About SANA
It all began with an idea! We are Sadat Kawawa and Nathalie van den Brekel and we are the founders of Gorilla Rafting. Sadat is Ugandan, originally from Jinja, and has been crowned King of the Nile due to his professional white water kayaking career. Nathalie is Dutch and is a Medical Doctor, working in Global Health. Together we traveled to the untouched rain forest of the West of Uganda and found amazing rivers. We knew this needed to be shared with the rest of the world!
We like to explore and travel. We have lived in Uganda, the Netherlands, Iceland, Aruba, the UK, and Canada over the last four years. Sadat works as a river rafting guide and Nathalie works as a doctor. Now, we feel it is time to settle down and build something of a life in Uganda. And not just anything. We want to build an outdoor water sports center in this stunning tropical rainforest of Kanungu. The focus will be on kayaking and rafting, but the area is perfect for mountain biking and hiking as well. We aim to build a lodge here in the future and provide village walks, zip-lining, and fine dining, in the tripocal rainforest
Sadat his dream has always been to not only run his own rafting and kayaking business but to give back to the community in Uganda as well. When he grew up in Jinja, there was a vibrant activity of young international kayakers, that inspired Ugandan youth to go into the sport. At the moment, this community is no longer present, as they were demotivated to come, due to the dams that were built on the Nile. However, these endless rivers we found in the West of Uganda, give a new opportunity for such a community to arise and the local community to be inspired. Sadat will also give back to the community by teaching the youth to swim. Yearly, in Uganda, there are still approximately 5000 deaths due to drowning.
Location
Circled red: the road from SANA to Kihihi Airstrip
SANA Gorilla Rafting is perfectly located for anyone who comes from Bwindi Forest to see the gorillas, going to Queen Elizabeth National Park to see all the animals of Uganda, or the other way around! It is about a 1:20h drive from Ishasha (Queen Elizabeth) and a 1:40h to Buhoma (Buwindi). It is a tarmacked road all the way to the Kihihi airstrip as well. Driving to the airstrip will cost you about 45 minutes (shown in detail on the map). The route to Ishasha and Bwindi are also shown on the map.
We will welcome the clients in the centre of Rukungiri Town, where they can leave their driver and car. From here, we will arrange the transport to and from the river we do rafting on, unless specifically otherwise requested by our clients. For more information about the location or the activity, please get in touch, or go to Activities and Prices.