RI7ER JOURNAL POSTS

Beer heads crawled out of sleeping bags and moseyed and shuffled around the camp from sun up until about 9 a.m.

The local Gravity rafting crew were at the river to see us off. Brett was looking a bit stronger after the omelette and was heading out of camp back to his place and Tania in Cape Town. It was good times for the three of us and now it was me and Ine for a while - to Vioolsdrift.

The two of us had a short day on the water to Ritchie Falls - approximately 13 kms - found a shady camp at the top of the falls.

We did a quick scout of the area, chilled and relaxed in the shade, and swam the hot afternoon hours away. In the early evening we portaged our boats and half the gear, and rappelled it about ten metres down onto a ledge.

We returned to camp - another swim or two - and then an early night on a secluded sand beach with the half moon lit up until the early hours of the morning.

There is a left channel at Ritchie Falls which looks like a great run at the right levels. But, however, for a fully-loaded sea kayak in pushy conditions it is steep, technical ... with a freight-train of a run ... but .... preferably in a river-running boat, of course.

I will return one day, I hope, for this alternate channel .