Hairy Lemon Kayaking and Social Weekend

The long awaited Hairy Lemon weekend is back. So get ready for the social highlight in MCU’s calendar with a big fancy dress party on Saturday night.

For the kayakers the Hairy Lemon weekend offers the great opportunity to explore a different part of the river and run some new rapids. Kayak the Nile will be offering discounted kayaking lessons for beginners to advanced kayakers. For more details and sign-up click here to sign-up.

Non-kayakers are more than welcome to join – judging from last time there were definitely more people just enjoying a chilled out weekend than kayaking.
As the Hairy Lemon is an island, it is vital that you book accommodation and please note that the usual shuttle service is not available for Hairy Lemon weekends.
Please email laurabierer@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Nile Kayaking Weekend

This MCU kayaking weekend will be on February 25-26^th in Bujagali!

Once a month MCU heads to Jinja for discounted group lessons with the stellar team at Kayak the Nile. Paddlers of all levels – including beginners – are welcome. It’s always a fun weekend out of the big city! More info take a look at Kayak the Nile and here for the MCU discounts and all-you-need-to-know on the lessons. The sign-up sheet will become available after the last month’s lesson took place – so please do not sign up yet.

Non-kayakers are more than welcome to join and enjoy a chilled out weekend with MCU. There are plenty of non-kayaking options from swimming, stand-up-paddle-boarding on the Nile, going on community walks, horseback riding and many more.

Please email laurabierer@gmail.com if you have any questions.

3rd Annual Girls Gone Nile

For the third time, ladies in Uganda are taking over the Nile! The weekend will be about female paddlers supporting each other on and off the river and is a good chance for women to learn from one another while enjoying all the Nile has to offer. The event is open to all skill levels. Non-kayaking ladies are welcome to come hang out but if you learned on the Nile you must have done at least 3 lessons with Kayak the Nile to paddle. Note, this is not an official lesson with professional instructors, this is more of a casual gathering for women to get together to share and build experience and push each other in a encouraging environment. Fill in the Google Form to sign up!

Girls Gone Nile 2016 from Shannon Orcutt on Vimeo.

The only costs involved are if you need to rent kayaking equipment and we’ll split the price of transport. You should bring your own lunch for both days and we will be doing dinner and breakfast potluck style.

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 11

We will meet at Kayak the Nile in Bujagali at 10AM drive to Jenny and Charlie’s land at Superhole. We’ll do a brief Superhole session then the intermediate/ advanced group paddle down to Nile Special. We’ll be cooking out, camping, and living it up at the land.

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 12

We’ll make a quick breakfast then head out to the river likely splitting into a beginner and more advanced groups to practice skills and surfing around Superhole. Likely leaving the land around 3pm.

2017 Nile River Festival

The Nile River Festival is a four day event hosted by Kayak the Nile that makes the most of some of the biggest rapids in the world and celebrates all that is awesome about the River Nile, here in Uganda. Every year, the NRF draws some of the best athletes from around the world to compete for the overall champion title.

MCU often has a big group spectating and competing so be sure to mark your calendar!

For event updates, check the Facebook event page and event website!

Nile Kayaking Weekend

This MCU kayaking weekend will be on January 14-15^th in Bujagali!

Please email laurabierer@gmail.com if you have any questions.

MCU Kayak Weekend- Hairy Lemon Edition

The long awaited Hairy Lemon kayaking weekend is back!

This is definitely the social highlight of the MCU kayaking calendar with a big fancy dress party on Saturday night. Non-kayakers are more than welcome to join – judging from last time there were definitely more people just enjoying a chilled out weekend than kayaking.

For the kayakers the Hairy Lemon weekend will give you the opportunity to run some of the other rapids further down the river. Make use of this opportunity as many of these rapids will disappear once the dam is built. Beginners are more than welcome and the stellar Kayak the Nile team will be offering lessons for the total beginners to the more experienced kayakers. Take a look here for more details on the lessons and MCU discounts. The sign-up sheet will become available after the last month’s lesson took place – so please do not sign up yet.

Accommodation:

As the Hairy Lemon is an island, it is vital that you book accommodation! You might be turned away if you don’t book as they have to organise food and the non-camping options will most definitely sell out.

Transport:

As this weekend takes place at the Hairy Lemon, it will not be possible to use the shuttle option. So you’ll need to organise your own ride! Please use the Facebook group to offer or ask for a ride – as usual please make sure to chip in for petrol. It should be around 25k per person there and back in a full car. The road to the Hairy Lemon isn’t the best especially not during rainy season, so using a 4 wheel drive is advisable.

Theme: “Human Drawings in Leggins and Hats”
So get a plain T-Shirt with markers and body paint ready!!!
It’s your choice to create your own drawings or to wait till the evening and let everyone else have a go in creating a human drawing out of you.
Spice up your costume with colourful leggins, a hat or any other accessory you seem fit for your human artwork.

Please let laurabierer@gmail.com know if you have any questions.

Source of the Nile Trail Run Challenge

The Source of the Nile Trail Running Challenge is a prestigious race with the most stunning and scenic trail you will probably ever run in your life! Set at the source of the Nile in Jinja, Uganda, the different running trails will not only take you along the banks of the great River Nile but upon rocky paths past the rapids and up to the scenic hills overlooking lake Victoria and down through villages and banana plantations. The inaugural race is proudly organized by Activate Uganda on the 25th of September 2016. For more information check out www.sourceoftheniletrailrunchallenge.com

Global Raft for Elephants and Rhinos

Nile River Explorers (NRE) is once again dedicating a day to conservation with the intent of selling EVERY SEAT on EVERY BOAT and giving all the proceeds of the day to the Uganda Conservation Foundation & Rhino Fund Uganda. Why are they doing it? Simply because they can!

