Boats and Boating: Boating destinations - "Canoeing In The Foothills Of The Drakensberg In South Africa" |
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Planning a holiday in the Drakensberg Mountains in the South African winter? This little gem is a “something completely different” day-trip. So your Drakensberg holiday doesn’t have to be all walking.
There are other ways of getting around. Like bobbing through the Weenen Game Reserve in an inflatable canoe. I hear you say “Hold it. Game reserve?”. Relax, no lions. But that’s about all it’s short of.
The Bushman’s River sources in the high Drakensberg of Giant’s Castle. At altitude, its crystal-clear rock pools refresh overheated hikers. Lower down it feeds the Weenan Canal - built 100 years ago to provide irrigation for the farmlands. While the river rushes and tumbles over rocks, the canal is much less imposing. Only a metre deep and no more than a few metres wide. But it’s 12 kilometres long, traversing rough and hilly terrain. Don’t be too quick to jump in though – its cold, winter-green colour tells you it hasn’t been in liquid form for long.
Your river guides will have everything ready for you. Lie back in your boat. And bob. It’s warm in the sunshine but cool in the shade. You’ve got paddles but you don’t need them. En route there are three not-so-large steel pipes through which the water has been channeled. You either stop, pick up your boat and portage. Or you lie back with the steel tunnel only inches from your face. It’s dark and you can feel the heat radiating from the surface. Grit your teeth. Go with the flow. Breath relief when you suddenly pop out into the sunshine again.
There’s a driverless boat behind you. This is the drinks trolley. And very welcome it is too. At around lunchtime you’ll come upon a feast spread out on a group of rocks next to the canal. Scotch eggs, asparagus wrapped in ham, chicken wings, quiche, salad, fruit, and cheese. The lunch fairy’s been and gone.
After lunch you move into the Weenen Game Reserve. The sharp, mountainous Drakensberg terrain has given way to undulating thornveld valleys. The canal rejoins a now fairly sluggish and narrow Bushman’s River. You need to paddle a little, and duck under the odd tree as you drift through a spectacular gorge. There’s a huge diversity of bird life and antelope. Buffalo and black and white rhino. Being on the water means you’re less noticeable, and less of a threat to the bird-life and the animals. So you can get close without startling them. And you don’t need a $10,000 lens.
Once through the Game Reserve, you disembark just before the main road into Weenen with the tall thatching grass glowing orange in the fading light. Your river guides have arranged transport back to your starting point.
This is different.
One of the ports visited on our recent Royal Caribbean cruise was Grand Cayman. This was an eagerly awaited port as I've been there before but wanted to take my girlfriend scuba diving there. We were worried that we might miss this port since the Caymans were hit pretty hard by the hurricanes and indeed, they had closed the islands off to tourist travel for part of the summer/fall.
Fortunately for us, Grand Cayman had reopened just
about two weeks prior to our cruise at the end of November.
Getting to Grand Cayman is by tender because it has a shallow
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The beautiful Salmon River stretches through over 400 miles of Idaho. The legendary explorers Lewis and Clark traveled part of the Salmon River but thought it was too rough to navigate. For a short time The river was also known as Lewis's River. Another name for this wild, untamable body of water is the River Of No Return.
The Salmon River has two major parts, the Middle Fork and the Main Salmon River. Both offer great rafting experiences, with rapids in the Class III to Class IV range. When the Main Salmon floods, the rapids become Class V.
Salmon River rafting trips
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Being excellent navegators and having a deep desire to expland its territories, the Azores Islands were found by the Portuguese in 1317. This is a clump of nine islands in the rough Atlantic Ocean about 1,400 kilometers west of Lisbon, Portugal. As a curious traveller, I always make it a habit of finding out how a city, town or in this case an island got its name. The name Azores comes from the name of a bird similar to a goshawk which is what the first settlers thought they saw, but it turned out that what they were seeing in
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Canoeing is a wonderful family vacation idea. It can be a real family-type adventure that is challenging yet not too difficult. Besides being a distinctly fun activity, it is also a form of travel. With a canoe you have the means to safely access wilderness areas that otherwise might not be possible for a family. In more touristy places you have the means to slip off across the river or lake for more private family fun.
If you have your own canoe, great. It is easily carried on your car to where you will be using it. Or you can rent
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White-water rafting can be one of the most exhilarating experiences of a lifetime. River rafters see breathtaking scenery, get great exercise, and experience terrific adventure. There are great places to go river rafting all over the world, but many of the best rivers for white-water rafting are here in the United States.
It’s a good idea to contact a licensed river rafting agency to plan a rafting trip. These agencies, found near most major rivers, provide trained guides and planned routes for rafting rides. Many agencies also provide training for novice river rafters. These services are especially good for people rafting
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