Nyagui Gorge Ends in Tears

8 March 2015 - Low Water

An exciting day on a river which is big, even at low water. Wayne apparently needs counselling after being cussed by Jan.

Wayne, Amy, Max, Grant and Aiden set off from the Mukore Weir in the raft, with Dave and Jan in kayaks.  The chicken run was not an option due to low water, so the waterfall was portaged.  The next few drops provided a bit of humour and a couple of swims.  Some of the drops are quite big, but the raft handled them well, with the kayakers taking more conservative lines.  Jan followed the raft down a big drop and ended up under it in a hole, resulting in a cut to Wayne's lip from trying to help Jan up, and swim by Jan.

The "Horse-shoe & Nail" saw the raft being knocked off its line early on, which ended in a big drop and a nasty swim by all.  David and Jan ran the right-hand line in a hurry to provide assistance and gather up the flotsam.  Wayne later laughed at his crew for looking like a group of bush-baby's - big eyes all round!

The drops leading up to the slide provided no real problem, although they were all large (even at low water).  The slide was run well by the raft and kayaks, and provided for much enjoyment by all.

Then came "Hyena's Bottom", made infamous by Wayne Moss in 2011 (click here to see the write-up). Jan portaged without even looking at the rapid, Wayne was tempted to run it in the raft, but ghosted the raft down instead, and Dave surprised us all by announcing that he would run it.

Dave's approaching line was excellent, and I was sure he would put all our fears to bed at last. But at the last instant things went pear-shaped. Dave was flipped over by the diagonal at the lip of the drop, and he went over the drop inverted, sustaining 2 cracked ribs in the process.  Fortunately he flushed straight out (unlike Wayne in 2011) and ended up in the secondary hole. The spectators scrambled to his rescue and whipped him off to hospital, where he was x-rayed and pronounced fine, except for the cracked ribs.  During the rescue there was much shouting of instructions, so I  suspect some of the rescuers, and Dave, may also require counselling.

Hyena's Bottom 2, HAKA 1!