The Bushman River canoe trip

What an adventure and a half... I went on a canoe trip along the Bushman River with about 12 people (close to Kenton-on-sea by the ocean) - 17 km to the campsite and 17 km back. Let me note that I thought the trip was 17 km TOTAL, and not each way. I was horrified when I found out, but it was too late since I was already in the canoe. I was here (see picture below) when I found out.

My paddling partner's name is Dominique and she was a darned good paddler! We paddled, and paddled and paddled and paddled, and finally arrived at the campsite 5 hours later. I thought my wrist was going to explode.

During the canoe ride, we stopped to have lunch. The only way to get ashore was to step in mud that the Western world probably uses as face masks and sells to elitists for $100 bucks a bottle. After stepping in truly sticky mud, I had to walk across dried, cracked mud that dug into the soles of my feet like sharp objects - ouch ouch ouch. So, I thought I would take two pictures of my muddy feet - enjoy :)

That evening, we had a "braai" at the campsite (Afrikaans word for BBQ) and I drank an entire bottle of wine to kill the pain in my body. Needless to say, I was also the first one in bed because of that :) About an hour before the sun went down, I took beautiful pictures of the landscape where all the canoes were tied to dock. I posted them below...

Most people slept outside, scorpions or not, and I decided to be smart and sleep inside. Around 4 a.m. I woke up because I felt an acute pain on the upper side of my middle finger and believed I had been bitten. So, here I am, in pitch darkness, with a $1 CAN flashlight, a wet comforter and an unwelcome visitor in my comforter who doesn't like me very much. I spent about 20 minutes searching for the bugger, and eventually gave up out of exhaustion. I could not hear the chuckles of the few people who were also sleeping inside. The next morning they told me all they could see me frantically searching for something in the dark and my flashlight was darting from one end of the comforter to the other. One more thing about the campsite: we had an outhouse. For my reader's satisfaction, I have posted a picture of this outhouse (see above right).

The way back was hell - imagine having extremely sore muscles and having to paddle the same distance you paddled to get those muscles that sore in the first place! I did see many different types of birds ranging from Kingfishers to Fisheagles. I also saw a dead and decomposed or decomposing animal carcass - I believe it was wilderbeest because of the length of its skull - which was mostly decomposed (see above left).

I did not see any hippos - which kills more South Africans annually than any other wild animal - or sharks. The trip leader had a great shirt, though, speaking of sharks... (see right). Apparently there were sharks swimming at the mouth of the river that I canoed in!

When we arrived back, I was so grateful, I could have cried for joy. I couldn't even move my right wrist anymore and swore that the premature arthritis was finally setting in. The marina owner who leased the canoes to us took a shot of the super troopers (see below).

On the 60 km drive back to Grahamstown from Kenton-on-sea, we drove alongside a game reserve, and I had the good fortune of spotting: giraffe, zebra, impala, blesbok, wilderbeest and eland!!! I couldn't take any pictures because they were too far away for my digital camera, so you are just going to have to take my word that I saw these beasts :)

I had a great time, 17 km there and back, and feel buff and tuff :)

xxx Emma