Doring River - White Water Kayaking

Tackling a white water river under your own steam has got to be the ultimate adventure. It’s always a step into the unknown because rivers change daily. So you’ve got to be alert, always looking ahead, reading the river, choosing a line and then, skilfully and artfully, following it. You can’t control a rapid, it controls you. The only thing you can control is the line you’re going to take through it. And that takes skill. So does choosing it in the first place. But there is no feeling on earth to match the exhilaration of successfully negotiating a rapid, pulse racing, out of breath and absolutely elated.

It’s a bit of a learning curve to get there, though, and – sure – some people, many people, are self-taught. But those auto-lessons can be costly in time and limb – even in life. So if you want to play on rapids, and it’s a highly recommended adventure activity, learn the basics before you fling yourself mindlessly into the nearest stretch of white water.

White water clinics are held at regular intervals in the Western Cape and inland. They are mostly offered as part of a river guide course for prospective river professionals, but they are very much open to recreational paddlers who just want to do their own thing, and do it safely. It’s also a good way to start to get to know other paddlers because white water paddling is one thing you don’t want to do on your own.