Shavas Gorge

27 Feb 11 - 1.35m at the old road bridge

Andy and I completed a lightning fast run, after first getting bogged down trying to find a good take-out.

It was a week of changes.  The Thursday afternoon trip to Nyagui failed to materialise, and the Pungwe trip was cancelled at the last minute due to Wayne having car trouble (which meant no shuttle driver from him and Ken is away in South Africa).  Fortunately it had been raining the last few days, and Matthew called from the Shavas on Friday afternoon to say it was up at 1.7m.

It was a toss-up between the St Pauls run and the gorge, but as Andy hadn't done the gorge yet, that option won.  The wave at the main road was working very nicely, but we didn't stop for a play as Andy was pressed for time.  We set off for the gorge take-out to show our stand-in driver, Dzingai, the take-out.  Having spotted a better take-out track on Google Earth than the one found by Ken last time, we almost made it to the river before getting a bit bogged on the edge of a ground-nut field.  The winch was put to work and we decided the Landy would wait further from the river (400m walk).  Unfortunately we had to head back through the same section, and even though we packed the muddy area with branches and used more speed, we got stuck again.  Fortunately there was a tree within reach of the winch cable on both occasions.

Back at the old road bridge the locals were all very happy to see us.  We had quite a crowd to see us off, with much ululating and laughter when we ran the first drop.  Despite the rowdy sendoff, the trip was fairly uneventful.  Andy isn't a big fan of portaging or bank-scouting, so we only stopped three times.  After a quick look at the first drop ("Oh F@ck!") we ran it using the left bank chicken run.  Then it was into the Gorge and Andy just went at it without so much as a "what's the line?".  He did very well, except that I wanted to take more time on the two very nice play waves about halfway down.  I did manage to spend a few seconds in each before racing off to make sure Andy wasn't getting himself into trouble.  Andy avoided the hole on river right near the end of the gorge section, and we played on another wave at the exit from the gorge.

We soon arrived at the second major rapid which we portaged right.  Andy had thought about running it, but when he saw the depths of the holes he demurred that portaging was wise.

The third drop looks good on the right, but the last hole is deep and retentive.  There may also be an option to slide down the rocks near the left bank.  After a quick bank scout we opted for a medium-sized chute up against the left bank, which starts as a trickle but builds quite a bit before it drops over the edge.  There is a small chance of being pushed into a boulder on the left bank, if you start the drop too far left, but both of us made it look easy.

The fourth drop ("F@cksakes!") was also scouted briefly before we both ran it down the right channel.  Both of us got flipped by the second stopper, and recovered before the pillow wave.  I allowed myself to be pushed up against the rock to test the danger and it would seem that even if you were upside down the force isn't much.  In fact, the pillow wave deflected me away from the rock without me even touching it.

We tried another play wave further down, which was a little fast and flushy, before we drifted down to the final runnable drop - a river-wide slide with a nice tongue to ride through the stopper on.  We took out soon after on the right bank, loaded up and headed back to thank Matthew for calling us.  The run only took us 1.5 hours.

The short drive home was punctuated by beef rolls and discussions about Gairesi, Musengesi and other runs to be tried soon.

Here's a picture of the river just above the main road bridge.

Nyagui Gorge: 6.5km Section Near Start

20 Feb 11 - Water-level mid to low

Wayne gets a close-up look at the inner workings of a washing machine.  And when things go bad, they go really bad: Wayne falls flat on his arse, repeats the trick, cooks his bare feet on the rocks, falls flat on his arse, misses the takeout, gets lost on the walk-out, falls flat on his arse, suffers severe sunburn and ends up cramming his by-now well-bruised arse into the jumpseat for the drive home.

Troy, Wayne and I set off, with Ken in support, to run the Nyagui Gorge, from below the weir at Mukore. On the way in Troy and I took turns in the jumpseat – and Wayne suggested that anyone who swum today would sit in the jumpseat all the way home – words he would later regret.

