Not been to Uganda yet? GO THERE!

[banzer]

Recently returned from Uganda- what a great two week escape from the winter blues, for any grade 3 or above boaters. Even if your roll's not great, it will improve through necessity!
Reasons to go soon:
1. The new dam will slowly eat up more of the Day 1 section (where most of the whitewater is found); as it is now, Silverback is a hoot with a huge ramp into a massive wavetrain, lots of fun. The dam is under construction but it'll be a while (2yrs???) till it's finished.
2. Water levels are likely to drop as the power companies try to keep Lake Victoria fuller.
Top moments of the trip:
1. Drinking a funnel of beer from Steve Fisher (no, I hadn't swum)
2. 'Mad' Andy Gardner picking a fight with 6'4'' Tyler Bradt, of Alexandra Falls fame (see current Kayak Session mag)
3. Chris 'FJF' informing Jessie Stone of Jackson Kayaks how bad her boat was and why Dragorossi is better
4. FJF trying to sell diazepam to the World class Kayak Academy
5. Watching the freestyle final: Sam Ward and Fisher rocked
6. Kalagala Falls- an easy big waterfall, frighten your mum with the footage
7. Nile Special and Super Hole- even not very good playboaters (i.e. me)will have a ball!
8. Oh yes, Fisher's girlfriend Desree is more scared of me (a dentist) than she is of Steve paddling the Tsangpo Gorge! Ha ha.
Top malaria tablet tip:
Malarone all the way. All the others turn you mental or give you sunburn.
Rich out...

[Myles]

Sounds like you had a cool trip.

I would have liked to have seen the Nile Freestyle comp, I can imagine there were a lot of people getting massive air.

What boat did you take in the end?

[God]

33 days to go...

[God]

33 days to go...

[God]

33 days to go...

[feelingjustfine]

Also just go to see Mohammed-officially the nicest dude ever-thanks for making our trip great.:-)

Chris.

P.S. I think Jackson Kayaks are very nice.

[NickH]

It's not as good as the Dart.

A thought: Now that Freestyle is old hat, and creeking is cool, is this the replacement phrase for 'It's not as good as Hurley'?

[feelingjustfine]

O.K. Just re-read, it was your kayak I said was crap, not her's...all in jest obviously;-)

The Diazepam was being offered purley for medical reasons...honest!

My number 1 scary moment of the trip was being stood between Andy "Mad" Gardner and Tyler "The" Bratt whilst they were doing what is mentioned above-aagghh-take me to Itanda%-}!

[justin-g]

After a week of post trip d's and v's, dizzyness and blackouts my doctor has stopped me taking MALERONE - think I will go for the sunburn mentalness next time... or maybe do as the locals do - treat maleria early and bugger the tablets...

Don't pop ugandian spider bites with a syringe!! I will give you a second ankle...

J

[james fleming]

Good to hear your trip went well!

Pictures? Reports? Videos?

[banzer]

Pictures? Reports? Videos?

Will follow! Expect some shakey headcam footage of The Hump / Bujagali / Silverback soon, it's just I'm moving house at the moment so don't have much internet.

I took a Jackson All Star, which was a perfect mix of volume for river running and play potential. Quick on the wave, very impressed.

Hmm I think it's normal to get a bit ill on returning to the UK, I have been a bit, but I don't put it down to the Malerone- sounds like a scapegoat to me Justin. Not had a problem with mine.

[naefearjustbeer]

Sounds like you had a good trip. Looking forward to seeing the pics.

[Ayres]

Sounds a gd trip,

Cant wait till I go now! What money did you take with you?

Any advice on travel insurance?.

Think ill be taking my kingpin with me now.

[John Kennedy]

Wow, it's a long way for two weeks. That's the main thing putting me off going, I want tp spend the summer over there. Was it worth it, the short amount of time?

[Myles]

Wow, it's a long way for two weeks. That's the main thing putting me off going, I want tp spend the summer over there. Was it worth it, the short amount of time?

I went for a couple of weeks back in April and it was definitely worth it. I would have prefered another couple there, but I couldn't afford the time off work.

As there is minimal time difference, jet lag isnt a problem. The main issue I found was going from a desk job, with weekend paddling, to paddling 12 days straight. Worth getting fit before going.

[justin-g]

Two weeks was almost to much for me on one river - the flights are easy - you could easily go for a week and fire up everything you want to. The river was getting low as we left so much less scope for staying at the lemon and surfing everyday.

