Mountains of the Moon, Climbing the Rwenzori Mountains, Western Uganda 

Cam Mcleay, Adrift

I pulled my sleeping bag over my head and tightened the drawstring around my face. I have been living in Uganda for over 3-years and couldn’t remember the last time I had actually climbed into my sleeping bag let alone pulled the hood over my head – we live on the equator and we are not used to feeling that cold.

The next thing I knew it was morning and light crept through the window of the Guy Yeoman hut. I ventured outside and mist swirled around in the valley below. A brisk wind dispelled any ideas I had of an early morning swim. Smoke poured from beneath the roof of the porters huts – a good sign that the fire was warm and the day had begun. Putting on the porridge seemed as good a start as any but not before that first cup of tea. On my way to the creek to fill the teapot a mostly grey streaked between the giant heather and I was able to make out clearly at the end of the streak a Ruwenzori Turaco. Even while half awake, I knew that this would cause your most enthusiastic twitcher to wet his pants with excitement. I stood still to watch this remarkable bird preen himself only metres away and revelled in the again in the magic of the Rwenzori and mystery that still surrounds the Mountains of the Moon.

I had climbed Mt. Stanley 17-years earlier from the DR Congo (then Zaire) side but this was my first time to climb the mountains from Uganda. The Mountains of the Moon have lost none of their charm. The mighty forest giants are as majestic as when the first explorers ever saw them, elephant trails still cross the foot highways in the lower forests, chimpanzees make their home near giant fig trees, one is never far from the sound of running water and the dramatic peaks are obscured from view for most of the year.

Our team from Hima Cement had been in training for months beforehand to get in shape for what is probably the toughest climb on the dark continent – third highest (Margherita 5189m) but physically the greatest challenge. Charles had grown up in the foothills of the Rwenzoris but had never ventured beyond the village trails, Christian had flown in from La Farge – Hima’s parent company in France and Pal had joined us from Bamburi Cement (another La Farge company) in Kenya. The local team had under-estimated the importance of footwear. Despite my detailed advice on what kind of boots to search for in the ‘Owino’ of Kabale, they had turned up with shoes more suited to a night on the dancefloor at Club Silk. What were they thinking? They were making this too much of a challenge for themselves. It was challenge enough to wade through the Bigo bog in gortex boots let along the ‘silk slippers’. But I had to remember they had never seen snow before. Bosco could not imagine beyond his wildest dreams how difficult it is to balance on wet and greasy logs knowing if you slipped you would have to extract yourself from knee deep mud reknown for claiming the shoes of intrepid hikers.

We had chosen to attempt the Rwenzori in August when the clouds should be near their thinnest and the rain should be somewhere down in Zambia. However, it seemed like someone forgot to pass the message on. Swirling clouds of mist swallowed our views of the peaks for most of our trek and the bogs of the Uganda Rwenzori were overflowing with water. A huge amount of work has been done on the trails and without the thousands of logs laid across the swamps, I shudder to think of how much greater our challenge would have been. This was a teambuilding exercise and it certainly brought all of us closer together. Each day, we dragged tired limbs from our sleeping bags, wrestled with wet boots and climbed at a steady pace toward those elusive peaks that we glimpsed occasionally in the clouds. The trails were littered with large rocks and we spent a great deal of time clambering over these on all fours, large sections of the trail were sodden from heavy rains and the bogs ruled supreme. My gortex boots and gaiters feared well but those porters really put on quite the show.

Carrying large loads, they were a wonderful advertisement for gumboots (Wellingtons) as they leapt nimbly between rocks, hauled themselves over tree trunks fallen on the trails or skilfully balanced in the bogs. We had about 30 porters to support our team and they were enjoying the experience as much as we were. Aside from the sound of squelching boots, distinctive bird calls and thundering waterfalls, one of my endearing memories from the climb is the constant banter of the porters. These little men of the mountains seemed really at home here dashing ahead of our team of climbers each day, pausing occasionally to suck on some battered cigarette or huddling together around the fires in the evening for warmth.

At Bujuku Hut, our hopes of reaching the summit of Margherita peak rose and fell with the brightness of the stars. Each time I dashed outside, a sky full of stars made me hopeful we could summit in clear weather. The promise of the summit had me excited for myself but especially for my new Ugandan friends who would see snow for the first time. We departed for the summit of Mt. Stanley in the dark and it wasn’t long before our feet were wet and our heads were pounding from the altitude. The pace had slowed considerably and there was plenty of time to take in the magnificent views down the mountainside to Lake Bujuku. A fresh dusting of snow had settled into the wet moss and ice cold streams trickled beneath the giant groundsells. I had forgotten the simple pleasure of filling my mouth with fresh snow crystals and gazing down on the clouds from above. One foot up, balance, then place the next. My breathing was becoming shorter and and my steps closer. I always feel that a large part of the magic of the mountains is that my mind wanders, I wonder what lies behind that large cloud or over the next ridge or under the rock I just stepped on. The thin mountain air might make for vivid dreams and light sleep at night but day is also full of visions of hope and wonder.