Andy LM had warned that the first 6km of the Nyagui Gorge is very hairy, after which it flattens out just a bit. We decided to drive in via Murewa to the east bank as that side offers several egress options. The roads were pretty good, and after showing Ken the take-out parking spot (2km from the river) we headed for the put-in parking spot, hired porters and set off on the 1.5km walk-in, joining the river about 3.5km below the weir.

The water level was fairly low, so we hoped for an easy run. But we were soon bank-scouting, and made slow progress as there were some difficult sections. Not long into the day Wayne decided to run a fairly big rapid (photos here), which Troy managed to capture on video. Troy and I portaged the first section and did the last drop. A little further there was a drop with a rooster tail, caused by a small boulder in the main flow, which Wayne and I discovered with our backsides (not counted as one of Wayne's 4 spectacular wheels-ups, but I'm sure it added to his bruises).

We were making slow progress and I became impatient, boat-scouting as close to drops as I could, which led me down a tough line once or twice. On one occasion I managed to take out and video Troy and Wayne running a rock-slide, which I was unable to go back and run as I was too far down another line (and had to portage a rocky drop).

Below the slide was one large, evil rapid, which I almost accidentally boat-scouted myself into – some hard paddling was called for to get back from the lip. We spent an hour scouting the various options, but all lines started or ended with something nasty, from massive holes to undercuts, siphons or waterfalls. We finally decided to run a fairly daunting line down the right bank.

Wayne felt that the big drop halfway down this chosen option could be run on the main flow, but I opted for a slide down the right. Unfortunately the slide has a kick to the left and I almost got swallowed by the hole, managing to avoid it by employing frantic draw strokes (and no small amount of luck). I built up speed to punch the second hole, and for a moment I thought I'd skirted it, but it reeled me back in me and welcomed me into its depths for a brief butt-kicking session.

I'd like to think I was in control, staying upright while trying to work towards a flush point, but in reality I was stuck in a violent hole, with no real options. After a short while she flipped me and partially flushed me. A quick roll and some hard paddling saw me escape a further beating. Troy managed to capture this all on camera, including his and Wayne's laughter (thanks for the concern chaps!) With pounding heart and heavy breath, I hauled myself onto the bank to await Wayne's effort.

Meanwhile, Troy's boat inexplicably vanished (but we have evidence of foul play), so he was unable to complete this rapid. Miraculously his boat reappeared below the big stuff later on, complete with paddle and other removables....  Maybe the would-be thief watched Wayne and had a change of heart?

Wayne followed my line and, well, here's the video clip. Apologies for the abrupt and shaky end – Troy was running for the throw-bag. (I later asked Troy what he was going to do with the throw-bag, given that Wayne was in no position to call for a rope – he wasn't sure but felt like he was helping.  Troy has agreed that in future the camera-man will focus on the filming and leave the rescue to the victim and other parties.)

The same kick in the slide pushed Wayne left and into the hole – to receive a severe workout. Even after he ejected he stayed in the hole, underwater. We estimate his down-time was about 30 seconds, with no breather. That's a long time to be cuffed about the ears by your own boat, without fresh air!

Both Wayne and the boat flushed out, with Wayne swimming to safety and the boat stuck in an eddy next to the hole. I dived in (lower down) to rescue Wayne's paddle and only just managed to scramble out on the rocks before the next gnarly drop. This is when it got interesting. 

Three local chaps leapt into the water and swam across to the rocks below Wayne's boat. They clambered over the rocks and grabbed the boat, but were unable to haul it out on the slippery rocks. We eventually managed to drag it around and return it to Wayne using the ropes. When we offered the swimmers the use of ropes to get them safely back across they just laughed, dived in and swam across again.

The rapid described above has been dubbed "Big Rapid 2" for now, but I propose naming it "Hyena's Arse" in honour of the laughter from Wayne and Troy when I got worked, combined with the three falls on his arse that Wayne displayed in this vicinity.

We paddled down a calm trickle of water river right, and paused to scout another slide. Wayne borrowed one of Troy's booties to mitigate the burning of the rocks, and promptly demonstrated how to fall on your arse properly when said bootie slipped on the rocks. See the footage of Jan and Wayne on the slide here (unfortunately the video camera missed all 4 of Wayne's wheels-ups).