Amazing place - take pounds - enough for you're whole trip and get them changed in the Jinja currency exchange... don't go at lunch or you may get locked in by men with AK47's... yes they do point them at you and laugh when you look scared.

J

[little tim]

How many of the back channels did you do? I've spent 5 weeks there twice and didn't get bored. I was doing softpower at the same time though.

[Paula_V]

Is it really a destination for those not that great at surfing? I went to ottawa this summer and I think it may have been a bit early in my playboating career... I am mostly a river runner, and a couple of days spent at le sheen (le chin?) (sp?) in montreal catching the wave 4 times in 8 hours was super frustrating...although there are quite a few features on the ottawa for beginners. It was still a bit of a let down for me as playing all day doesn't really float my boat so much if I have only four weeks annual leave to consider.

What is the river running vs playing ratio approximately? 20:80/ 50:50?

cheers

p

[Tom_Laws]

2. 'Mad' Andy Gardner picking a fight with 6'4'' Tyler Bradt, of Alexandra Falls fame (see current Kayak Session mag)

This sounds like a tale I would like to hear....

[Myles]

What is the river running vs playing ratio approximately? 20:80/ 50:50?
p

I prefer river running more than play boating and still had fun out there.

Day 1 tends to be more river running while day 2 has a larger number of play waves. There are loads of different channels you can run and lines to take.
Nile special + Club wave is the main 'park and play' spot as you can paddle across to there from the Hairy Lemon. That said I haven't been since they started work on the dam so not sure about the levels.

I would consider the Nile to be more a play boating destination than say the Zambezi, but thats not to say there isn't a lot of river running you can do out there too.

[justin-g]

Hi Paula, not much into play boating either - but superhole will def. float your boat... so warm and sunny - it makes learning to play boat a pleasure... you could body surf it for 20 mins! For me it was 50/50 playing / river running...

If you want less playing try NZ... I hear the boating is pretty good there ;-)

J

[justin-g]

Well Tom Laws - lets just say the episode involved these elements.

1. One large plastic penis.
2. One Seppo pro boater with a broken leg
3. LOTS of nile special.
4. Crutches.
5. A pool cue.
6. Mad Andy on larium.

The only thing left intact out of the list above was mad Andy... have it!!

[mpooleman]

Wow, it's a long way for two weeks. That's the main thing putting me off going, I want to spend the summer over there. Was it worth it, the short amount of time?

We went in August for 3 weeks and found that most people out there were out there for months, but a lot them didn't really seem to paddle that much because of the "I've got loads of time to go boating" attitude. This is fair enough but in answer to your question, Yes, its worth going for a short amount of time, and you may well do as much as people who are out there longer if your up for it.

It does get tiring paddling everyday though, especially when your in NRE bar each night, thank god for chilling in the mornings at Hairy Lemon.

Mark

[TheKrikkitWars]

3. nile special.

The only thing left intact out of the list above was mad Andy... have it!!

Mad Andy broke the wave? Thats pretty impressive, I'd like to hear a fuller story before I become bored, invent my own story, and get dissapointed when its not as good.

[Pyro]

3. nile special.
The only thing left intact out of the list above was mad Andy... have it!!

Mad Andy broke the wave? Thats pretty impressive, I'd like to hear a fuller story before I become bored, invent my own story, and get dissapointed when its not as good.

I assume they meant Nile Special as in the beer...

[flea]

Wow, it's a long way for two weeks.

9 hours on an overnight plane with no jet lag - not really too far, much shorter journey time than a drive to the Alps. Mind you, that's with BA and I guess you don't want to go with them any more!

[Ayres]

1 Month to go, and I cant wait allready! :)

[feelingjustfine]

2. 'Mad' Andy Gardner picking a fight with 6'4'' Tyler Bradt, of Alexandra Falls fame (see current Kayak Session mag)

This sounds like a tale I would like to hear....

What do they say.....one picture is worth one thousand words....

Andy under the influence of larium and nile special.

[clarky999]

Scary Sh*t!

[sarajames]

Wow, it's a long way for two weeks. That's the main thing putting me off going, I want tp spend the summer over there. Was it worth it, the short amount of time?

If you are concerned about the amoutn of time spent travelling there, remember the flight is less than eight hours. I have spent longer driving to scotland.

Come to think of it once it took my longer to get the bus home in england than it took to fly from Heathrow to Kampala.
edit : have actually bothered to read the rest of the post and realised that people have already made the some point... hey isnt that the point o UKRGB - say the same thing lots of time in different ways?