Over the era of Idi Amin and the civil wars that followed, severe poaching across Uganda resulted in the violent demise of Northern white rhino and elephants in Uganda. Uganda went from having more mega-herbivores per square kilometer than anywhere else in Africa – with famed herds of thousands of elephants – to seeing rhinos become extinct and elephants dropping to their lowest ever population of just a few hundred. The future looked bleak for Uganda’s elephants and rhinos.

Uganda Conservation Foundation (UCF) is a UK registered charity (no 1087295) and Uganda non profit organization. UCF works closely with the Uganda Wildlife Authority and park-adjacent communities to develop practical solutions to conservation problems with primary objectives of recovering and reconnecting habitats, supporting anti poaching and law enforcement, mitigating human wildlife conflict and promoting conservation education and livelihoods . UCF currently have active projects in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Murchison Falls National Park, Kibale National Park and Toro-Semliki Wildlife Reserve, and will soon start working in Kidepo Valley National Park. Since their inception in 2001, UCF has earned a reputation for being a proactive organization who strive to make every penny, dime or shilling count, and after all the decades of war and neglect, have helped UWA generate a slow but steady growth in Uganda’s elephant population. Increased ranger patrol coverage – made possible via UCF-built ranger posts and marine ranger stations – and improved law enforcement has resulted in a reduction in snares and increased conviction rates of 97%. If UWA and UCF can successfully protect conservation areas, Uganda’s elephant population could go on to triple in the next ten years, with their recovery also benefitting many other species.

Rhino Fund Uganda was established in 1997 with the ultimate goal of reintroducing the rhino back into back into the National Parks of Uganda through a breeding and release program. Rhino Fund Uganda (RFU) is responsible for raising adequate funds and gaining international recognition for the upkeep of Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary at Nakitoma, 170km north of Kampala, as an interim step towards the reintroduction of the rhinos into protected areas. Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary strives to protect the rhinos through community education and tourism while at the same time providing a safe sanctuary for rhinos to live and breed.

A security force of 80 Rangers of which many are armed, patrols the fence, guard the gates, and monitor the rhinos 24 hours per day. The sanctuary is not only home to the rhinos but also to approximately 20 other species of wildlife as well as 300 different bird species highlighting Uganda’s unique biodiversity and emphasizing the importance of conserving it. The conservation effort is proving successful as we see the numbers of wildlife growing within the sanctuary and particularly the rhinos. A total of 9 births (June 2009 and April 2014) make Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary one of the most successful breeding programs of rhinos in the world.

All of these efforts to conserve the wildlife of Uganda have to be funded. Building a new ranger post to help recover a key elephant habitat costs circa US $40,000; training and equipping an anti-poaching ranger patrol costs $5,000; a security force of 80 Rangers of which many are armed, patrols the fence, guard the gates, and monitor the rhinos at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary 24 hours per day. These initiatives may cost money – but they are working. Uganda’s elephant numbers have increased by 600% since their lowest point in the mid-1990s, and we are the only country in Africa who can claim zero poaching of rhino since their reintroduction in 2005 / 2006

It’s not too late for Uganda to return to having the famed herds it once had! And it begins with You!

FIRST – Please join us for the 2016 global march and raft right here on the White Nile. If you cannot join us on the day why not sponsor a UWA or RFU Ranger to take you place. All profits from the day will go directly to Uganda Conservation Foundation & Rhino Fund Uganda.

SECOND – Educate yourself and share the knowledge. Get everyone you know involved. Send this event invitation to ALL of your Facebook friends. Also share this event by posting it on your Facebook walls as much as you can. And don’t forget to LIKE the Nile River Explorers, Uganda Conservation Foundation and Rhino Fund Uganda Facebook pages to stay up to date on all their news.

FINALLY – Stay tuned for details as they develop closer to September 24th. Thank you so much!

PLEASE JOIN US AND HELP MAKE THIS BIG! ONLY IN NUMBERS WILL OUR VOICE BE HEARD!

Questions? Email us here:
leslie@raftafrica.com
emmanuel.aupal@ugandacf.org
angie@rhinofund.org

Find out more about UCF & RFU:
www.ugandacf.org
www.rhinofund.org

Like Us On FACEBOOK:
www.facebook.com/NileRiverExplorers
www.facebook.com/UgandaConservationFoundationUCF

MCU Kayaking Weekend

Our next MCU kayaking weekend will be on August 6-7th in Bujagali!

Depending on demand there might be the option to take a safety lesson for slightly more advanced kayaker – a decent whitewater roll is required for this. Email Laura if you are interested.

Non-kayakers are more than welcome to join and enjoy a chilled out weekend.

June Kayaking Weekend

Hankering for a weekend out of the city? Our next kayak weekend will be June 18-19 at the Hairy Lemon Uganda and non-kayakers are super welcome to join us for some chilled out island time (http://hairylemonuganda.com/). Once a month, MCU heads to the Nile for discounted lessons with the stellar team at Kayak the Nile (U) Ltd and kayakers of all abilities (especially beginners!) are welcome.

Please note that there is no shuttle available to the Lemon and you absolutely MUST book lodging in advance – it’s an island and they need to plan enough food and drinks for us!