By: Bruce Amp
Kayakers gather to show off how they maximize the river’s waves and
rapids, as well as appreciate the Nile.
Last week, kayakers from around
the world participated in the annual
Nile River Festival, which took place over
four days outside Jinja. This was the 10
th year the community river
festival has been held. Hundreds of spectators attended the festival to watch kayakers
take on the challenging rapids and share in the appreciation of the river. The festival,
organized by Kayak the Nile, in Association with the
Nile River Explorers and
Visit Jinja, include four stages. After each days’ competition, spectators and
competitors headed to the
Nile River Explorers and the Hairy Lemon for live
music, food, drinks and huge party.
Two – time
Nile River festival Champion
and co-owner of Kayak the Nile, Sam Ward said: “the festival brings together an
eclectic mix of people from the nearby villages, Kampala, all over Uganda and
the world, celebrating the river as the kayaking and non-kayaking community
comes together.”
For Zachary Clemence, his first
time attending the festival was “an amazing event. There are hundreds of people
out here by the river enjoying the beautiful day, watching world-class kayakers
paddle, Couldn’t get much better than that.”
Jessie Stone, a sponsored
kayaker, who found soft power Education in Jinja, has completed almost every
year since the festival begun said: “considering all the fear mongering about
Ebola in Africa and how tourism in general has been down, it is really nice to
see that so many people have showed up to support the festival and come out and
watch it,”
DAY 1 – BIG AIR
RAMP
The competition kicked off on
January 22, with the Big Air Ramp. Competitors slit down the 14-metre ramp,
completing tricks both in and out of kayaks to impress the crowd. Yusuf
Basalirwa came in first, followed by the youngest competitor at the festival,
11-years old Craig Dahl who came second. Jackson Two, a river Guide for Nile
River Explorers came in third out of the 17 participants.
DAY 2 –
EXTREAM ENDURANCE RACE
The second day of the festival
was the Extreme Endurance Race in which the 30 competitors raced the length of
a marathon from the Bujagali Dam the Nile Special Rapid. For safety purposes,
racers competed in pairs and were required to arrive at the finish line
together.
Musa Mutamba and Jackson Two came
in first, kayaking the marathon in an impressive two hour and 32 minutes. The two
begun training together three months before the festival in order to win the
race for the third year in a row. David Luhiho and Nasser Nasser Balimugulira
placed second and Sam Ward and Shaggy Setkate were third.
DAY 3 – BIG AIR
COMPETITION
The most exciting and challenging
events were scheduled over the weekend. On Saturday, the Big Air Competition
took place at
Nile Special wave. River waves are similar to those found in the
ocean, but do not move, making it possible for kayaker to surf these features
and throw a variety of spins, flips and twists in the air and they surf. The competitors’
best three moves were counted and judged based on the difficulty of the move
and how well it was executed, with extra points for combinations and flair. Sam
and Emily Ward placed first in the men and women’s freestyle competition. Bren
Orton placed second followed by Stephen Wright in third.
DAY 4: HENDRI
COETEZEE MEMORIAL, ITANDA FALLS EXTREME RACE
This was the final day of the
competition.
Itanda falls is a class V rapid and one of the most difficult. Ward
described the extreme race as “one of the hairiest and scariest races in the
world.” It is named in memory of Hendri Coetzee, a legendary exploratory kayaker
in Africa who lived in Jinja and led the first full descent of the Nile.
Paddlers raced each other in pairs;
with the fastest five competitors moving onto the final round was purely judged
by style, where paddlers were fee to do whenever they felt was most impressive,
including surfs of huge hydraulics with remarkable tricks. Sadat Kawawa placed
first and was followed by David Luhiho and Musa Mutamba.
Sadat Kawawa, who is also a
member of the the
Uganda Freestyle Team who has run the difficult Itanda rapid
nearly every week for the past 3 years. “Every single time am on top of that
rapid, my heart always shakes, but you have to do it. Once you do it, it is big
fun,” Kawawa said.
Thomas white, a photographer
living in Kampala, has attended the Nile River Festival for the past three
years and learned to Kayak on the Nile. “I have really enjoyed watching all the
amazing kayakers with their impressive skills and I am working up to may be
entering next year.”
