I left home in Hampton on January 24th at 4am so that Dustin, my daughter’s boyfriend, could start work at the car auction in Halifax. This is a rough journal of my time in Africa. I love it here. I love this island in the Nile. I also love my new apple laptop and my new Jackson Allstar.
The flight was the next day so I got a few last minute things in Halifax. The next day Dustin dropped me off at the airport and headed to Moncton to another auction.

The Halifax airport does not have an X-ray machine that can pass a boat in a bag so I had to unwrap the boat and pay $259US for oversize. Thanks counter clerk. The rest of the flight went well and I was picked up in London Heathrow by an old friend from Hampton.
I spent a few days at my friend’s house and saw the Cambridge area of England. On the way to Heathrow we detoured to see Coxs Lane west of Reading where my grandfather was raised. There are only 4 homes on the lane and it is still farmland. There is a hotel at the south end of the lane. There is a church but I didn’t have time to go in.
The British Airways clerk did not charge extra for my boat but I had to put everything carry on in my eli case and take it out again because only 1 carryon item is allowed in Heathrow. It is supposed to speed things up but it slows things down.
I landed in Entebbe, the same airport I saw in the movie The Last King of Scotland a few days earlier in England. I paid too much to get to Bugagali with NRE because I was the only one and local transprt is cheaper but I didn’t have time to look around. The Blue Mango is closed so staying in Kampala for a night was not an option. Becky and Vanessa got a free ride from Kampala to NRE at my expense. I did find a bit of information about the river from them.
Peter, Nina and some other Slovak paddlers were staying at Eden Rock so I paddled with them Saturday and Sunday. We ran left side at Bugagali Falls on Saturday and played at the Ugly Sisters until time to catch a ride back. The wave is good with easy eddy access but there is really bad near river widehole below it with a small escape route on the far left. There is lots of time to roll but if you waste time and don’t paddle hard there are consequences. The Boda ride was scary and I did fall off once holding my boat and paddle. The Boda was a Honda 50 that couldn’t make it up hill with me and the driver. Where the swamp was washed out I offered to get off but he said not to worry. He shifted into low gear and reved the engine and we did a wheelie over backwards. No damage to boat, paddle or me so we continued on. Thenext day we paddled the right side of Bugagali Falls. I did a back flip at the bottom which is normal. The Day 1 section has 5 major rapids starting with Bugagali. The right is a long steep s;ide which builds your speed so you can crash through the big standing wave at the bottom. The further from shore you get the better at the bottom. The second is 50/50 with a set of standing waves. Next is Total Gungsa with an avoidable hole called the G Spot on the left. The Ugly sisters has a good play wave with good eddy access but you miss Silver Back and there is a nasty hole below the play wave.On Monday I moved all my gear to the Hairy Lemon. Fiona, Jennifer and Claire from the UK team shared a matatou with me. Thatcher rom Colorado and Grame also came. We all paddled from Kalagala to the Lemon. I ran Kalagala first and touched rock on the way down. Then I caught my paddle in the eddy on some overhead vines. I was pulling on it and ran into a big hard vine and scraped my forhead. Then I noticed my skirt was half off from the impact at the bottom of Kalagala. The rest of the Day 2 run went fine and I set up my campsite on the island. I love Africa. I love my new AllStar. I love my new computer. The Hairy Lemon is a small island in the Nile in a rural area of Uganda. The only electricity is solar power and a generator for charging cameras and computers. There are out houses and the lawn mower has no engine, only push power. The tenting area is on a knoll and there are a few brick dorms. Tenting is 25,000 UGS and dorms are 30,000 UGS but meals and everything basic is included in those prices. 10,000 UGS is about $7 CDN. There is free wireless but you have to par 4000 UGS to charge something. The nearest town is Nazigo which is on one of the roads between Kampala and Jinja.

On Tuesday we went to paddle at the…….The UK team is partly here. Jon Best and Fiona Garvie are back again from last year, they were also on the world cup last September so I have come to know them quite well. Jon came first in the UK in Men’s K1 and Fiona came third at the 2005 worlds. Jennifer Grimes and Claire O’Hara are also here and I got to know them this time. Jenifer won the Junior Women’s in 2005 and Claire has paddled in Nepal twice, 6 and 7 weeks.claireohara.co.uk is Claire’s website.

We are paddling every day now, sometimes two times a day if our arms can stand it. The weather here is like the nicest days in summer at home in Canada every day. There is no need for a sleeping bag, only a light fleece blanket at night. When it rains the rain is warm and the sun comes out an hour later. The river water is warm like a bathtub but still a swim is a good way to cool off on a hot day. There is no junk food here on the island and very little in Uganda.

There was a monitor lizzard swimming by the island. I’ve seen several, they look like crocodiles and are up to six feet long including tail. There are also red tail monkeys on the island and snakes and many colorful birds. In the water there are yellow fish, tilapia and Nile perch. The Talipa are good to eat and Nile prch get up to 220 pounds, bigger than me. I’ve only seen pictures. The big ones hang out mostly at Murchison. Claire saw a big fish mouth by her boat, big enough to put your foot in. She was a bit freaked. At times, people think they see crocodiles while paddling but they are probably are big lizzards. I had a geko run up my arm and across my chest to sit on my shoulder. Jennifer Grimes said it was still there when I was telling her why I jumped. Joffree showed me a couple of nice yellow fish he caught near the Nile Special wave. Nie Perch, yellow fish and Tilapia are the three fish caught in the Nile.

The river came up the first week to a level unseen for a year. We were getting on the Nile Special without the rope although we use it most times anyway. The wave is awesome and I am starting to get big air and sticking some areial blunts. This is going to improve my paddling. One of the older kids, Joffre, that come watch us every night caught a couple of big yellow fish tonight and offered me one. The children get a kick out of my beard, bill-a-vu is the local language word for beard.

There is a debate on what is the best way to help people here. One is to send foreign aid and the other is to support small business by traveling here and living and spending. Both have their place but I like the second because the money rewards people for their work directly and I get to have summer in January and February. The fact that I can paddle every day makes it even better. At times I feel like a kid at summer camp again with all day to have fun on the river and meet new friends and the meals are all prepared for us.

On Monday, February 12 the Dutch/Belgium paddlers invited me to paddle with them. We left at 11am and took a Matatou to The Haven. a fancy resort at the dead dutchman rapid. We ran Overtime which if on the far right. There is a straight line from river left eddy crossing to the right above a 10; drop. The boat took the hit well but my toes are sore. Three of us hit rocks at the bottom of the drop, Carlos from Belgium swam but not far. He also swam at Cola Shaka rapid. He’s had better days. I decided not to run Itunda today. There will be other chances if decide to run it.

Paddling friends Uganda 2007
Peter, Nina and others from Slovakia
Jennifer Grimes, Fiona Garvie, Jon Best and Claire OHara from UK
Steve Fisher
Casper from Holland
Bud and others from Belgium
Rae Buratto from Canada
Thatch

Harry Cox Feb 13 2007