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Big Water - Preparations for a Full First Descent

22 Jan 12 - Medium Level 1.0m at Gauging Weir

A series of waterfalls dropping a total of 50m in 300m creates a most spectacular sight, especially set amongst the pristine riparian forest.  This leads directly into another series of rapids, climaxing with the "Big One", a 400m long mass of boiling rapids, holes and pressure waves.  The section we explored (running a few of the rapids) is about 6km long.

Troy, Andy, Ken and I set off to explore a fairly well-known large river in central Zimbabwe, having heard about a particularly steep section of an otherwise flat and heavily dammed water-course.  Armed with scant information and Google Earth, we set off for this new river.  Troy made a few calls to track down a farmer on the river, who confirmed the large drops, and that the river was in full spate.  Andy hung on for dear life as I navigated and Troy drove like a man possessed.

After a few hours of driving to check out various egress points we finally arrived at the gauging weir, downstream of the section we intended to run. Suitably impressed we set off for the put-in, and met up with a local fellow who wasn't sure if his name was Innocent or Joseph (something to do with a recently adopted religion from the East.)  Innoseph showed us the way to the waterfall section, and the three of us needed little convincing that this section was runnable, but only by real men with real cajones, and skills that we were still in the process of acquiring.

Troy took a long hard look and decided to get rid of a few butterflies:

We put in just below the big stuff (in fact, we skipped another fairly large rapid below the big stuff) and, thinking that the worst was behind us, we told Ken to make sure he was at the egress point in 2 hours time.  We ran several interesting rapids, some after scouting, and there were many lovely play waves to enjoy (pity that Andy is always in a bit of a hurry).  We kept thinking there couldn't possibly be another large drop, but every few hundred meters there was one.

I stopped to scout a moderate rapid and Andy followed my instructions to the letter for an easy run.  Having set up for the video I gave Troy the same lines, and finished with "If you go over, just tuck in and wait - there are no rocks for you to hit.  You can roll on the flat water!" Here's the result:

And then we came upon the "Big One".

What a rapid!  400 meters long, dropping at least 20 or 30 meters, the river is tortured into a granite/basalt channel which reults several large drops, with ensuing stoppers and holes.  Below is the top section seen from about halfway down, looking back upstream:

The middle section looked particularly imposing, yet runnable by the "experts":

Being the brave heroes and budding rock rabbits that we are, we decided to portage most of the rapid, with Troy and I running the last two drops.  The portage was long and hot, and was exacerbated by the loss of most of our drinking water (mine simply de-bussed and Andy's cap was left open).  Andy also managed to break the strap on his helmet, so, being unable to stand on the hot rocks, we sat in a lovely rock pool adjacent to the main river to affect repairs.  The pool reminded me of one of those fancy infinity pools, with a fresh supply of warm rain-water running down the basalt and into it:

For reasons of public decency we asked Troy to remain in his boat.

Having repaired the helmet, Andy and I resorted to drinking the fresh water running down the rock to resupply our parched bodies in preparation for the anticipated long hike to the Landy.

A little further on I handed the camera to Troy as he was going to take the chicken run of a fairly substantial rapid and film Andy and I.  Andy being Andy didn't wait around and before we were even back in our boats he was running the main rapid.  He managed to fluff the line, but held on to complete it in style.  Troy set off and completely screwed up the line after rolling in the eddy, ending the last gnarly section with a swim.  Wise to Andy's errors, I followed and managed to run a pretty good line, except for the sideways drop into the last large hole, which was fortunately quite forgiving and flushy.

A little way further on we met Ken and, after cooling ourselves thoroughly in the river, we set off to drag our boats the 1.5km to the Landy - Ken having failed to secure porters.  Andy set his usual blistering pace, taking Ken with him, while Troy and I toiled with bruised hip and injured knee, taking turns to drag his heavy boat.  Fortunately Andy's boat left a good trail of yellow plastic where it was dragged over the rocks, so we avoided getting thoroughly lost in the bush.  Of course, Andy managed to outstrip Ken and overshot the Landy, so we still beat him there.

