RI7ER JOURNAL POSTS
The Pure Orange Expedition Journal - Breakfast to go
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
Got up out of the sleeping bag at 6:30 a.m., rushed out of camp - we had little shade this morning.
Into a swift current right away and floated down, eating breakfast of oats, raisins, powders of porridge, milk, and protein supplement, and sugar all mixed up with freshly-pumped water.
Three quarters of the day we had swift pools with large reed islands. The ends of the pools had turns to the left or right with good, fun roller coasters into the next pool.
Soon after putting on the water we drifted past a Landrover and another 4x4 camped in a river bed. We gave a happy wave to each other. These were the first of several people we saw today - a fisherman, goat herders, a dark-tanned man in an old commercial rafting canoe ... with sporty paddle to boot!
I also noticed fishing nets in the river today for the first time - made obvious by polystyrene floats secured in an eddy.
We ended the day at 41 kms at a 5-metre-high weir which we were able to run down on the left. We camped on a large, grassy sandbank, with an almost-full moon giving ample light to move around the camp.
It is a beautiful calm evening with storm clouds in the east.