Words: Bartosz Czauderna
Bartosz is the owner and coach of ‘Love It Live It’ More info at: https://loveitliveit.co.uk
E: bartosz@loveitliveit.co.uk
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Come back to paradise – Uganda
Like every winter, I went to Uganda to spend my time training and enjoying perfect kayaking conditions of warm water, no rocks, friendly people and general easy life with multiple spots to play. This year we were glad to make it there with our Polish friends despite all the covid difficulties. Luckily the numbers around the Nile were fairly low, and we had to take tests before flying and, of course, follow local restrictions. However, we had managed everything, and it was worth it!
high water releases
But honestly, for the idea of isolating, this was probably the best place, living on the bank of the Nile, just playing on the river every day and being able to work from there. It felt easier to handle the isolation than back home, where I had been stuck with limited options of moving around. This year, especially unique, was the very high water releases that started happening in the first half of the year. Over the last ten months, Uganda has been on high release making White Nile a completely new place in terms of white water, creating many completely new waves!
After unprecedented flooding around the region and a year of low water releases through the dams, Lake Victoria was at its highest-ever levels. Emergency releases started to help drop that level were sending 2400 cumecs through the dams, double a normal high water release of 1200 and triple the typical release since completion of Isimba HPP. The temporary high flows led to recreating all the rapids that we already knew by heart and bringing on the big wave game to Uganda!
completely new look
When we arrived, water levels were still very high and delivered a completely new look to our favourite playgrounds. Keeping old friends like Superhole – perfect for learning, giving a new face to this high water gem with combined Vengence and Phoenix waves the size of Nile Special with easy eddy service and beautiful passes. Also providing new waves such as Zubrówka, which is a medium-size wave similar to Garburator. Finally, one of my favourite discoveries was the AAA wave, which was our big wave treasure!
To be honest, my favourite fact about the whole trip is that living on the banks of the river, we only had a few steps into the rapids, where daily we could choose from an easy place to learn like Superhole, feisty but great for tricks Zubrówka, or a true challenge being AAA wave. A few minutes and we were back home, ready to cook our lunch or rest in a hammock. This year it has felt like back in the day at the Hairy Lemon.
About our favourite waves:
Superhole – it’s still there and running. This time more wave-like and more challenging to pull hole tricks, but they are still possible! However, it is very friendly and easy to learn all the wave basics with excellent eddy service and a very mellow way to set up and surf, a great wave for beginners or dialling in the technique!
Zubrówka – we found it at the start of our stay and named it Zubrówka to give it a polish touch. It wasn’t run often, as all the water led into a sketchy rock, but now the water is flowing over with a strong current that pushes you away from it. This wave also has an easy eddy service, but if you miss it, then you’ve got to hike up for babushka or run it from the top. Though it is very manageable, it often happens, so you can easily enjoy the whole session!
Vengence – after merging with Phoenix is back to its prime levels, creating a beautiful wave with excellent eddy service and an opportunity to camp just in front of it! With the correct levels, you can fly very high and do all of the tricks! Yet mind not too flush too far down, then the walk around the island from the bottom left eddy will be needed to bring you back to the wave! It is the prime version of what we used to know of that wave but now much bigger and wider! An overnight stay at the island overlooking the wave with sunset session, campfire and sunrise session is one of my favourite things to do in Uganda these days!
AAA – is the sound that you make when you catch this wave for the first time. It has a narrow window with too high water being too green and too low, getting very powerful and aggressive. However, getting it just right is worth every day hunting for that perfect spot and is a real cherry on the cake to finish up a Ugandan trip. It is the biggest wave I have surfed! Surfing is like being on a constant roller-coaster kicking you up and down, and if you can only commit to the trick, then you can get huge aerial moves. If you want to come back to it, you catch the eddy, hop out and with a short walk on the island, you are back at the top to drop in for another ride!
With infinite opportunities, while staying at Superhole, we have been surfing, enjoying local food, sun, running other big water rapids (or just watching those that got too big!) and finally concluding a trip with a perfect bike safari at Lake Mburo. This trip couldn’t be better, and we can not wait to show you more of high water Uganda!
Observing current trends, it seems that high water levels may become a new normal! They have been stable now for few months, and it seems Victoria lake is still keeping high!
