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“RROOWW!” “HARRD” “HARRDERR!”

Panic sinking in, nine oars thrusting into the foamy, white, roaring water, we row for our lives right into the thick of a Grade 5 rapid, and the impending doom that I somehow seemed to get a front-seat view of, stupidly volunteering to go up front. It’s fair to say I’m well and truly bricking it!

Death's door at The Nile's source

Simon Wadsworth
2006-09-04 10:59:52

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hopping on board a small, blue inflatable dinghy, and setting off on the 2-day, 46km route down the Nile. There were 10 of us in total on our raft - Laura, Caroline, Afsan and I, two British girls Lucy and Sally, three American girls and the dreadlocked, bold, daring and funny Kiwi-guide Simon; and we all got on very well, as a group generally would do when confronted by such danger.

That rapid was a Grade 5 called ‘The G-Spot’, so named by a wise-guy because it is difficult to find, but when you do, you scream lots and get very wet (not my words). We went through a total of four Grade 5s, the highest grade
possible to raft. There is a Grade 6, which we saw a few of, but this basically means certain death, or at least, hospital for a very long time, and includes rapids such as Niagara Falls. We had a little preparation - such as how to get down quickly and hold on for your life, pretending to prepare us for te rapids, Simon telling us that once underwater to hold on to your vest and count to five and with luck, you should surface, and a Boy-scout style kiddie chant of “Nogen in the Gogen!” (any Dutch willing to translate?).

On the first day, we capsized twice in the morning into the madness, with a worried Sally counting to more than five on one occasion - “You told us five seconds and I counted seven! Seven! I’ve never been so scared.” (a lifetime in these circumstances, I can assure you) - before some gentle rowing, swimming, and chilling down-river.

The afternoon was much of the same, but finishing with the aptly named ‘The Bad Place’ rapid (it certain was). The first 100m were Grade 6, so we wisely skipped this, got out of the river and scouted the final 50m. However, having time to stare at the noise and assess how stupid the situation was, only made it worse - and the rush that much greater. This wasn’t helped by Simon being very analytical:

“Naww, this is a dangerous rapid. ...