INTRODUCTION

ORANGE RIVER 4-NIGHT (31/2 DAY)

WHITEWATER RAFTING SAFARIS

KALAHARI COOL SEASON TRIPS MAY-SEPTEMBER

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  TRAIL DESCRIPTION, PHOTOS AND ROUTE MAP

TRAIL PRICING & ARRANGEMENTS

Recent trail description & photos

Neus Gorge  ^1/2day Rafting

All Orange R photo galleries

In case you are wondering how to pronounce the ! in !Gariep, it's a tongue-twister click. The name comes from the original Khoi word for what was later named the Orange (after the Prince of Orange) by Dutch colonials.

In my opinion, the Orange is one of the world's top ten tripping rivers. It has everything: dramatic scenery, small and large rapids, remoteness, a fascinating history, and a huge variety of tripable routes. In my book on the world's rivers I reviewed whitewater on every continent and was a bit sheepish about singing the praises of our own rivers but now I realise the Orange is in a class of its own.  And the amazing thing is that almost nobody ever goes there. It's not like America where a trail like this would attract thousands annually.

Nothing beats a multi-day rafting safari on this river. Camping out under the stars (it seldom rains), surrounded by the red sands of the Kalahari or, further west, the bare rocky hills of the Namib, you truly feel that the rest of the world hardly exists. The river is 2200 km from its source in the high Drakensberg to the sea at Oranjemund. It gets summer rainfall in the east but becomes increasingly dry as you go westward. In autumn, winter and spring we operate in the desert region because it is cool at that time (Oranje Gorge, and half-day trips at Neus Gorge near Kakamas). In summer we will run trails on request by groups. The routes are higher up in the mountains of Lesotho (Senqunyane or Little Orange) and the Aliwal North area (Mayaputi Gorge).

My first adventure on the Orange was in 1974 when three of us from Rhodes University paddled from Aliwal North to Hopetown. Since then I have done the whole river, virtually from its source to the sea, over many expeditions. It's got long flat stretches and very big rapids too. In general it's the most enchanting river with a hypnotic power over all who know it. It's the Nile of Southern Africa, a gold-class route through the mountains, across plains, down gorges and into deserts. Some 2200km in length, the Orange or !Gariep is fed by the snows of Lesotho and flows across the vast subcontinent to the Atlantic Ocean. Along the way, the landscape grows increasingly arid until you enter the red Kalahari (Kgaligadi) and finally one of the world's driest deserts, the Namib. Canoeing, whitewater rafting and flyfishing safaris are all possible. Join me or or our partners down there for the trip of a lifetime.