RI7ER JOURNAL POSTS

After several days of covering longer distances and with the river starting to nudge a little at approx. 400 cumecs I arrived here at river city - Upington on the 1st March. On the whole thus far I have been extremely fortunate with my progress. Good water levels, tailwinds, regular towns for resupply and to visit. Conditions have been relatively fair and forgiving.

Due to the persistent storm weather over the central interior and highveld this summer water levels have been above average for approximately the last 1000 km’s. I have seen or been in, on average, 2 storms a day/night. They are short, intense, and shed a lot of water. The areas in which these rains have fallen do not receive rain perennially. The land has little or no vegetation so run-off is high causing flash floods. These tributaries can easily double the volume of the Orange at any time, although at most times of the year you could build sandcastles midstream. The dams upriver and the Orange’s main tributary, the Vaal, are at capacity ...

A resupply with my parents for a few days, and a relax and then I wanted to get out there again, but the water level is up and rising - Mother Nature has decided that I should not enter the Augrabies Falls Gorge just yet.

So ... Mom, Dad and I took a road trip to the falls on Wednesday to go and gauge the flow (see video footage on FILM page). it was pushing 580 cumecs through the falls section. Was awesome to see the power and raw beauty of the main falls and the first impressions on my parents (yeah , i think it took their breath away as well) after we had a beer each and reordered within 5 minutes! The vista was sobering to say the least, but for me the first three rapids looked invitingly menacing (a touch past the 5+ mark). More importantly, my options for scouting and portaging the rapids have been flooded .

Hmmmmmm !