A bit more bump and grind down the smaller right-bank current of water and we rejoined the main flow of a now much flatter river. A radio call to Ken confirmed we were near the takeout, so Troy and I were having a bit of a play on the last few waves. Wayne, exhausted, was paddling and drifting ahead (and having a smoke too), when I spotted Ken on the bank far to our right, by which time Wayne was out of sight and earshot. Ken went after him and carried his boat back.

Wayne became instantly depressed when Ken told us about the two big hill-climbs on the way to the car. We cooled off in the river, donned tackies and set off in pursuit of Ken, Samuel and Leonard (our porters), who were setting a blistering pace. I kept them in sight and shouted route-turns back to Troy and Wayne. When the porters paused to cool off in a stream, having almost lost Wayne to a wrong turn already, I handed him one of the radios. Which was just as well because he missed another turn and ended up so far off course he couldn't hear us shouting, whistling or hooting (just imagine - poor bugger might have come to be known as the "Mad Murungu of Murewa", wandering aimlessly in the hills and laughing uncontrollably at passersby).

Wayne produced boerie rolls (thanks to Jethro) and we stopped in Murewa for the obligatory beers, plus mangoes for Mike (who was unable to join us today as he had to take Troy's dog to the vet). True to his word, Wayne sat in the jumpseat and only complained a little towards the end. I think he was hoping for a quiet little sleep, but we kept him awake reliving his nightmare to the sound of our ribald laughter. The nice thing about video is that we can keep sharing the moment, with many other people too! Enjoy – here's the link again in case you missed it further up.

Here are all the links to photos and videos again:

Photos of "Big Rapid 1"

Videos:

Wayne doing well on "Big Rapid 1"

Troy on the first slide

Wayne on the first slide

Jan getting worked

Troy's boat going walkabout

Wayne getting spanked

Jan on the second slide

Wayne on the second slide

And just in case you missed it:

Wayne getting spanked

See you on the water!

Mazowe: Sunungukai Camp to Hippo Pools

13 Feb 11

David presents a cliff-hanger, while Nick flat-spins a "Rainbow Reaction", breaks a paddle, spots the hippos and fights off a man-eating hole. The rest of us had almost as much fun.

Troy D, Wayne M, David C, Nick M and I set off in the company of Riana, Aiden and friend, and of course, Mike and Ken.

We travelled mostly on tar road via Murewa this time, which was a lot more comfortable (but that may also be because we weren't in the Landy).  After dropping us off, Riana and the drivers did an admirable job in locating Hippo Pools on a road none if us had travelled before, using a single GPS waypoint and rough directions (derived from Google Earth).

Meanwhile, back on the river, the warm-up rapid had completely changed character (with the water being about 30cm lower).  The centre option was gone, while the right ended in a proper waterfall - which we of course discovered too late.  We beat a hasty retreat, with minimal scouting options, back to the centre/left combined flow. David ended up taking a swim, and Nick did well to get him out of the current before the big drop. David then entertained us all by rock-climbing along the left bank, which is pretty much a cliff at this point, to get around the rapid.  We didn't think it was possible, but then David has amazing climbing skills.

Wayne then ran the first drop of the big rapid, but opted to portage the last bit.  Naming suggestions are therefore:
"Wayne's Drop" for the first part of the first big rapid and,
"David's Walk" for the (impossible) left bank portage.

The first wave after the rapid was no good, and the second, with no eddy, proved hard to stay on.  Nick managed to break his paddle, and while drifting downriver to find the missing blade he spotted a pair of hippo.  David loaned Nick a spare paddle and we set off, with Wayne well in the rearguard, to skirt around the Hippo, which proved easy as there was a shallow channel around the back of them.

Three hundred meters further on the "Castle Rock Twins" were waiting to welcome us into their fluffy depths, to hold and spin us, windowshade and flip us, and generally entertain us with their allround awesomeness. We spent an hour or more playing on "The Twins", until we we were sapped of all excess energy.  Nick even managed several flat spins is the rather long "Rainbow Reaction".

