}

10 October 2012

Orange River Odyssey

A fun 4 day paddle down the Orange River with Jo, Antony, Sam and Matt through gorgeous desert scenery.

The highlights were:
  • Bonding with the family. I even shared a canoe with Matt for several sections of the way.
  • The big rapids on the 3rd day.  None of us capsized!
  • The great food our guide made us.  We ate like kings.
  • The stunning Witches Mountain where we stayed on the final night and the stupendous view of the stars from there.
  • Lovely people including Frazer and Piet and Ronnel and their two girls.
  • Some nice swims in the river.
  • Staying at a nice B&B in Springbok on the way home and making Matt laugh like I've never made him laugh before, playing silly devils with a heavy cushion.

The lowlight was undoubtedly getting a bad cold and fever on the second day and feeling like death but still needing to paddle in the heat.  Jo was my engine for the day and saved my life!


Paddling through beautiful scenery












Out on the water











Colourful crocs





Camping along the way








Wonderful company

















Witches Mountain

This is the gorgeous vista we had from the beach where we camped on the third night.  The stars here in the night sky were absolutely amazing - I saw three shooting stars in the space of just 10 minutes.








3 comments:

Russell Gowlett said...

you lucky bugger, one of my favourite places in the world!

NewsNicola said...

Looks like you're having a fabulous time! Lucky you indeed! Brings back many happy memories of trip down the Orange River. :) It's enough to make a girl homesick for Africa :) Love to the whole family, Nic

Trish said...

We've so enjoyed following your blog. Fish River Canyon brought back lots of memories of when I visited there while working at Oranjemund. But we hiked up and down instead of rafting. We almost didn't make it as we underestimated the heat, didn't take enough water, and got dehydrated, so there's no surprise that the weekend sticks in my memory after 40 years!!!! Your photos are incredible as ever. You certainly have a special talent behind the lens.

Clicky