Soon we have reached the icefields and I wander around the party checking the fit of crampons. Each time I bend down my head throbs and soon I am delighted be swinging my ice axe into the glacier. A prolonged coaching lesson on the fixing of ice screws, some instruction on how to use crampons and the team is soon traversing the steep ice face that looms above us. Water rushes rapidly toward the Mediterranean from beneath our feet, the sun burns a bright hole through the cloud and our crampons bite into the blue ice. It is hard to believe that the retreating glaciers of the Mountains of the Moon are headed all the way for Alexandria via the Nile. Roped together for danger of falling into a crevasse, we walk slowly across the icefield to the high point amidst the mighty peaks of Mt. Stanley – ironically named after the man who initially dismissed that they existed. I am able to take a few group photographs before a chilly snow storm drives us back down the mountain.

We settle for less than the summit but the Hima Cement team were tough challengers. On summit day, we stumble into camp well after dark but justifiably pleased with ourselves then revel in our next few days in the mountains. No-one said it was going to be easy but what a place to spend some time. The Turacos call up the valleys of their misty home, a lone chimpanzee races across the rocks after a brief encounter with Joe Hudson and our footprints have long since been washed away by the heavy rain. However, the Mountains of the Moon leave another impression that will not waste away quite so quickly. For thousands of years, these mountains have made a lasting impression on those that saw or visited them and today little has changed in the high valleys and mighty peaks.

Exploring the Nile in Uganda

Cam McLeay, Adrift

However, during the nineteenth century the Nile was explored with renewed fervour as Burton, Speke, Grant and Baker concentrated on the Nile from the East coast of the continent. Speke finally reached what was widely regarded to be the main source of the Nile near what is now called Jinja in 1862. ‘It was a sight that attracted one to it for hours – the roar of the waters, the thousands of fish leaping at the falls with all their might….hippos and crocodiles lying sleepily on the water…as interesting a picture as one could wish to see.’ Speke and Grant then continued northward leaving most of the Nile in Uganda unexplored.

Sir Samuel Baker, an old friend of Speke’s and his young wife Florence had pushed upstream at great expense to their health in search of the explorers. Early in 1863, Speke and Grant arrived at the Baker’s camp in Gondokoro (southern Sudan) and Speke urged them to search for what they later named ‘Albert Nyanza’. They were able to push on upstream and discover for the outside world Murchison Falls ‘..The fall of water was snow-white, which had a superb effect as it contrasted with the dark cliff that walled the river, while the peaceful palms of the tropics and the wild plantains perfected the beauty of the view’. However, due to poor health the Bakers left what they called ‘the greatest waterfall on the Nile’ and travelled back to Sudan leaving the Nile between Lakes Victoria and Albert (the Victoria Nile) little explored.

It wasn’t until 50-years ago that John Goddard made an incredible first descent of the White Nile from the highlands of Burundi (what is now widely regarded to actual source of the river) to its source in the Mediterranean (see National Geographic magazine May 1955). Goddard and his friends took 9-months to complete their epic journey leaving unchallenged only relatively short sections of the river believing their fragile craft would not stand the pounding of the big rapids.

Irishman Marcus Baillie claimed the first descent of the section of the Albert Nile (part of the White Nile) from the Uganda border to Juba in the early eighties and a team of hardened Polish kayakers were the first to navigate the rapids between Jinja and Lake Kyoga. It wasn’t until over century after Baker discovered Murchison Falls that I picked up a kayak catalogue with a picture of the plucky Poles and the obscure caption ‘Blue Nile’. Adrift had been running commercial raft trips on the Blue Nile in Ethiopia for 2-years and I knew the picture belonged instead to the White Nile. It matched Baker’s description and we packed our rafts and kayaks for Uganda.

For thousands of years civilisations have moved up and down the Nile on a wide variety of boats. Huge cruise ships compete with feluccas on the lower Nile, barges ply cargo up and down the middle Nile and dugout canoes move swiftly between eddies on the upper Nile. The entire length of the Nile had been navigated when we arrived in Uganda in 1996 with the exception of the wildest and steepest section in the heart of Murchison Falls National Park. Eventually, a reluctant Uganda National Parks granted us permission to raft through the park from Karuma Falls to Murchison Falls. I read the letter carefully warning us of the dangers of our journey and we pushed our rafts into the current below Karuma Falls. In 10-days, we encountered some of largest rapids on earth, we counted over 1400 hippo on the river, were charged by large crocodiles every day and we were privileged to see some of the most incredible scenery on the continent. Adrift may have ‘closed the final chapter on the exploration of the worlds longest river’ but we are still opening that book and inserting paragraphs.

Over Easter, we were delighted to have a couple of families of friends visit us from France and England. We travelled throughout the southwest of Uganda and finished a wonderful holiday with a family exploration on the Nile. In three rafts, we loaded fourteen kids, twelve adults, boogie boards, sweets, sun-lotion and cameras. From Kalagala Falls (one of the most spectacular waterfalls on the river) the rafts bounced downstream. Instead of taking the rafts through the biggest parts of the rapids (something we have gained a reputation for) we went for the gentler ride slipping down narrow channels between the heavily forest islands, staying closer to the shore away from the roar of the big rapids and ensuring the kids rode at the front of the raft for the wettest ride.

