Paddling Rwanda
“Do you want to paddle a tributary to t
he Nile?”, well there was no need for discussion, I simply said “yes please!”.
February 2024, I was working with adventure guides in East Africa delivering Outdoor First Aid courses. Many of these guides have Paddle UK qualifications and this training is important to ratify 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 ended up both canoeing and rafting on one of the Niles tributaries and teamed up with world class Kenyan and Ugandan raft guides.
I was based in the north of Rwanda in the regional capital of Musanze. This is also the base for most of the tourists, home of the endangered mountain gorillas. The Mukungwa River near Musanze is a tributary of the Nyawarongo River that flows into Lake Victoria, and eventually the River Nile. The average annual rainfall for the area is slightly above 1,315 mm/annum so it should be good for paddling.
There are opportunities on the Mukungwa River for both canoeing and whitewater rafting.
There are a series of small hyrdo projects on the river and flow in this meandering valley is gentle. This makes it ideal for canoeing and wildlife spotting. You could worry about hippos and crocodiles but the series of hydro dams mean that these animals don’t make it this far up the river
Either side of the river are fields reach right up to the banks of the river with lush vegetation of banana trees, passion trees, maize fields. Storks, ibis, weaver birds, egrets, herons, cormorant abound and are unphased by canoeists, allowing for good views and photography. There are wicker fish traps in the river and it feels totally unspoiled and like stepping back generations with shorelines where things feel as unchanged for generations.
Rafting in Rwanda on the lower Mukungwa River starts about 30 minutes drive south of Musanze town. Rafting the Mukungwa is a couple of hours long and a great grade 3 adventure. For this trip we were lucky to be joined by 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”. The arrival of the rafts at the launch site results in hundreds of happy children appearing from nowhere to help with the rafts and paddles or simply bounce on the rafts whilst we set up and receive out briefing. Not only do the kids come for a look at the rafts but mums and dads come too to see what all the excitement is about.
Comments are closed