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Adventurous Orange River Canoe Trip
A six day canoe trip with my dad through a desolate area on the South African and Namibia borders
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 & 4 | Day 5 & 6
I was probably 12 when my Dad first said
that he and I should go on a river rafting trip. What he had in mind was more of camping
out on a large inflatable that would float to its destination under hydro power, without
any whitewater to disturb us. Which was fine with me.
Further I developed this fascination with the mysterious lower section of the Orange River. One of the Angling magazines pulled an April fools joke when they published this story about a man-attacking barble (catfish) in Germiston lake. A taxidermist mocked it up so perfectly that it was a great visual trick.
Two months later it didn't seem so crazy. Except for the man-attacking part. A party went exploring the lower section of the Orange River with 4x4's and a ton of supplies. Word of mouth from locals has it that bigger-than-man barble monsters live in the river. And if you ignored the pygmy sized Bushman living in the area, and focused on the Built-to-Last 1 tonner Afrikaner Boere in the area, you had a mean sized fish!
The party returned minus two 4x4's, but caught a 30 kg or thereabouts barble to make up for the loss. Winched to a thorn tree, taller than a man, and if it had to open it's mouth sufficiently, probably enough to swallow a man's head down and around to it's shoulders. Fortunately it doesn't have that particular python character trait.
Surrounded by mountains, long stretches of desert to the north, and the rocky Richtersveld desert to the south, it makes for one of the most inaccessible areas in Southern Africa. Even for centuries, only the hardy Bushmen dared to face the harsh elements in the Richtersveld area.
On it's way to the Atlantic Ocean, the meandering Orange River cuts through the desert rock to form a lush green path to it's eventual salty destination. And the river our destination, 12 years after first promising that we had to do that father and son bonding thing. Eighteen hours drive later, through Upington and the Nakop border post, eventually on the banks of the Orange below Sendelingsdrif, my dad and I roll out sleeping bags, make ourselves comfortable under a tree and try to sleep.
In between the anticipation of the next days start, the rattle and noise from other party members, the bright milky way, I eventually drift into sleep.....
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 & 4 | Day 5 & 6