Silence is broken- Ruth Gordon is out of Africa after weeks of seclusion!

By Ruth Gordon. Learn more about Ruth

April 3, 2006

Hi EJ,

I hope this message is finding you well. I´m out of Africa this week, but
not without a travel mate. I just pulled a jigger out of my foot, so I´m
still feeling very close to my recent trip to the White Nile in Uganda.

The Nile was the perfect warm-up for the season, I can´t believe SO many
people recommended that I not go to the Nile due to low water levels: the
river was amazing!! And since I have yet to experience high water on the
Nile I had no idea what I was ´supposedly missing.

Myself and Tanya Shuman travelled to Uganda at the beginning of March. Our
time was split evenly between the Day One (Silverback section) and Day Two
(and Nile Special wave) sections of the river. Arriving to a campsite at the
upper section of the river I quickly became reacquainted with big water and
big waves. The run from the put-in at NRE to Silverback is quite a fast
section but can be lengthened depending on the amount of time you surf the
Ugly Sisters wave.

The Ugly Sisters wave is beautiful but keeps every paddler on their toes as
there is a large pourover just downstream. Flipping sends your stomach into
your throat and rolling fast is a must. I did manage to prob out a few
different lines behind the wave (through the messy pourover), including one
far right. I also saw the results of one lucky swimmer who bravely swam over
the shallow section: yikes! The good news; you would come out the other end,
the bad news: you´d likely suffer with some battle scars.

The Day One section gives a real taste of Africa. Transportation, including
shuttles, is on the back of a moped or boda, boda. So if you day on the
river didn´t provide enough excitment you were sure to have an adventure on
the trip home: flat tires, stuck in the mud, over heating. There is never a
dull moment when in the care of a boda, boda driver.

Feeling sufficiently comfortable with the Day one section of the Nile, it
was time to move downstream to camp at the Hairy Lemon. This island, many
kayakers can attest, is a paddler´s paradise. What was once the two major
questions of the day 1. when to paddle and 2. what to eat, was downsized to
only 1. when to paddle. Three meals a day are provided at the Lemon, the
beach is beautiful, there is loads of good fishing (right Tanya?), the
weather was fantastic and volleyball in the water – what´s not to love!
Furthermore, The Hairy Lemon is also a short paddle to the Nile Special
wave. Revered in high water as one of the best big waves, low water still
provided great rides and huge air. Thanks to some other Canadians a tow rope
was put in place for easy access to the wave. Being from the Ottawa where
the famed Buseater is accessed by a tow rope I was happy to have an idea of
what to except… basically anything can happen with a tow rope, but in the
end you will definitely have a sore arm!

Midway through the trip it was time to give my body a rest (especially my
tow rope arm) and see more of the country of Uganda. We embarked on a three
day mission to Murchison Falls and were delighted with wildlife and
waterfalls. Hippos, giraffes, crocs and countless birds. It is hard to
describe the feeling of seeing animals in their natural habitat, especially
animals of such power. Just their presence sent exhilaration through my body
– WOW! The boat tour allowed us viewing access to the most animals, but it
was the tracking of the chimps that provided the highlight of the weekend.
We were luckz enough to locate the chimps and stood directly below the tree
they were eating from. At one point some baboons tried to move into their
space and a war of hoots and screeches errupted: shivers shot through me.

Heading back to the river I was feeling well rested and my paddling began to
improve. I started trying new things and was happy with longer surfs and
bigger tricks.

During the final week I celebrated my birthday: my best birthday ever! The
day started with surfing the Nile Special and continued with Birthday
Olympics. A round robin tournament with four teams competing in two
disciplines: volleyball and frisbee. The competition was tight, but in the
end, my team won! However it should be noted that it was written in the
rules that I would win regardless of the results as it was my birthday. Team
´Whatever´ put up a good fight for a hodge-podge of international team
members and team X-treme has to be noted for their fantastic hand signals.
While team Cobra was expected to be the strongest team, it seems the their
uk faction was the weakest link.

The White Nile was the perfect way to start my paddling season and get
comfortable in my new boat. The Star is an amazing wave boat, you´ll see
from the pictures.

Now I´m sitting on a beach in Portugal, sun is shinning and the surf is
looking good. A few more weeks in Europe and then it´s home to the Ottawa
and hopefully the Buseater.

Big smiles from the other side of the world,

Star wave surfer,

Ruth

p.s. photos compliments of Tanya Shuman