October 25, 2016

UGANDA 2016

I finished sixth form last June and with at least a year free from education I knew the first big trip I wanted to take was to Uganda. Over the last few years, it seems that most of the freestyle community has been out to go paddle the warm waters of the white Nile, always coming back with nothing but good things to say about their trips. So Charlie Brackpool, Emma Witherford and I booked flights (slightly last minute I admit) to spend six weeks in this tropical paradise. This was my first experience both of Africa and of surfing big waves, so it was going to be an exciting trip.

Our time was split between staying at the Hairy Lemon Island, NRE Camp and a couple of nights camping at super hole, which meant we were on the water pretty much every day, apart from a short safari in the middle. This gave us a good mix of days staying next to the famous Nile Special and Club waves (next to the Hairy Lemon), where we could surf until we forced ourselves to get off and rest, as well as plenty of opportunity to run the main river section.

For anyone that hasn’t been yet, its definitely worth going before the dam is finished and some of the section (including nile special and club wave) is flooded. The kayaking is world class; the water and weather are warm and the local people are very welcoming. On top of this, it is one of the easier trips to organise as it is such a popular destination for rafters and kayakers and the local kayak/raft companies such as Kayak the Nile have created a set up that makes it very easy to organise transport and other logistics.

Here’s a quick edit from Charlie of the trip: