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:
Videos:
See you on the water!
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