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South Africa has fantastic rivers, so you'll be spoiled
for choice. The most popular - for good reason - is the Orange, which
forms the country's northern border with Namibia. It's a long,
green-fringed oasis running through the mountainous desert area known as
the Richtersveld. Incredibly scenic, it also has a few fun rapids.
The section below Augrabies Falls is similar, and there
is a one-day rafting trip above Augrabies which features some exciting
but not radical rapids. The Gorge section of the Orange is a lot more
technical and has some high-volume rapids.
The Vaal, a tributary of the Orange, has some fun little rapids and is
very close to Johannesburg, so it's a popular destination for corporate
trips. Also near Johannesburg, the Crocodile River offers a pleasant day
out with some small and mildly challenging rapids.
The Doring River in the Western Cape has a short
season towards the end of winter, and offers fantastic, quite technical
white water, but it's pretty cold.
The Palmiet River is absolutely wonderful. It runs
through the Kogelberg Nature Reserve and offers fantastic technical
rapids and wonderful scenery. The trip offered takes one day and
includes all meals and sometimes a visit to a winery.
The Molenaars is a very technical, white water river that only works for
a few days immediately after heavy rain in its catchment area, so it's
not easy to plan a trip. The Sonderend River is a smallish river where
you can do a fun day trip or overnighter.
There are two trips on the Breede River: a one day
wine tasting trip near Worcester, which is really just an excuse to have
a lovely picnic and sample some local wines, with a little bit of
paddling thrown in. Lower down, near Swellendam, two-day trips are run
on some small rapids and quite rocky sections. This section is used
mainly for corporate trips.
There is some fun canoeing in the lakes area of the
Garden Route, especially Wilderness and Knysna Lagoon. Other enjoyable
flat-water trips include the two self-guided excursions near Port Alfred,
one of which is up and down the conveniently tidal Kowie River. The
other is a short paddle up the Kleinemond River to a wonderful overnight
spot, called Kayak Camp.
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