Wayne, Nick and I had a good look at the next big rapid, and in the end decided on the chicken run river right.  There are just too many gnarly holes to spank you properly if you screw it up.  Wayne and I managed to stay on water all the way down the chicken run, rejoining the main flow about two thirds of the way down, avoiding the hole that spanked me last week and styling the last drop.  No sandcastles this time, but I'm sure Troy was standing by with a bucket and spade in case my boat happened to drop in unattended.

Nick took a swim a little further down, but we recovered easily and handed his broken paddle, which had apparently prevented him rolling, to a passerby to carry to Hippo Pools.  There were a few more good waves.  One wave in particular, which I sat on for some time, was wide enough for 3 or 4 people.

Nick went on to demonstrate tremendous skill by staying calm in a very retentive hole, eventually flushing out after going over.  I presented him my bow for an eskimo rescue and had to paddle hard to keep us both from getting sucked back in.

Cold beers and a lovely packed lunch awaited us at the end. Well done Riana and the drivers!  The trip home was a breeze on good dirt and tar, and a beer stop in Murewa.

Pool Rolling Session

9 Feb 11

Lisa and Sara showed much improvement in their rolling basics, while Troy not only mastered the handroll, he managed to enter his kayak upside-down, fit the skirt and handroll!  Another very enjoyable evening with a fine meal and social afterwards.

Next session 1 March 11.

Mazowe First Descent – Sunungukai Camp to Hippo Pools

6 Feb 11 - 1.2m at Hippo Pools

An excellent piece of the Mazowe river, with awesome scenery and rapids just big enough to be challenging and continuous enough to avoid boredom. There were three or four very good surf waves too.

Squash, Troy and I set off from Harare in the company of Kenny, Mike, Margy and Jen in the Landy, and three other vehicles full of river rafters led by Laurie W. We left the rafters (including Margy and Jen) at the Nyagui Bridge near Shamva, where they ran a 6km run several times, enjoying themselves immensely. 

Our put-in has a road all the way to the river bank, to the now derelict Sunungukai bush camp at the point where the Mazowe does a 90 degree left turn through a range of hills. Eager locals pointed us at the river and gave us directions on how to (expertly) run the waterfall about 400m downstream. We disappointed the locals by taking the centre line on the approach (right and left would also have worked) and opting to portage the last drop. An easy portage on river right was followed by a few more drops, nothing too difficult, and a very nice wave further down.

The next big rapid may have been possible to run left of centre, and Squash, having opted for a difficult portage river left, ran the last part very successfully. If you screw it up on the approach or first stopper you'd be in for a hard swim or a workout in at least two holes. Troy and I opted for the chicken run river right, which took us about halfway down the rapid, before we rejoined the main rapid. Rejoining the main flow is much easier from the right, if you could avoid the two pour-overs, which I failed to do, receiving a small beating from the first, and spending time negotiating my release from the second.

Troy, observing the treatment I'd received, pretended to drop his boat which made it's way through the first pour-over, skirted the second and landed in the eddy where Squash and I were waiting. This qualifies as a swim Troy! I got bored with waiting and used the time to build Troy a nice sand-castle on his seat – which he was inexplicably grumpy about. Some people have no appreciation for art.... He complained all the way to the finish about the sand getting into his undies and chafing him.  Focus on the positive things in life Troy!

The rest of the run was eventful, with several more rapids, all of which we were able to boat-scout, completing the 9km trip in under three hours. Sadly, Kenny had misunderstood our instructions and we had to wait about 2 hours for the vehicle to arrive. Squash, whose pink ticket expired at 4pm sharp, was therefore in the soup, and my better half was also getting a little concerned for our safety, though just enough to appreciate me more when I got home...

Apparently there is a better road for egress on river right, which we'll try next time. The road via Shamva and Madziwa to Hippo Pools is rather long and rough.

Thanks Laurie W and Iain J for suggesting this run – according to them it hasn't been run before (and Iain has been at Hippo Pools for 29 years, so should know.)

Failure on Two Fronts

5 Feb 11 - Well below the marker at the Shavas old rd bridge

Troy, Nick M, Val (novice) and I experienced two large failures on today's trip. In the first case we had decided to form a new cult, just because it seems to be the done thing these days (why have an ordinary club or association when you can have a cult?!) Naturally, it had to be a kayaking cult, and would require a charismatic leader with a fetish for young girls. We would all have to prostrate ourselves before the leader and call him “Great Kayaking Master Guru” and invoke his blessings before trips and events.

By the end of today's trip, on the novice section of the Shavas, we'd given up on ever finding a suitable leader, so the idea died a stillborn death.

The second failure came about when we attempted to name the last drop on the novice section. So far we have a name for “The Three Sisters” - the first challenge on the novice section, as well as for the “Island Rapid”.  “The Three Sisters” has three channels – the one on the left is a siphon, the middle one requires the paddler to bounce of two rocks while the right option has a rock in the middle of the best line, which adds a degree of difficulty at most levels. “The Island" has a nice wave halfway down, with only the tiniest of eddies, but it also has a sting in the tail at higher levels – you need to make a hard right at the end to avoid ending up in a boulder garden sprinkled with trees and pinning opportunities.

The last drop is just above the old road bridge. We decided to paddle it backwards and name it “Backwards Rapid” but that could be a problem as there is a mild pinning opportunity at the bottom, which is easy to avoid, unless you're going backwards. So we decided that if one of us could surf the wave long enough to open a can of amber liquid and take a sip, we would name the rapid after said amber liquid. But even though we managed to get onto the wave several times (which in itself is a feat) we failed to get comfortable long enough to open the can.

Besides these failures it was a very pleasant day on the river, with Nick M working out a few cobwebs and Troy practicing his rolling in anticipation of tomorrow's trip. Val enjoyed herself and mastered some of the basics of safe kayaking, including a wet exit while rearranging the rocks with her head protection. A cloudburst at the takeout failed to dampen our spirits and the beautiful sunset made the cold beers on the way home all the more enjoyable.  

Nyagui Mukore Section - Moderately High Water

4 Feb 11 - About 40cm over the pumphouse weir
Nick H does well on his second river trip
Andy LM, Wayne M, Nick H and I set off in the company of Mike on Friday at lunch time to do a short run and play the wave at Mukore.

The road has deteriorated markedly since our last visit two weeks ago, with some sections having become almost impassible.  The road was dry, with much evidence of recent rain.

The river was indeed quite high, but not as high or gnarly as when Troy lost his boat.  We put in at the pump-house and ran the section to Vespids.  Nick H did extremely well on only his second river trip, managing several good rolls in tricky water, before finally taking a swim just above Z.  As a result of focusing too much on rescuing Nick's boat I was tail-looped by a big hole, and didn't manage a roll before the next drop, landing my head and shoulder on a rock - ouch (nice bruise today).  I also managed to screw up the approach to Z, which again looped me in it's sizable hole.  Andy ran Z like a pro, as usual.

The wave was good, but a bit flushy, with the eddy quite hard to make.  So we headed off after a short session and Nick did well again, managing to avoid most of the big stuff and pulling off another solid roll.   The drop after Merlin's rock has a retentive hole river left, which got Nick.  He punched through well but went over and the roll was too hard in the squirrely water, resulting in another swim.

Wayne enjoyed the short walk to the vehicle as always, and the cold beers were most welcome.  It started raining hard as we set off, and the road became even more treacherous, taking us about an hour to get to the tar.

Pool Rolling Session

3 Feb 11
Ben, Nick H, Troy, Lisa and Sarah braved the warm waters of a suburban Harare swimming pool to receive instruction on eskimo rolling.

Nick and Troy are already competent rollers and received coaching to improve their setup and recovery.

Lisa, Ben and Sarah all made excellent progress, mastering the basics of hip-snap and keeping their heads down.

Ben got a thick ear from my boat when I moved in too quickly to assit him - sorry Ben!

The highlight of the session had to be the lovely meal - with 5-star place setting - served by Lisa, and augmented by a range of fine beers and wines, and the exchange of interesting stories.

A very enjoyable evening - thanks to all those who contributed and took part.

The next session will be at 5:30pm on Wed 9 Feb 2011.  Contact me (Jan Hart) if you're interested.