South Africa's adventure diversity

William Lindsay

15 January 2009

Our family completed a wonderful tour of South Africa this past December. Our 18-day adventure tour took us from Johannesburg to Cape Town and interesting points in between, with a set of international travel companions from three continents.

We came back sunburnt, cut, scraped, sore - and thoroughly satisfied, as the end result of adventure tourism should be!

It was the big game parks and the country's post-apartheid era of change that initially drew us to this land.

As well, visiting the famous Paul Kruger National Park and the historic and political black township of Soweto were certainly everything advertised and expected. The big game animals that Africa is famous for were a thrill to see.

Cultural/historical/political dynamic

Also, the cultural/historical/political dynamic that is prevalent in this land was fascinating to observe. The apartheid era ended only about 15 years ago and the Asian, black and white people are apparently still feeling each other out, so to speak.

But it was our observation that there is a relative sense of peace and security here that is missing in many other parts of Africa.

On our sojourn, we were delighted at how beautiful and varied the South African landscape is. From rolling green hills, fertile lands, soaring mountain ranges, plunging canyons, near jungle environments, Indian Ocean-side paradises, semi-desert regions, big city settings, and a non-stop montage of small African villages, it was one unexpected surprise after another.

The Barrier of Spears

Particularly beautiful and memorable was the Drakensberg Mountain Range, a world heritage site in the northeast corner of the country. Called "The Barrier of Spears," this impenetrable-looking wall of mountains looks like a cross between the Grand Canyon and the Grand Tetons in Wyoming. Drakensberg is a favourite vacation spot for many South Africans and they take justifiable pride in it.

Our tour guide took us on a 16-kilometre hike as part of our time spent in the Drakensberg Mountains. It was a challenging experience, to be sure, as my bad knee swelled up like a grapefruit during the course of this adventure, as a result of all the climbing and descending.

Still, the mountain vistas, the alpine meadows, the plethora of local flowers, plants and insects, a cascading waterfall, examples of Bushman rock art, and the curious mountain antelope and noisy baboons made for a memorable day.

Night-time miracle

However, it was a middle-of-the night event that caused my visit here to rise to the level of the sublime.

I awoke and walked outside my mountain cabin to a night-time miracle of sight and sound so spectacular it took my breath away: a three-quarters full moon lighting up the alpine landscape, the nearby mountain range a mixture of moon-tinged clarity and shadowy quarters, moonlit clouds reaching over a part of the range like a ghostly waterfall, croaking frogs and chirping insects adding a background harmony of natural sound, the Southern Cross and Orion constellations standing out in the midst of a starry belt above, with the lights of a faraway African settlement providing an earthly contrast.

Just me and South Africa in the middle of the night.

It was a breathtaking, emotional moment and it ended up being one of the highlights of a fantastic 18-day tour of this beautiful country.

The lesson here is that there is more to South Africa than the great game parks. Pay a visit to the Drakensberg Mountain Range and other parts of this wonderful land and I guarantee that you won't regret it.

William Lindsay of Vancouver teaches at the University of British Columbia. The Lindsays' tour was hosted by Drifters Adventure Tours.

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Adventure Travel: 40 days & 40 nights - Lesotho to the Sea : An Orange River Adventure