Great gulps of water were consumed by all before the trip back to Andy's for a superb sunset braai and beers.  A flat tyre on the way home did little to dampen our spirits after a truly enjoyable day on a spectacular piece of river.  For those of you wondering about the name of the river and the location - all will be revealed in good time!

Learn2Kayak Course

14-15 Jan 12 - 0.99m at Shavas Old Road Bridge

Five excited and somewhat nervous novices, under the supervision of Troy, Ken and I, attended the course on the Shavas river.  The first day was mostly flat water and covered the basics.  We ended with a short trip including a few grade 1 rapids.

The second day commenced at the main road bridge and ended at the old road.  We recapped the basics, practised on moving water, and then took on the grade 2 rapids, repeating Island Rapid. The novices chose some interesting lines and entertained us with a few "jumps" at the end of the Island Rapid.

The day ended with the local kids having a go, and entertaining us an their friends with their antics.

Special thanks to Troy for his help and camera work, and to Ken for his excellent management of the camp and equipment.

Shavas Gorge

8 January 2012 - Low water (0.89 at old road bridge)

We thought the trip would be a lot of bump and scrape, but it turned out to be another superb day on the river. Andy LM, Tom D and I set off from the dip tank just above the old road bridge and eased ourselves into the season with a very pleasant trip.

We ran "Oh Fark Falls" down the two main currents, Tom and I on the right and Andy on the left - uneventful. The first drop into the gorge proved pretty scary as Tom and I committed ourselves to a line past a very significant syphon, with a large stopper next to it - this right to left line is one to be avoided at lower levels - just keep well left (as we do at high water).

The rest of the gorge was fast moving and interesting, but nothing untoward. We exited the gorge and headed off to the big rapid (the only one not run to date). Andy, being convinced that the next drop was actually "Andy's Drop", almost ran "Quadratic Conundrum". We stopped to scout the rapid, and once again decided to engage in the art of portage, due mainly to the two nasty holes, seen at the level of Andy's shoulder in the photo below.

This photo only shows the last third of the rapid, but the preceding section looked pretty runnable at this level. Here's a video clip of the rapid (sadly with no-one running it).

The water was too low for the left line at "Andy's Drop", so we bombed down the centre, which proved to be tricky. We started with an intimidating drop into the unknown, and then had to use a wave halfway down to get us back onto the line, which wound its way around the back of a large boulder before the final drop into the pool below.

"Wayne's four-FIVE-six" was a walk in the park, and the rock which causes the usual kick at higher water was well exposed. "Blind Faith" proved a little more tricky at this level and Andy opted for a difficult line left of centre, while Tom and I took the straighter line right of centre.

Ken had trouble remembering the access road to the takeout at "Blind Faith" so we'd agreed to meet at "Terminal Slide". This was a blessing in disguise as Andy and I decided to run the slide. I led the way, starting centre, almost getting flipped by the corkscrew wave, before following the main flow to the right. A sharp left turn down the bank, being sure to avoid the rooster tail on the far right, and I ended slightly right of the main flushing current in the stopper wave, which meant I was held for a moment, but managed to escape. The (faint) red line in the photo below indicates the line we followed.

Andy was less fortunate. The first wave flipped him, and he had to execute a shallow-water roll, which knocked him offline. He recovered pretty well and ended up in the centre of the stopper, flushing straight through. Here's a video clip showing the action.

In an effort to avoid the syphon under the large boulder in the centre, which had given me a good scare earlier, Andy managed to take a swim in shallow water. See the album for a photo.

We wanted to paddle on to the confluence of the Nyagui, but decided Ken wouldn't find us, so we opted to drive around and agree a take-out point for the next trip.

Gairezi Odyssey Part 2: Full Story

4 January 2011 - Laurie's House. No water in the taps (this is Harare)!

Laurie arranged a dinner to share stories with the paddlers.

