OTHER RIVERS
Ash River, Usuthu River, Senqunyane River
DOWNLOADABLE RIVER MAP
There is an excellent Department of Water Affairs Map here. It shows all the main catchments and its clickable, to download detailed maps and data.
About our Rivers
The main rivers on which we operate or offer trips are the Orange, Vaal and Tugela. But there are plenty of others and we can arrange trips for you throughout the region. Other major rivers are the Breede River, the Olifants River, the Usuthu River, and the Umzimvubu River, which run fairly short distances from the interior plateau to the ocean, and the Limpopo along the northern border with Botswana and Zimbabwe. The big attraction of SA rivers is their remoteness and the sense of always pioneering something new. Many rivers remain unexplored for their rafting and kayaking potential.
The
rivers of this region were always regarded
by pioneers as obstacles to progress rather
than highways into the interior. They had to
be crossed, not followed. The rivers are
never navigable for ships, being rocky,
shallow and steep. The country has no
commercially navigable rivers and no
significant natural lakes. But the kayak the
small inflatable raft can get downriver.
This is what makes for great wilderness
paddling: the fact that no other craft can
follow what's around the next bend. There is
still plenty of wildlife along our rivers
because they have remained so isolated from
the mainstreams of transport and
development.
Water shortages are a chronic and severe problem in much of South Africa. Summer rainfall areas lie to the east and north. In Mpumalanga the Blyde and Sabie Rivers are popular rafting and kayaking destinations, with the Olifants as an exotic option. There is some winter rainfall in the South Western Cape where the major rafting rivers are the Doring, Breede and Palmiet. Kayakers find plenty of challenge in the mountain creeks of the Cape on rivers such as the Berg, Molenaars and Dwars, and in the creeks of the Drakensberg and eastern escarpment.
