our white water rafting adventure where we met our instructors (Duncan and Godfrey), had breakfast and got kitted up for an EXTREME day rafting the Nile!
We started off running through some basic drills, paddle forward , paddle back, paddle like your life depends on it... Then we moved on to something a little more taxing, climbing into the boat. I don't know if it's because we're all girls or if we are just out right pathetic, but we all had some serious issues getting in the boat. At this point I'm still feeling pretty extreme, but worry is starting to set in... If I can't get into the frickin' boat on flat water, how the hell am I suppossed to climb back in after I've been chucked around by a rapid? For the second time I am beginning to contemplate my impending death.
After learning a few more fancy tricks imperative to our survivial we head towards our first rapid... a waterfall. We're told this really isn't a good place to be falling out, so listen hard and paddle harder. We flew down that waterfall, all stayed in the boat and it was AMAZING. Next up, a slightly longer rapid, with a high chance of us falling out... If we fall out and are trapped under the water we are told to curl up in a ball and slowly count, 1 thousand and 1, 1 thousand and 2... and wait till out life jackets pull us to the surface, if we keep above water, we should attempt to hold onto the boat and our paddle and wait for further instructions...
So the second rapid approaches, we're crouched in the boat paddling hard, and low and behold, the boat flips. In those couple of seconds, everything we've been instructed seems irrelevant... You best know I am launching myself as far away from the giant blue thing flying towards my head (the boat...) as physically possible... I get ripped under the water, and immediatiatly I am counting 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12, SHIT I'VE BEEN UNDER THE WATER FOR 12 SECONDS I'M GOING TO DIE. Finally I pop to the surface, everyone looks PANICKED, Allison is hyperventalating, Livvy is nowhere to be seen and Elise and Tara, well they're pretty chilled...
It was extreme, and as soon as I realised I was alive, I felt invicable!
The next 4 rapids followed the same sort of protical, boat flipping, us screaming , being stuck under the water , coming to the surface, realising we're alive, IT'S INSANE. By now, I am the definition of extreme, I LOVE the rapids and am just about to chuck uni in, and become a rafting instructor... That is until we see rapid number 6.
Excuse my french but SHIT ME. It was HUGE. So huge infact we had to climb out of the water and walk around the first half of it as it's deemed 'unraftable'... Initially, I'm playing it cool, meh, doesn't look to bad, could probably raft that with my eyes shut...but, with every step closer to being back in that boat I am pooping my pants a little bit more. The rapid we're now sat half way through is called 'Bad Place'. Going against everything my head is telling me not to do, we began rowing hard towards this 'Bad Place', the trick is that the current 'apparently' spins the boat around and we safely raft down the side of the rapid, still extreme, just not, if we fall out we're all going to die, extreme.
There was not a single smile on our boat as we were paddling hard towards 'Bad Place', we were all serious, serious and fearing for our lives.
Thanks to our extremely amazing instructors, we stayed in the boat... and survived.
Inbetween most of the rapids there were looooong flat pieces of water; we had the chance to swim (I mastered back flipping from the boat... and what?!), chat, and flip out about the previous rapid we had just survived.
Too soon for my liking we approcahed our last rapid...
I am ready for the boat to flip...
I am ready to be ripped and held under the water...
I am ready to become an extreme sports instructor...
We flew down the rapids towards a rather large wave, our boat got held momentarily by the current so we could really get a look at the wave that was about to destroy us, the wave crushed down on us, the boat back flipped and we are all under the water. It.was.insane.
We come to the surface just in time to be pummelled by another wave; I am floating about under the water in a tight ball, counting 1 thousand and 1, 1 thousand and 2... and I was in a HAPPY place.
We all popped up at various times at various places down the Nile, and peacefully floated to the boat. Gutted that we had finished rafting and maybe a little battered and bruised, we left the Nile for a nice BBQ, beer and an EXTREME 13 hour bus journey home.
No longer am I scared, I am extreme.
I feel like I could conquer the world right now.
Set me a challenge? I'll do it.
A crocodile? I'll wrestle it.
A dolphin? I'll eat it.
BRING.IT.ON.
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