Going with the Flow

It was 1981 and John Kellett, who was always up for fun and adventure, signed up for a whitewater kayak trip on the Doring River near Clanwilliam. He and his 3 kids, of whom Andrew was the youngest at barely 11 years old, did one afternoon’s practice  paddling on the Clanwilliam Dam before heading down the Class 3+ rapids of the Doring for 4 days in whitewater kayaks. Unsurprisingly, things did not go smoothly and John dislocated his shoulder, walking out on Day 2 of the trip. The kids continued with the guides. The elder two were somewhat traumatised, but for Andrew, this was when the river bug bit!

The late ‘80s and early ‘90s were interesting times in South Africa – the writing was on the wall for the evil Apartheid system and although we were all unsure of exactly how everything would work out, we were committed and optimistic. This was also when the adventure sector in the country started to take off, driven largely by corporate rafting trips on the Orange, Breede and Tugela Rivers. When Andrew’s National Service was cut short in by 6 months in 1991 (the first step in the total phasing out of conscription soon thereafter), he was at loose end and took up a job as a river guide on the Breede River. It sounded a lot more interesting than waitressing and so I also started working in my varsity holidays and over weekends.

It was a very different time then and corporate “team building” trips usually involved copious amounts of alcohol and various other shenanigans which shall remain nameless. It was an eye opening experience for the nature loving convent girl that I was at that stage! Part of our on the job training involved learning how to cook for large groups – for a long time I couldn’t make a creamy mushroom sauce (or anything else) for less than 12 people at time.

We learned how to guide clients on rivers largely by following what the Trip Leader at the time did, sometimes successfully, sometimes not so much. Luckily for us, there were no serious incidents but it became clear that we all needed to get our acts together with regards safety on rivers. The nineties were also the period where river guide training and qualifications were developed in South Africa, largely driven by Graeme Addison, and Andrew became one of the first qualified guides and then instructors, for both the African Paddling Association and the International Rafting Federation.

After we finished our studies, Andrew as Graphic Designer and me with a degree in Environmental Science, we worked on the Orange River for a while before Andrew moved on to an Ops Manager position. I moved on from guiding (I don’t think I was ever a very good Orange River guide!) into a full time, but badly paid job in community tourism development. Andrew meanwhile was saving up and in 1997 was ready to take the plunge into starting his own business. He briefly considered graphic design, but the call of adventure was too strong and he decided to start a river business. After our experiences as guides and managers, we resolved to do things differently – we knew exactly how we DIDN’T want to run an adventure operation!

1997 was a good year for starting a business – South Africa was in the heady early post-Apartheid days when everything seemed possible and, most importantly, we were young. The fact that between us, we had a massive student loan debt and a limited amount of start-up capital did not strike us as an obstacle. We had help from family in the form of an old Microbus, cheap rent and a small financial contribution, and I had a job in tourism development to keep the wolf from the door. And so we launched Gravity Adventures with exactly 6 ARK crocs and aforesaid Microbus.

From the start, we chose to operate on a different section of the Orange River to the other companies. Most of the others were on the Richtersveld section, and had started their businesses when all you needed to cross into South West Africa (now Namibia), was an ID book. Even in those days, the Richtersveld was overcrowded and in season, the trip became a race to see which groups could get the best campsites first and there were traffic jams before each rapid. We opted for the Orange River Gorge section, a slice of true wilderness with amazing scenery, the second highest waterfall on the Orange after Augrabies and fun rapids. We also opted to paddle a relatively short distance to make sure that the pace was relaxed and that everyone, including the guides, had the time to savour the experience. With our own guiding experiences fresh in our minds, we prioritised good quality equipment and safe and well maintained vehicles.

At first, Andrew ran all the trips, but as time went on and our little company grew, we employed freelance guides and made sure they were well trained, qualified and experienced. We know that guides are the backbone of an adventure company and we try to foster a relationship of them working with us rather than for us. Quite a few of the original crew still work with us from time to time and we are still in touch with many others. Along the way, we were joined by a partner, Mark Loftus, who introduced much needed systems and planning tools that we still use to this day! Mark left the company to pursue other business avenues and today owns Tougher Seat Covers – we use them on all our vehicles.

On the personal front, our firstborn, Camdyn, arrived in 2000 – I took maternity leave from my job and never went back! Gravity had grown to the point where we could just about survive. Our daughter, Summer arrived in 2005 and thankfully, the company continued to grow. Neither Andrew nor I had a grand plan or strategy – we made sure the non-negotiables were in place and worked out the rest out as we went along. It helped that we both came from families where a parent owned their own business so we had absorbed some entrepreneurial knowledge along the way.

When Mark left, Trip Leader, Ant Hoard, made the move to Ops Manager. Around this time, we were featured in Go! And Weg! Magazines for the first time and this elevated our profile and led to a significant increase in bookings. From there,  we reached some sort of critical mass, and word of mouth referrals combined with strategic advertising (in Dirty Boots of course), has kept us ticking along ever since. In due course, Ant moved on to follow his filmmaking goals. He and Andrew collaborated on an award winning short film, “Going Solo” in 2018.

Our story would not be complete without acknowledging the huge contribution made by Sonja Petersen, our office magician. Sonja started working for us one day a week, straight out of school and she has grown with the business, now running bookings, catering and admin. Our fleet has now grown to around 100 ARK crocs, rafts, gekos and pack rafts, almost 30 sea kayaks and 4 vehicles.

Of course, the challenges have been many! Currently, the effects of the global climate and ecological crisis are top of mind – The drought we experienced a few years ago forced us to move our trips from the Gorge section to the Thunder Alley section of the Orange, and introduced us to the lovely Todd and Johandri Dugmore of Witfontein Game Farm. This has allowed us (and our guests) to be more flexible in where we run our trips and to be able to adapt to the more extreme weather that is occurring as a result of human induced climate change. The Gorge is still our first choice, but Thunder Alley is an awesome section of the river with loads of fun whitewater – it’s perfect for low and high water conditions and closer to Joburg and KZN than the Gorge.

Along the way, we helped ARK develop the Geko river tube which is now used across the country on low volume rivers and we introduced Coasteering as an activity. We both remain deeply involved in raising the standards of guide training, safety, remuneration and environmental impact within the adventure sector and particularly enjoy  the consultancy work we do in this area. And Andrew remains one of the leading instructors and assessors for commercial paddling guides in Africa.

Gravity Adventures now offers a full service adventure offering -  everything from school adventure camps to high end bespoke river safaris and adventure based itineraries. Family Orange River rafting trips remain the backbone of our business – the best family holiday you’ll ever have! In today’s hyper connected  and yet increasingly polarised world, the force of nature is what we all need.