After an unexpected trip back to Canada for a few weeks, I am once again in South Africa for Triwaters. The weather in Toronto at my departure was deteriorating from heavy snow to freezing rain. This resulted in a delay of 1 hour for boarding, 1 hour due to a power outage in the terminal preventing us from starting our engines, and another 1 hour waiting for the deicer to be free. The plane having been covered in a thick layer of green solution was ready for takeoff. I flew British Airways via London again. Turbulence leaving London was some of the best I’ve experienced yet. The wine flew up and out of my glass, hovered in the air directly across from my eyes, and then landed near the window sill.
Once safely landed in Johannesburg, I hit the ground running. I had to speak with a few media producers and our charitable partner WESSA. I then ran some errands for a few supplies and headed to Ermelo with Egon who had come to pick me up. After a short nap I was ready to go for the rest of the day to get some food and update social media etc.
Yesterday, I woke up early and headed to the Triwaters office at Franz’s family’s company. After a number of phone calls we had filled the days schedule with visits to local farmers whom we met either hiking or “paddling” (really dragging kayaks) through their land. I was warmly welcomed for a second time and shown around their properties as they explained just how severe the water shortage here is and how it is affecting their livelihoods.
Richard, one of the farmers, is an ex-military paraglider who served in a number of conflict sites having completed over 600 jumps. We had coffee in his 150+ year old house which served as a hospital during the Boer war in the late 1800’s. It is a beautiful home with a rich history. The walls are covered in unique South African artifacts, many of them South African animals, and photos from his time spent paragliding. On his property we saw hundreds of blesbok, a family of meerkats, a few fish eagles, and numerous species of water fowl.
Today will be spent doing some editing, scheduling the next week, and resting before a long drive across the country to meet up with Franz and Brett who are busy paddling down the Orange River. I very much look forward to reuniting with them and helping to document the story both in photos and video. Grant and Christiaan from Flyingfish Productions in Canada are joining us in a little over a week.
Richard is an ex-military paraglider and badass farmer.A small fraction of Richard’s farming operation.This bridge is one of the oldest in the region and was hand built in the late 1800’s.The upper Vaal River.
Just a quick post about my recent interview with the Paddler e-zine, a fantastic paddling magazine out of the UK. The interview was with The Paddler’s Peter Tranter. You can read the article by clicking on the following image of the spread which will redirect you to the specific page in the magazine which it appears.
Very excited to share an article written about TriWaters Tour in the in-flight magazine of South African Express! The article was written by Stuart Wainwright with photos contributed by TriWaters team members. It helps to explain why we are doing this tour and provides insights into the state of water security both in South Africa and world-wide.
Recently, our TriWaters Tour team published an article I wrote concerning eutrophication of Canadian waters, primarily Lake Erie in both the 1960’s and again in recent years. This article directly relates to one of the central issues facing the Vaal River watershed, that is, the over-abundance of available nutrients. These cause excessive plant growth which leads to nutrient-poor toxic water conditions not fit for human consumption or agricultural viability. Take the opportunity to learn more about why we are doing the 2015 TriWaters Tour expedition by reading the article. And more importantly, please SHARE it!
Hey everyone! Happy to announce a new sponsor for our TriWaters Tour 2015 to paddle the Vaal River from source to sea. Wintec Solutions has jumped board. Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, Wintec Solutions is an established, leading, Multi Channel, value adding distributor that serves Sub Saharan Africa with revolutionary brands and unrivalled service delivery. Their current portfolio includes, Powertraveller, Outdoortech, Joby, Skech, Skross and Runtastic brands. They are providing us with the highly innovative Power Traveller system for meeting our energy needs. It will charge large battery packs using only the sun. This electricity is essential for charging two DSLR cameras, up to six GoPro’s, a laptop, e-readers, cellphones, GPS units, and satellite messaging devices.
This is the Power Gorilla and Power Monkey system we will be using for the TriWaters Tour 2015
Make sure you drop in to those links and take a look at the wide range of products they offer as well as the Power Traveller system. I can tell you, nobody knows portable power like those which provide it to Sub-Saharan Africa. So if you are in need, you know where to get yours!
I am happy to announce that inReach Canada has published a short article I wrote about my December trip to the Umzimkulu River, South Africa to paddle with Franz Fuls and Sheena O’Connell. We were testing kayaks provided by Fluid Kayaks, one of our sponsors for the source to sea expedition of the Vaal River. For a fine selection of photos and a short write-up, drop in to their blog and have read!
After a long, cold, dark winter of skiing on the frozen ocean I am finally paddling again! When you’re out in -40ºC it is hard to imagine that you’re sliding on 2 metres of ice with water flowing beneath you. About a month ago now I left Wemindji for Toronto for the two week long hunting break. The week before leaving, Caroline, Inese, Ronalds and myself made a trip to James Bay by ski. We crossed about a kilometre of ice after 10 kilometres of skiing through forest to get to a small island. The sun was already out in full force resulting in severe sunburns due to our negligence. Caroline and I stayed the extra night which was well worth it. The evening was calm, quiet, sunny, and spent beside a warm fire. Have a look at the photos below.
Drying the gear out after the first night. This is essential to remove moisture in order to stay warm.A nice bed of spruce bows to enjoy the fire on.Sunset on the second night out.Caroline admiring the sunset on the second night.Kayaks perched on the last of the river ice.
