Words: Cory Jones.
Photos: Cory Jones &
Mandy E Rush
Cory Jones
Bio
Cory is a British Canoeing Endorsed Guide and works in the Highlands of Scotland as a kayak guide for Highland Experiences and an outdoor first aid instructor for First Aid Training Co-operative. Cory posts regularly about canoeing and kayaking worldwide on the Wee Wild Adventures blog site. https://weewildadventures.com/
Paddling the Upper Nile, Rwanda
“Do you want to paddle a tributary to the Nile?” Well, there was no need for discussion; I simply said, “Yes, please!”
In January and February 2024, I worked with adventure guides in East Africa, delivering Outdoor First Aid courses. Many of these guides have Paddle UK qualifications, and this training is essential to achieving their UK awards. This is part of a project that has been ongoing for eight years, and we have now developed a team of first-aid instructors in Kenya and Rwanda who can run first-aid training for other guides and community members at the same standards we use in the UK.
On this trip, I was invited to run first aid courses in Rwanda and ended up both canoeing and rafting on the Mukungwa River, one of the Niles tributaries. While preparing for this trip, I had not thought much about paddling in Rwanda. The images of Rwanda you tend to conjure up when it is mentioned are of Dian Fossey and the mountain gorillas or things about UK immigration policy. One of the nicest things about my paddling experience in Rwanda was working with and learning from some world-class Kenyan and Ugandan kayak and raft guides.
Tributaries to the Nile
The Nile is the longest river in Africa, with a catchment of ten countries, including Rwanda. Many of the rivers rising in Rwanda flow into Lake Victoria, forming tributaries for the Nile. The White Nile begins as the outflow of Lake Victoria in Tanzania and then flows north until it meets the Blue Nile in Sudan.
I ended up working in the north of Rwanda in the regional capital of Musanze. This is the base for most tourists in the country as it is the gateway to the Volcanoes National Park, home of the endangered mountain gorillas within the Virunga Mountains. The Mukungwa River near Musanze is a tributary of the Nyawarongo River that flows into Lake Victoria. The average annual rainfall for the area is slightly above 1,315 mm/annum, so it should be great for paddling!
Mukungwa River
There are opportunities on the Mukungwa River for both canoeing and white water rafting. The waters of the Mukungwa River are calm and tranquil. There are a series of small hydro projects on the river, and the flow in this meandering valley is gentle. This makes it ideal for canoeing and wildlife spotting.
Our launch spot was alongside a rural dirt road, and as we were getting our canoe ready for launch, I asked about the dangers of hippos and crocodiles. “You don’t have to worry about hippos and crocodiles,” said one of our local guides, “they don’t live in this part of the river.”
The series of small hydroelectric dams across the river mean these animals no longer make it this far up the river. There have not been any records of crocodiles or hippos in the river for many years, or so they say!
Once on the water, we enjoyed a very relaxing, gentle, sinuous canoe trip down the river, which lasted a few hours. There was no adrenaline rush on this trip, but paddling through a reasonably untouched part of the country was fascinating. Much of Rwanda’s indigenous tree cover has been lost, and the land has been used for agriculture and growing non-indigenous Eucalyptus. This has made the river waters a murky brown, indicating high sediment levels in the water as the high rainfall in this area leads to soil erosion.
On either side of the river are fields reaching right up to the banks of the river with lush vegetation consisting of banana and passion trees, maize, rice, cassava plants and arrowroot. The high rainfall means the river regularly burst its banks, inundating the flood plain and making the area very fertile, with sediment being laid down over the fields after every flooding event.
There are wicker fish traps in the river at regular intervals. We were told these are checked by the children several times a day. The catchment is dominated by subsistence farmers struggling to make ends meet, so fish from the river is a great bonus to supplement local people’s diet or sell at local markets. Most people still live in the countryside and not in cities; 70% of the population in Rwanda is under 30 years of age, and unemployment rates in rural areas are high. Small-scale fishing is, therefore, essential to rural communities.
Happy children
Every kilometre or so, as we paddled downstream, young children ran down from their isolated houses to the river to see these strangers paddling on the river. Based on the children’s reactions, smiling and waving, they don’t get many visitors on the water. The area feels unspoilt; it was like stepping back in time where things felt unchanged for generations.
There was plenty of birdlife to spot on the canoe route. As we moved slowly along the river, clumps of native bamboo hide colonies of weaver birds buzzing around their nests, which looked like neat balls of woven straw. As we passed, swampy areas and rice paddies, storks, ibis, egrets, herons, and cormorants abound. These birds were unphased by our canoes, allowing for good views and photography. These birds saw no threat in the group of paddlers as we meandered down the river.
Rafting
After this wonderful sedate canoe trip, our next paddle opportunity was a huge contrast. We were rafting on the lower Mukungwa River.
The launch point is a 40-minute drive south of Musanze town. We travel on some fun, bouncy African roads to get there. I stopped a couple of times to readjust the rafts on the trailer as it was certainly getting bounced around. This section of the river was only first kayaked and then rafted recently – in the summer of 2023, by the excellent Kenyan raft guide Renson Mburu.
Rafting the lower Mukungwa is a trip which takes a couple of hours and runs as an excellent grade 3 adventure. The route finishes near the town of Vunga, near the confluence with the Nyabarongo River, the longest river entirely within Rwanda. It is an excellent place to stop as just past these rivers’ confluence, you will find hippos and crocodiles in the river.
For this trip, we were lucky to be joined by Renson Mburu, the first person to paddle this river, and Sadat Kawawa, who has tamed the fearsome waters of the White Nile. Sadat is probably the most famous raft guide in Uganda and was the subject of the Red Bull film ‘Sadat Kawawa – The way of the wildcard’. It was great to have them both share their knowledge, skills and good humour on the river run.
While we waited with the rafts for the van shuttle to be completed, we were greeted by happy children who came out to see what we were doing and to look at our strange craft. They were happy to help us carry the rafts, paddles and kit down the few hundred metres from the roadside to the riverside. The children had a good bounce on the rafts to test them out whilst we waited on the riverbank! Over ten minutes, the number of children and then their parents increased. Everyone was eager to learn more about what we were up to and excited to see us launch into the river.
Adrenaline-inducing
The L3 rapids on the run are all named, starting with the ‘Head-scratcher’, where we started and led straight into a series of 2-metre drops called ‘Baptism by Fire’. This is followed by a traversing wave called ‘The Dishwasher’, ‘Treacherous Corner’, ‘Spearhead’, ‘Grim Reaper’, and ‘Lost Shoe Swimming’. There are a good number of rapids with 2-3 metres drops that all live up to their names on this sporty, high-volume river. Towards the end of the run was ‘AJ Superhole’, where there was an opportunity to play in a big wave. The river trip ended with a drop down the complex adrenaline-inducing Utakufa Rapid on the outskirts of the Vunga.
Exiting the river and carrying the rafts up to the road, we were inundated by curious locals, both adults and children. Rafting is new here, and most people were amazed that we had arrived in rafts and kayaks. The whole village came out to see us; they were excited and chatty, not used to seeing many tourists, and curious about everything we were doing.
A unique experience
This is still a unique experience as the locals have never seen a kayak or whitewater raft. In a year or two, our fantastic reception in the village won’t be the same once locals become used to paddlers arriving in the village.
For this trip to Rwanda, I was accompanied by my partner Mandy, who created the following videos of the canoeing and raft trips for our travel blog – Wee Wild Adventures. Renson Mburu, the head guide and manager for Kingfisher Journeys in Rwanda, organised both trips.
