RAFTING the NILE

one of the most lifethreateningf things i ever ever did in my life ( maybe besides eating this puffy fish , that if wrongly prepared can kill you...) , i had yesterday: Rafting the Nile! it is next to the zambesi the most challenging , commercial explored raft in the world. in rafting terms: Grade 6 means death, and we had to manage 2 time grade 5. so almost death.....
the are 8 challenges called: 50:50 , dead dutchmen, ripcage, silverback, whirlpool, and itanda ("death" in local language)
we were 4 of us (katja, sascha & clemens and 3 nice norwegian girls) all guided by this supercoolest rafting guy graham - tattoed, surfer& rafter in summer, snowboarder in winter,.... from NILE RIVER EXPLORERS and i had quiete respect in the beginning cause he wanted to go hardcore....
so, the first 2 rapids we mastered bravely, and then came the first big one: Silverback , where all nile water has to fall through a narrow pass. the first wave starts big, and the second is even bigger. but we made it without flipping and it was sioooooo much fun. just like a rollercoaster ride. the second challenge came at point where water was swallow, and it wasnt easy going down the waterfall. but also this we made. Graham, although a big pretender- really knows what to do and how to
then we approached a rather medium rapid called Retrospective, but somehow we flipped over even before, cause 2 of us fell out in a small whirl before the rapid. we all tumbled together and managed after a few seconds to hang on the raft, and then flip it back. but the problem was, it wasnt enough time to get back INTO the raft before the actual rapid. and that was a 2 meter water fall. Graham, shouted :"shit" and that means actually very much of shit, and very scary indeed. so we fall down, holding with all hands on the raft and peddal,.... and we made it. with very much water, and totally exhausted. in the following 20 minutes we were all in little shock. of course the first flip is always the worst, but it came so unexpectedly at that point, and even more because Graham also wasnt easy about it.
the last one, called itanda, a grade 6 and 5 , we climed out and the rafts were placed back into the Nile at some lower point of the rapid. and it was impressive! and scary same time. if we wouldnt have gone in the almost last wave, i think the whole group whould have gone chicken-shit and not back into the raft. but with good intsructions, and kajaks all around, it was clear we can let losse of the raft, and we will be collected after some 4-5 seconds under water. so, we gave everything and even managed to "SURF" the wave for a 1-3 seconds while. that was so cool, little bit like deep snow boarding, and then we flipped and dived, and swallowed water, and dived again, swallowed more water. but this time i was more cool, cause i feel more save, trusted my swim-west and imagined swimming the waves in the atlantic sea.
puhhh, totally exhausted, and happy at the same time the 4 hours trip was over. what a relieve, and what an adrenalin kick!!! JihA!
everybody told everybody its scary diving stories later at the barbecue & beer at the campsite.
WHich has a fantastic view over the Nile and a magnificient warming sunset.
and even by today - the day after - i feel all my muscles , slightly sunburn on my handtops, and my body's adenalin still pumping....
you have to come visit me and do it too!! you ll never forget. it was "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaawesome" - as the americans would say
i post some of our original pictures later,

everything is illuminated

i must say i have this slight problem with religion. not that i dont believe in god, but i also rather go for a healthy attitude towards it, instead relating all the lifes purpose and intention to it.
now , uganda is already quiete into religion, but here in Nairobi it really hit me directly. I am staying in the methodist guesthouse, with crosses on the plates and on the garden fence, wise sentences everywhere, and some other holy visitors. and turning on TV the one station was :"GOD TV". surely that is a little to much. ...
after this weeks ded internal training, i indulged enough holy spirit untill christmas at least

are your ready for CHOGM????

CHOGM, a word that sounds like someone swallowed a frog, is since i came here in everyones mind & talk. What is it? it is the Commonwealth Head of Government Meeting. and the head of the Commonwealth is---- yes! the QUEEN, so she is coming to Uganda in a weeks time to steer the meeting of 54 nations heads. God save and ugandas pottholes shake the queen! so Uganda is very exciting, and they made the roads, greens, side paintings, road lights, painted houses, build hotels, planted flowers, secruity checks, all for CHOGM...it feels like almost the discussion olympia in Beijing - should i stay or should i go! nightmare or fantastic? ...but here they only improved the roads and buildings where the queen will travel and live (which have been comparable okay anyway), they wanted to hire expensive busses worth a municiaplities annual budget, and finally 2 billion USH (roughly 100.000 Euro) dissapeared somewhere......

Kampala City Council trying to rise up the mood of the population - especially of those people affected by sysihosarian street repairs- by putting billboards and radioshows with the slogan : "Are you ready for CHOGM" and since then, all meetings, conferences couldnt go without it.

we are all tired of CHOGM already, and fear the worst -especially in traffic blockages- when it will start next week. but i escape to Kenya.......

on the road again....

for you to get an idea what kind of roads i have to master: here is a picture from the MAIN (!) road going north. that potthole piste is going on for a distance of 60-80 km. the road is like if...
- emmentaler- cheese decided to reincarnate as a road,
- there were 2 weeks of heavy bomb attacks.
- i would be cream i would be arrive as butter at the end of the trip.

driving in slow slalom to avoid the deepest potholes, then there are further challenges such as bicycles, broken down trucks and kamikaze-speed busses

"shake shake shake, seniora- "

PAM

THE social music event in Uganda are the PAM awards, which is doing big show, such sa MTV, echo awards or whatever.. i was lucky to go as a VIP with my friend Roberte from the uganda-german-cultural society, who had to hand over the price for best reggae artist. the show was astonishingly perfect organised, with the best thing: free drinks ! so we started with beer, then wine (which is really expensive here) and ended up with real (!) champagne, jiha- so at 10 pm Roberta was afraid of missspelling the winners name. but all went well
the other best thing was to observe the kampala-high society- dressed up. some women were really smart and beautiful, but some so ridiculous, especially the fat women looking like silver press-sausages, or the men dressed like real ghetto gangster...

drinking quiete a lot, and continue to drink & dance myself through the clubs of Kampala, i left my monstertruckcar at the parking lot. when i wanted to pick it up today noon, the parking lot was transfered to a wedding ceremony with tents & flowers & a stage, and my car was right in the middle of it! argh! the wedding organizer builded the hole stuff just around it, and desperately started to clean already the dirt from it, so that the white car fitted better into the scenery......
so, he was pretty relieved when i showed up, and me embarressed somehow.

princess of potthole country

As my project activities have been delayed for 1,5 months due to delayed project funds, it is only by now I hitted the road back to Soroti in the north again.
this is also the area, where the floddings in october had the most severe impact: there was much to much water, and bridges collapsed and have been closed, villages have been cutted off. the results are not only 4 million dollars funds for the region, but also a huge brigade of international desaster relief people stationed in the town.

and it was so paradox: although there is tooo much water flowing on the surface, roads and fields, the water tanks & taps in town and in my hotel were empty!
that was to bad, cause after 6,5 hours potthole & bush driving i was in desperate need for a shower.....