The smiles on the face of the kids spoke for them. At the bottom of each rapid, we had to explain to the little ones that they couldn’t do the rapid again but that we did have the riverboards with us and now was the time for the boards and kayaks. I think the kids spent more time over the side than they did in the raft. Troops of red-tailed monkey watched cautiously from the forested islands as we drifted past, monitor lizards scrambled from their sunbathing rocks into the river and colonies of comorants took to the air as the kids leapt from the raft trying to ‘bomb’ each other. Ronnie and Ben are used to picking up paddles and helping swimmers back to their rafts after the biggest rapids on the Nile but they soon came to realise that was relatively easy work.

The kayaks were in constant demand from the excited children. At one time Ronnie had four kids aboard his kayak and was towing another three behind on river boards (better known in the ocean as ‘boogie boards’). Where the current picked up speed and baby rapids emerged, the kids delighted in bouncing through the tiny waves on the boards and spinning in the little eddies afterward.

Later in the afternoon of our first day, we pulled into the Nile island Rob and Erin call ‘Hairy Lemon’. The island has become and small Mecca for kayakers as the surf wave Nile Special is nearby for their entertainment but they were happy to welcome us there. Over the past few years, they have slowly built a home for themselves on the island and welcome visitors to it. Erin and her staff cook meals for you, Rob keeps the drinks ice cold behind the counter and Austin (their small son) is happy to share his toys with visiting children. We pitched our tents on a small hill with views across the river giving little consideration to the looming black clouds and settled down to a lovely evening on their island.

In the morning, it was the adults turn to have fun. We parked our rafts adjacent Nile Special tightened the draw-strings on our swim shorts and launched our river boards onto the wave. As you might hear from the shore near a well known break in New Zealand; ‘it was pumping’. Thousands of miles from where the Nile meets the salt water it is hard to believe that a river can behave so much like the ocean. The waves hold their basic form very similar to a broken ocean wave racing toward the beach and the riverboards sit beautifully on that wave. All that is left for the rider to do is to steer the board and breathe at the right time. The ride is very exhilarating and in over 20-years of river running around the world, I have never seen waves as suited to surfing as we have right here on the Nile in Kayunga District.

As the day warmed up, it was time for the kids to take their places back on the boards and for us to drift downstream toward Malalu (the last significant rapid on the river before it reaches Lake Kyoga). Smoke rising from the Kayunga bank and silhouettes of men weaving their way up a path gave away the local waragi (banana gin) source. The ferry crossing from Busoga to Kayunga that day must have taken twice as long as it normally does as the passengers kept telling the ‘pilot’ to stop paddling watching in awe the kids leaping from the rafts, racing each other around on the kayaks and giving the local birdlife a little less peace than it is used to.

After another fantastic river surfing session at Malalu, we rowed the rafts to to the bank and bundled the exhausted kids ashore. We are still exploring the Nile (this time with the kids) and invite you to come and join us. Our family overnight trip was such a success that we now offer it as something to all families with a sense of adventure and an appreciation for this wonderful stretch of the mighty Nile right here on our doorsteps.

Adrift Adventure Race

20th February, 2005

The teams of four must include at least one person of the opposite sex and must move as a team for the entire race.  If they move too far away from each other then their team will be penalised or worse still disqualified.  The course director is the only person who knows the exact route of the race before the race briefing which is held the night before the race.  Teams have been briefed to prepare for a 10k mountain run, 20k of mountain biking, 2k of paddling and a race up the climbing wall at Adrift Riverbase (see the image below of competitors in last year's race).  

In addition to more conventional pursuits in well known adventure races around the world, participants are required to paddle.  Last years race required them to navigate their rafts against swift current, to battle up the eddies behind islands in the Nile and to swim down the river before they were even able to get in their rafts. 

The race attracted a lot of interest last year and one of the suprise highlights was the climbing wall at the end of the race.  Many competitors had little or no climbing experience but managed to scramble up the wall with encouragement from their teamates watching from below.  

Adrift Riverbase , which is the base for rafting pioneer Adrift already has a wonderful reputation venue for anyone staying in the Jinja area.  The spectacular cliff-top bar offers wonderful views of the popular bungee jump and the rapids over the river.  

For more information regarding the race or entry forms contact Adrift.  

Adrift Riverbase

20 Feb 2004

Rustic wooden cottages are perched on poles above the river, gas-powered BBQs, flush toilets, hot showers and a swimming pool are all unique features that make Nile High the place to stay on the banks of the Nile.

The last full moon saw the launch of full-moon bungee jumping at the site and on the Saturday of each month closest to the full-moon music, big moonlights splashes and excited crowds set the scene at the amazing cliff-top bar at the camp.

To get there stop well before Bujagali Falls. The camp is located only 3kms from the Shell/Ling Ling Roundabout off a sealed road right next to Jinja Nile Resort.

Camping $5, Dormitory $10, Safari tents $40, Chalets $50.

Call Adrift Riverbase on 0772 BUNGEE (286 433) or 0414 252 720 or Dennis on 0772 ADRIFT (237 438).