Tandem kyaking the Nile - an epic day! Marc and I both parktook in this adventure, each having our own kayak and professional guide. And when I say professional I mean they are hoping to head to Canada for the Kayaking World Championships in three weeks (visas pending). My lunatic chocolate grandfather (Peter), who ate too much dark chocolate (mind you, 8 years my junior) decided he was going to take me - his white chocolate granddaughter who ate white chocolate and drunk mzungu cream (white cream aka sun cream) - out for a spin down the Nile. At one point I was his daughter but then he decided that with my ginger hair and pale skin, I was just not cuppacino enough. Marc got a man mountain / male model by the name of Latif... I think he had a crush on Latif's pecs.

After putting on our kayak skirts, dancing around in them a bit and finally attaching ourselves to the boat we headed out to the flat water to practice our roations. Lesson number one: What do you do when you get smashed by a wave and are upside down in the middle of a rapid attached to your kayak? Answer: hold your breath, throw away your paddle, squeeze knees to the hook rim of the kayak, head to toes and hug the front of the kayak. On the calm waters this seemed simple enough, yet I must admit I wasn't super keen on being upside down in the midst of a grade 5 rapid for up to 20 seconds with an adrenaline-riddled heart rate. Fortunately for me I mentioned this to my lunatic chocolate grandfather who persistently put me at ease by telling me it was his first day on the job, that he was stoked the boat flip worked considering he just finished watching the 'how to kayak' video etc. As you may have realised we spent a fair bit of time together talking absolute smack.

Over the course of the day (4hrs or so) we went through 8 rapids ranging from category 1 to 5. Some with waterfalls that we sailed off the edge of, some with vertical waves (specialty characteristic of the Nile), some with multiple consecutive waves that provide a bit of air-borne mania, a few surf waves and all sorts in between. Fortunately Peter (chocolate grandfather) whipped out some black magic and we were never stranded upside-down; can't say the same for the third tandem kayaker in our group who spent most of their time upside-down. That was dubbed mzungu magic.

During our down time the rafters had to paddle their way down the river (silly people); meanwhile we freed our skirt and legs and basked lazily in the boat (could have even done with a martini in hand) as the tide funnelled us down stream. However in saying that I spent more time in the water using my lifejacket as a floating device as I drifted along eating juicy pineapple and skipping between the natural whirlpools occasionally being dragged in and having to power swim out of them. All part of the fun, I'd say.

The day as a whole was wonderful adventure, great company and a delicious BBQ and beers (none for Marc after his recent overindulgence) to finish off with before heading home to our campsite.

What I also loved was how refreshing it is here in Uganda, throwing polical racial correctness out of the window. Here no one has their arms all up in the air nor knickers in twist: everyone makes jokes about one another and everone accepts one another. It doesn't matter if you are black, white or as one child put it "if you put black and white together you make me... brown!".