Treehuggers, Swimmers and Smiling villagers. A very pleasant and entertaining day on the river (main rd to old rd), amongst the very friendly locals, followed by a humorous team lunch at Sitar.
Val C, Ramona WG and Zia T were already waiting when Ken and I pulled up at 6am, closely followed by Ben B. We left our cars at Treetops and were off by 6:10am in the Landy. The Shavas was at a mild level and the novices all had time to get used to their boats while putting to practice the concepts of ferry glides and eddying in and out. We also discussed currents, eddies and obstacles, and the three golden rules of safe paddling.
The locals are warming to us and there was quite a crowd on the banks, with the kids yelling encouragement and laughing raucously at the swimmers, while the older folk smiled their broad smiles and shook their heads disconsolately at such lunacy.
Once the four novices were comfortable we waved goodbye to Ken and the locals to set off on our leisurely cruise. We introduced Ramona to the wet exit and eskimo rescue on the flat sections, and demonstrated the dangers of not leaning downstream when hitting an obstacle (rule 2). Trees and shrubs proved to be a real menace and Ramona managed to get herself stuck several times, grabbing onto them (against rule 3). Zia had to buy beers all round at the finish as she was judged to have grabbed too many branches and reeds on the way past.
Val turned over at the start, and waited patiently for a rescue. Zia and Ben yelled at me to provide a rescue, but I was busy bailing Ramona's boat, so she waited a long time before finally exiting, coughing and spluttering.
Ramona joined the ranks of the swimmers early on, and later had a rather unpleasant incident when she hung on to a tree and wash pushed under. She quickly ejected and emerged, also coughing and spluttering, but she did remember to keep her feet up in the swim (rule 1).
Things settled after that and we all aced the three sisters, and the island rapid. Val managed to drop into the trees at the very end, but was soon back on her way after a quick nudge. Ben and I ran it a second time while the ladies took a comfort break.
The last drop was a breeze for all. Ben and I had an extended play session on the wave, which was hard to get onto, but still pretty retentive. Ken loaded up while we had a chat to Headman Matthew and the jovial crowd of locals who'd gathered to watch the mad muzungus.
A quick stop for ice cold amber liquid at the friendly local bottle store (Ken and I had to make do with bombers as they were out of pints) and we had a leisurely cruise home in the very clean Landy (Ken had washed it in the river while waiting for us). A snap decision was made to have lunch at Sitar, which turned out to be a very pleasant affair.
Thanks to all of you for the excellent company!
Zia, Ben, Val, Jan & Treehugger Ramona
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