There are any number of ways of celebrating the entry into the best years of a mans’ life. What you may need to experience this milestone is: a best friend turning 40; a serious wander’s lust; and wives, partners and businesses with open minds and generous hearts to facilitate six weeks off to allow the planned adventure to become a reality. This is how Quinton Miller & I came to travel nearly 2000kms down the Orange River from the Telle bridge on the Lesotho border with South Africa to Alexander Bay on the Atlantic Ocean.You can look at the Top 10 Gallery to see pictures relating to the story.(Picture 1) This is the border post with Lesotho which is about an hour and a half’s drive from Aliwal North where we had slept over the previous night on our journey from Cape Town. The river was almost non existent here so we headed about 5km’s downstream to where the Senqu river joins the Orange and there appeared to be a bit more water flowing from there. Our first 2 days were very frustrating with low water levels resulting in us pulling, pushing and dragging our kayaks over shallow sand banks. The first night it rained all through the night and it resulted in a bit more flow, but still not enough for our heavily laden boats to cruise over the sand banks. Once we got to the Zastron bridge on the border of the Eastern Cape with the Free State the water flowed much faster though a magnificent gorge and into the valleys below. Our plan to do about 60 plus km’s a day was not possible with the current water flow levels, so we were beginning to fall behind with our planned schedule. On our arrival back on the 4th day in Aliwal North, where we had arranged accommodation at a lodge for the 3rd night, we were greeted by the local police who were about to send out a search and rescue team as we were 1 day late for booking in to the lodge. Turns out there was a police conference at the lodge and one thing led to another and between the management and the police they decided we were missing! Everyone was relieved that we were safe and the rescue guys seemed disappointed that they would not being sent into action!! We certainly were not worried at all.(Picture 2) The Orange River is also known by its African name of Gariep and this picture was taken on the Gariep Dam while we were breaking for an energy bar and some Cytomax. The temperature was well over 30degreesC and there was not a breath of wind. About 4 hours after this picture was taken a thunderstorm came rushing in from the south with thunder and lightning and rain for about half an hour. Luckily we just made it to Oviston and found shelter under the boat shed!!In the famous town of Oranje we were joined by friends and family for the Easter weekend. There was much interest in the Koeksister monument that we discovered outside of the municipal swimming pool and under the watchful eye of HF Vervoerd’s memorial up on the hill behind. Our family and friends then paddled with us for 5 days through the well known stretch “Thunder Alley” and on to the Douglas area where we bid them farewell after treats of easter eggs and hot cross buns.(Picture 3) The confluence of the Vaal and Orange rivers was a milestone for us and we were hoping that there would be lots of water flowing down the Vaal to help us on our trip but sadly it was only knee deep here and not much help at all. This spot is also directly under the Cape Town to Johannesburg flight path so next time you are on that flight have a look down and see where the two rivers meet near the town of Douglas.(Picture 4) This shelter was a welcome sight on another stinking hot day and we happily chilled under this fisherman’s secret spot and had some lunch and a bit of a snooze till the heat of the day passed by.(Picture 5) We camped on the riverbanks on most nights but occasionally we found a nice little island like this one that seemed just perfect for the two of us. The problem with the island camps is that they generally have dew through the night so we would rig up a tent structure using our paddles and tarpaulins to good effect. It worked like a charm here but luckily we did not have to worry about gale force Cape winds!!(Picture 6) The landscape is always intriguing and the colours are constantly changing through the day. This mountain did have black stones and a local farmer told us that it was used as his border line due to the distinct difference in colour so nobody could question him about his border. The contrast in this area of the river, green trees and dry mountainside is very prominent along the Namibian and South African border stretch of the Orange river.(Picture 7) Due to the low river levels in April we had to portage a lot more than we would have liked to. However this portage of the Richie Falls in the Orange River gorge area we were expecting. Quinton and I were fortunate to have our friends Steve and Sue join us for this stretch and the extra hands to help lower the kayaks and take some pictures in the boiling heat was a blessing. We don’t know what we would have done if it had been just the two of us!! The distance from the top of the gorge to the water was about 25-30m so we had to do it in two stages and using two ropes for safety. All our heavy gear we carried down via a path and then boulder hopped over to the where Steve was standing with our kayaks. It was so hot that our butter melted in our small cooler box and we all enjoyed a quick swim before heading to the infamous rapids of Dolly Parton, 42 Man Hole and Big Bunny. Fortunately, or unfortunately, at this low level we were only able to enjoy the thrill of Big Bunny and sadly the other two were non- existent rapids. Our kayaks would not be suitable to shoot these rapids in medium to high levels as these are serious white water rapids for experts only in those conditions.(Picture 8) Our evening task of collecting wood was shared by the two of us and then we would make camp and get ready for a wash and warm up next to the fire. We used a combination of fires and or gas to cook our meals. The secret to collecting wood is always be on the look out for snakes and scorpions as they tend to live inside some of the dead wood found along the river. This picture was on the full moon and the golden light from the setting sun was amazing! It was also one of only 3 times in 40 days that we saw other people camping nearby. They were a couple of fly fisherman who had driven to the river with 4x 4 vehicles. There were many times that we did not interact with other people for days on end and our record for not seeing any other human beings was 3 days. When you consider that there are farms, towns, villages and roads all along this beautiful river it is really incredible that you can have the sense of being far from anything a lot of the time even though sometimes you can be close to civilization.(Picture 9) On our final day we left the mountains and hot weather behind and paddled in the mist past the new landscape of sand dunes. It was quite strange not being surrounded by mountains and gorges after 39 days on the river. The realization that our journey was almost over started to dawn on us and as we were within 8km’s from the sea we started to hear the waves. This sound was like music to my ears being a surfer and longing to see the sea. The mist was not clearing even though it was lunchtime so we paddled into the estuary of Alexander Bay by the sounds of the waves and the GPS telling us how far to go. The estuary is a “World of Birds” and I cannot tell you how many bird species we saw in the last few kilometers to the sea. We also could feel the spring high tide pushing the gentle swells through the estuary and this was coupled with the drop in water temperature and the taste of salt water.(Picture 10) This is the end of our adventure and our mantra of “To the Sea” was a thing of the past. Our journey of paddling about 1350km’s of the Orange river was now over and our focus had changed to a sand less meal, cold beers and the thoughts of having a hot shower and sleeping in a warm comfortable bed were really appealing.

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Dirty Boots