RI7ER JOURNAL POSTS

Misjudged the time and distance from Onseepkans Bridge to the left channel of Richie falls known as the Orange River Gorge, and for a brief moment thought that Ine and I had paddled past it. After a few moments of rechecking the maps and venting with expletives from the dictionary of filth we gathered that we were right at the entrance channel.

I had wanted to paddle this Gorge on my expedtion earlier this year, but with water levels at about 350 cumecs it was not really an option in an expedition touring kayak.

With the flow at about 150 cumecs it was a real treat for sure. We had spent 4 hours the previous day in temperatures in the 40`s scrambling over rocks on the Pofadder Hiking trail determining whether it was good to go.

A short Gorge of 5 rapids kept our pulse up for the morning. Paddling with just the 2 of us it was hard at times whether to shoot photos or cover safety for each other.

This section of river reminded us of the Åmot Fallene section of the Sjoa River in Norway.

What makes this section tough is that swimming or getting offline is not a good idea at all. The Gorge is what i call, Sieve and Syphon City from top to bottom. For non-paddlers this describes the potentially lethal concoction of piling of boulders randomly on top of each other to form gaps of various shapes and sizes that water passes through easily, but kayaks and people in kayaks do not.

Both of us paddled all the rapids through this amazing Gorge with no mishaps and the exit of this Gorge is topped with a beautiful waterfall descending from your right on exit as the main flow of the Orange River tumbles in to rejoin.

by Rob Wilson