Due to the late start they only completed half of the allocated 11km's on the first day (as per previous blog entry). This was made up on day 2 as, after they joined the Ruenya, the water levels increased substantially. Day 2 camp was in the riverbed, which might have spelt disaster if the levels rose like they did on day 3.

Things got a lot more interesting on day 3, with higher water levels and several large rapids and narrow channels through the rock. Squash ran one particularly interesting section, with everyone else portaging. Tom had a swim, which led to a dented boat, which was later sorted with hot water (thanks Ken).

On day 4 the water was higher still and, as there was a logging road right down to the river, the decision was made to abandon the last leg and walk out to fetch the cars. Rob, Joe and Mark duly set off and within 3km's of the 30km walk Rob's shoe broke. This resulted in the use of ample duct tape, and some very swollen feet.

The trip was an all-round success with many fine stories to be told, and no major dramas.

Gairezi Odyssey Part 2: Early News

27 December 2011 - Low Water

Very low water greeted us and the gang of paddlers at Molloys - the rendezvous and put-in for this 5-day trip, which is the second part of Laurie's source to sea project. Sadly, Laurie was laid up with a cracked pelvis (cycling accident) and I was in a leg-brace with a torn knee ligament (water-skiing).

Alan W, Sheryl W and I had driven down on the Zim side of the river to see the party off and camp with them for the first night. After correcting Laurie's waypoint for Molloy's with a quick radio call from Tom we met the crew on the river and waded across to join them on the Moz side of the river. They had driven in via Nyamapanda and Mutare the previous day and had been allocated two armed escorts, whose instructions had been to follow the paddlers along the banks of the river. It was politely suggested that the cars needed guarding, which these fellows agreed was a much more valuable use of their time.

The paddlers set off at 3pm for a short 10km paddle to "Camp 0". Ken and Cephas commenced the car shuffle back to Guro, and the three Zim supporters set off by dirt road and bush track to camp 0, which was set on the Moz/Zim border where the Gairezi leaves the border and goes into Moz. At 5:30 we received a radio call from Tom that they had decided to make camp for the night, and a check of their coordinates showed they were still 4km's away.

So Alan, Sheryl and I enjoyed a lovely evening by the campfire and left early the next morning to be back in Harare in time for meetings. We took the scenic route back via a long dirt road to Mutoko, and noticed that the Ruenya, Chivake and Sahavanhove rivers were flowing much stronger than the Gairezi, which bodes well for the paddlers.

More news to follow.

Zambezi - Batoka Gorge

3 November 2011 - Low and rising.

A swim at number 7 is probably a symptom of 6 months of zero paddling.

Brian H (rafting) and I did a trip with Adventure Zone. The water level was rising, and some of the rapids were getting very gnarly, but mostly still easily doable. I managed to surf a few waves, but fitness was an issue and by the time we got to number 7 I was dead tired. A swim after several unsuccessful rolls left me even more shattered, so the rest was an exercise in taking it easy.

Brian's raft (with all crew on board) managed a spectacular surf at number 17, after having spent several minutes caught in an eddy at 15.

The walk out at the finish was a real killer, and the beers and lunch at the top were most appreciated.

Shavas Gorge - on Foot

25 Jun 2011 - Low Level

The first drop at the start of the gorge has a potential hazard river centre!

I took a quick day trip out to build on our positive relationship with the local headman, Matthew, and hiked down the top section of the Shavanhove gorge, mainly to see what features caused the hole on the river right line of the first drop, and the first wave.

The photos are fairly revealing in this sense.  I was surprised to see that the river had eroded a tunnel under the main slab of granite, creating a siphon.  This video shows the entrance and this one shows the exit.  However, this mild hazard will only come into play at fairly low levels, and only if one takes the unusual centre line.  The usual river left line avoids this section altogether.  The real danger lies to those swimming in the flat water above (unlikely).

This is a picturesque part of the world and makes for a good hike, or mountain bike ride (there is an old track down to the start of the gorge.)