Flying South to Toronto, I could tell the ice would be late getting out this year. Everything was frozen solid still without a sign of moving water. My thoughts were confirmed on the flight North where everything looked about how I had left it. Normally, I would be able to get out kayaking on the river for about 6-7 km the first day back. This year was about 1.5 weeks later than normal. Just last weekend I finally made it out to the start of the bay. Temperatures have steadily improved, reaching the low 20’s already, unseasonably warm. As a result, the bay is beginning to open up quickly making for some excellent James Bay kayaking. This weekend, Caroline and I will head out to a small island to camp. Saturday night is supposed to be a fantastic meteor shower which we will have a clear view of. Sounds like we will be laying down on the flat rocks in our sleeping bags admiring the spectacle of star dust colliding with our planet’s atmosphere. Definitely going to be a great weekend of paddling by day and resting by night.
These are the islands that I normally paddle amongst.
Most notable of spring in Wemindji is the return of obvious signs of life. Hearing the first bird chirp in eight months is quite a magical moment, hard to explain to someone who hasn’t experienced it before. James Bay also happens to be on a significant migratory bird route for birds travelling back North after winter, including a number of threatened and endangered species. On our paddle last weekend, we spotted two Sandhill Cranes, a pair of Black Scoters, and about 10 long-tailed ducks. The following day, I added a loon to the list. We are both very excited by the prospects of a great birding season here and will be taking a local field guide and a good pair of binoculars out on our paddles. The photos below were borrowed from the web, but are accurate to what we observed. Credit to the photographers is given.
Long-Tailed Duck
gsschneiderphoto.com
Black Scoter Mating Pair
Dr. Howard B. Eskin
Sandhill Crane
Joseph C Boone
Updates on TriWaters Tour 2015:
Our expedition has made some significant progress lately. We have been featured by one of the best outdoor paddling sport magazines in the world; Adventure Kayak Magazine who will be following the progress of the expedition throughout. The Kayaking Daily and Paddling This Week have also both featured us. Our team leader in South Africa has been asked to interview for an excellent Podcast; Inspiring Adventurer. And we have grown our social media following substantially. That’s not to say that there isn’t more to be done though. If you haven’t already, drop by our Facebook, Twitter, and Website to help spread the word for us! We need all the support we can get.
Updates on PEI: From Source to Mouth:
I recently formalized PEI’s Chef Ross Munro through his company Culinary Adventures as an endorser of my 2015 circumnavigation of Prince Edward Island. He will be providing invaluable feedback on my route, assist in the promotion and delivery of workshops, and help spread the word for me. His pioneering work in the farm-to-table movement is outstanding and the philosophy of his company Culinary Adventures inspiring. I would highly recommend checking out his website to learn more about what it is he does. Better yet, join him for dinner after foraging and harvesting your own meal!
Yonder Ambassador:
I have recently been named a Yonder Ambassador for the innovative mobile-based app called Yonder. Essentially, it’s Instagram for lovers of the great outdoors, but with a few extra features setting it apart. They allow you to see other Yonder App users near you, geotag all your own photos, and best of all, when you post to Facebook or Twitter, your photos appear on your wall and newsfeed instead of only a link! This is not just another useless app with a small following, Yonder has a truly impressive amount of followers, all of which share your love of the outdoors. Check them out!
We recently confirmed the following sponsors for our 2015 Source to Sea of the Vaal River Expedition! I am honoured to be working with such awesome adventure retailers. Please check out their products by clicking on their logos below.
Fluid Kayaks
Fluid will be providing us with three awesome rides for this expedition; the Fluid Bamba. This is actually a recreational kayak intended for fishing both coastal and inland waters. As a long and stable boat, it is very fast but can still handle hardcore whitewater. We are using a sit-on-top kayak because of the frequency of strainers on the Vaal River which are wide, fast moving areas that make it challenging to restore a traditional kayak should one fall out. This way, we can simply hop back on. While in SA for the training session in December, Fluid was kind enough to lend us with another sit-on-top model to test. Stay tuned for some GoPro footage from this trip. We are grateful for their ongoing support and I look forward to working with them in the future!
Below is a picture of the Fluid Bamba from three different angles:
Canoe Concepts
Canoe Concepts is a primarily kayaking-based outdoor retailer in Johannesburg, SA which has generously offered to supply us with 3 state-of-the-art paddles as well as a fourth spare paddle. They are known to make some of the best kayaking paddles on the market today and will be custom making these for the expedition. I am delighted to be able to work with them.
I am delighted to announce my involvement in the planned Source to Sea of the Vaal River in South Africa to begin January of 2015. South African Franz Fuls, Australian Brett Merchant, and myself will paddle from the source of the Vaal River in the Drakensberg Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean, a total distance of over 2,400km. Along the way, we will be speaking about the importance of river health and conservation in schools and other community organizations, as well as delivering and training locals on the use of the MiniSAS kit. This kit will provide invaluable data of the health of river benthic organisms and in-so-doing act as an indicator of overall water quality.
The official website for the expedition is currently being completed and will be launched shortly. Once it is launched, you can read about the trip in much greater depth and learn what you can do to help us in this incredible initiative to promote the conservation efforts of rivers not only in South Africa, but in Canada and globally. I firmly believe in the power of adventure sports to inform and inspire much larger environmental and educational initiatives. Please stay tuned for the launch of our website and short film about the expedition as well as our recent training session on the lower Umzimkulu River this past December/January.
Below are a few photographs from my recent trip. Stay tuned for an article to be written about the trip along with more photographs!
The stone house where we were staying. A local farmer who’s family are avid kayaker’s maintain the house exclusively for paddlers!The area surrounding the stone house where we were staying.The drive into the Umzimkulu Gorge.The road along the Umzimkulu River next to the banana plantation. The narrow waterway pictured is part of the farmer’s local hydroelectric dam which powers the irrigation system.A panoramic view of the lower Umzimkulu River where we spent our days paddling.
trayban 