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Published: December 12th 2006
Not sure where to start this TR. I guess I’ll start with the bad --- 4 swims in 2 days. I swam rapid 13 twice, rapid 3, and rapid 4. Ok, got that out of the way, now onto the Zambezi River.
The Zambezi Gorge is amazing. It is big water as big as water can get. You think the Mash Brothers and Keeney are large waves… those waves are the small waves that don’t even get mentioned when you paddle the Zambezi. This water is big, fast, exploding and boiling. One minute you might be cresting the top of a 1 meter wave and the next, the wave is gone and you are being sucked under by a whirlpool boil line that just appeared. Better brace and paddle and stay loose. No such thing as grabbing and eddy on this run.
The river is generally divided into two sections. The upper section includes rapids 1-13 and is generally considered the harder section. The lower section, rapids 11-23, is slightly easier with much bigger pools. We tackled that section first. I guess I should explain the we. There were 5 of us the first day, Scott, the S. Africa Guide, his friend Rob, John the German, and Phila, Scott’s sister.
There really isn’t much to talk about for this section. Like I said the waves are monster, and the eddy lines are boiling. Anytime you get out of the main flow you are in boiling water. Sometimes even in the main flow it is boiling. The whole river surges. Rapid 13 that I swam on is long. I got too far left at the bottom, got spun into an eddy/hole and couldn’t hit my roll in the boil. So I swam out. No crocs.
I think of more interest on this day is the put-in/takeout and porters. I got into the truck in the morning to go to the river where I met Martin. “I am your porter,” he says. “My what?” “Your porter, I take your boat to the river you just take your gear.” “Well that hardly sounds fair.” Boy was I happy to have that porter. These guys are amazing; they pick up a boat on each shoulder and start off, usually in Flip flops or bare feet. The trail to the put-in, well all the trails in and out of the gorge are monster. Think steep like Tallulah gorge… but the “steps” are really ladders made of downed logs. I was more than happy to have the porters. Oh yeah, and they are long, probably a 1km hike or so.
After the first day, Scott said I would be fine on the upper section. So the plan was made to run 1-13 the next day (yesterday. I took today off to rest.) The plan was to put in below rapid 1. That is like putting in below Grumpy’s, only the ferry is bigger and nastier with a runout into the wall. Instead I seal launched into the boil created by the wall. I would rather try the ferry. Oh yeah, I should mention, from the putin you can look up and see Victoria Falls.
I’m not going to detail every rapid. Not sure what happened in 3. I flipped, tried my roll 3 or 4 times, and just couldn’t get up. So I swam. It was long but not too bad. In everyone one of my swims I swam like an open boater, I managed to rescue all my own gear.
Rapid 4 is the most technical of the rapids I was going to run. You had to hit the wave just right to avoid 2 offset holes. I managed to hit the line perfectly, then flipped on some wave in the roll out, flipped, rolled up, flipped again and drank a gallon of water… then swam. Not cool.
Rapid 5, is amazingly fun and easy. You get to the edge of the drop and there is this monster green tongue running down this 10-15 foot slide into crashing 20ft waves. But they are soft and you just float right through… keep paddling though, there are still another 100 meters of tablesaw size waves to paddle through before it calms.
Rapid 7 I walked, we all walked. It is one of the major class V’s. At yesterday’s level it isn’t too bad, but today it might be worse. On the river right side is Patella’s Gap. Two rocks with about 1 foot between them. As the water rises it starts going between these rocks. But if you go there, you get thrown up on the river right rock, and then the wave crashes down onto the rock on your left. I guess it is easy to get sucked into this when the water is high.
Rapid 8: My instructions were go down the middle, at the bottom is a big hole running left to right. When you hit it, tuck, keep your elbows in and take a big breath. I asked, “So I’m not expected to run this upright?” To which the answer was, “None of us will run it upright.” It is a massive hole, about 15 deep. It does, it just flips you and spits you out. Just make sure you have the paddle on the side so you don’t get hit in the head with it.
Rapid 9 is another walker. It is another of the major class V’s. Everyone walked again. It is run quite a bit but right now it is at a tweener level. The low water lines are closed and the high water lines are not open yet. It is maybe one of the nastiest rapids I’ve ever seen. It filled me with the same feeling that seeing corkscrew for the first time did, only worse.
And now the shuttle ride out, about 45minutes to an hour of 4 wheel driving through little villages. I’m so glad I’m not driving and I have a cold beer.
So that is the summary. I still have permagrin. This was/is amazing. For the most part it is as claimed… very safe. You WILL flip. A dry hair day on the Zambezi is not going to happen. Just roll up and ride the wave out. There are some major holes, that will give you a trashing, but few are terminal. Actually the eddies are worse than the holes. Many of them are impossible to get out of.
Unfortunately, I can’t really describe the size, speed, and intensity of this river. It is amazing. I wouldn’t expect pictures because I don’t have my camera case with me, so sorry.
What is next? Well I took today off to rest. Tomorrow, 1-13 again. I’ll probably paddle 4 or 5 more times, and then move on. My plan is to walk 7 and 9 until I make it down the rest without swimming.
You all have to come over and paddle this river. It makes the Dries and the Gauley seem like child’s play. The biggest water I’ve ever seen.
Oh yeah, I’m paddling a Fluid Spice. Great boat really.
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Chad
non-member comment
Sure you don't want to come back and paddle the Chattooga at 1.1ft? Has anyone open boated the Zambezi? I need to install some pumps on the ole open boat and fire it up...haha! DOB