Matthew tells me that in the '70's and '80's various people used to regularly camp out near the start of the gorge - and the eroded track is evidence of that.  He even pointed out a spot where a "mad muzungu" used to "load up his pipe with mbanje" and then dive off the cliff into a deep pool (with a large boulder in evidence right in the center of the pool).  Sadly, the large trees which used to make this a magnificent camping and hiking area have all ended up in a fireplace.

Matthew also pointed out a damsite, complete with beacons, which was planned in the '70's.  Hopefully his prediction that there will never be the cash to build it remains true.

Gairezi Helps Wayne to Quit Smoking

28 May 11 - Low Level (below the markings on the Church Rd Bridge)

Wayne called me yesterday to say he'd been tempted to have a cigarette, but the spectre of the "Quit Smoking, Keep Paddling" walk had instantly banished the thought.

On Saturday, 28th May 11 at 9am, Wayne and I set off down a crystal clear and friendly looking Gairezi.  The creek-boats were proving worth the extra weight, and the scenery was excellent - unspoiled countryside, with magnificent trees on the hillsides.

Then we reached the "waterfall section".  We'd gained a lot of confidence from the fact that it only took us an hour to cover 5km's and, despite the copious white water visible on Google Earth, we'd only had to bank-scout two drops.  We checked in with Ken on the radio and sent him ahead to the take-out below the gorge, assuring him that we would be there pretty soon.

Two hours later we'd covered about 300m, most of it while clinging to the sides of steep, smooth boulders the side of your average Borrowdale mansion.  Wayne was colouring the sky with his language, and I was puffing and panting like a smoker too.

Which brings me back to the smoking thing.  Wayne had set himself the deadline of quitting smoking on Sunday the 29th.  I suggested he bring the quit date forward by a day and not restart after spending a whole day without smoking on the river.  Wayne agreed, and set about attempting to finish three packs in the two-hour drive before we started paddling in the morning, giving the rest to a grateful Ken.

Back to the waterfall portage: This section of river drops 40 meters in 350 meters, has sheer banks on the right, cliffs on the left, and is liberally sprinkled with huge boulders.  A few drops are runnable, but the larger ones are probably not.  Midway through the portage we did the arithmetic and decided we would run out of daylight well before the takeout.  Even if things settled down and we were able to get onto the river again, once in the gorge proper there was no walking out, so if we ran into an obstacle.....

So we radioed Ken to come back to the waterfall section, while we started up the extremely steep bank of the river.  The steep terrain was one thing, but the thorny vines were in a league of there own.  We made extremely slow progress for about an hour.  I'd hack at the undergrowth with my paddle, go forward/upward 20 paces, then haul my overweight boat up behind me - and repeat.  Wayne soldiered on silently below me, having the slight advantage of a cleared path.  Finally we made it to slightly less steep and overgrown terrain, having covered about 100 horizontal and 150 vertical meters.

Ken radioed to say he could see us, but he and the porters he'd hired were having difficulty finding a way down the mountain (on foot).   Wayne and I propped the boats up where the porters would see them, and set off on the 4km hike up a steep incline, and were soon overhauled by the porters carrying our boats.  I'd identified a less inclined path around the back of the mountain on Google Earth, and three hours after we started (five including the portage) we all collapsed at the Landy.  My legs were so worn out that I got cramps in my thigh from raising my foot on the accelerator on the drive back to the Hut.

Wayne swore he would never smoke again, and if he was tempted, the memory of that walk would soon cure him.

Next time we plan to be on the river earlier, take overnight kit, and possibly harnesses and climbing ropes to make the portages safer and easier.

Mukore Wave

22 May 11 - Low Water

Wayne and I enjoyed a morning on the river.  The usual wave (hole) was too small, so we ventured upstream to look for alternatives.  We found a nice abseil site for the river festival and spent a bit of time looking at how we could divert water for a slalom course, before finding a shallow but retentive hole, which resulted in about an hour of extended play.

That's it for the Nyagui this year I think, except for novice runs.  Time to settle down and plan next season, including Canoe Polo, Slalom, Dusi/Fish marathons and the Nyagui River Festival (Jan/Feb 2012).