On the 15 january 2011, Gerald, Nino, and I set off from Durban, Hillcrest to meet another group of 6 other kayakers at the Nip Inn Just past Bulwer. About 13 or so Kms from the Nipp Inn heading towards Underberg you get to the bridge crossing the Pholela river along the R617. This is the put in. About 5 Kilometers headed back to the Nipp Inn, you will find a dirt road on the right hand side. This is the road you would drive down to get to the bridge at the pick up point.
The Nipp Inn is an ideal place for anyone wanting to connect with Moto Cross / Enduro Biking. It’s more of a qauint drinking hole for locals it seems, as the signs suggested at the entrance, but none the less, we were warmly welcomed and they allowed our two accompanying dogs to be set free to run their legs.
A short wait, and we then met our kayaking mates for the day- Richard Domleo, Guy Collyer, Shaun Griffin, Brett Frost, Justin Abrams and Deon Bruss.
The pholela is an awesome run- Very continuous, about a grade 3-4 section. The waterfalls make it a grade 4. There is one Grade 5 rapid towards the end of the run as well, which can be easily portaged. Otherwise mostly Grade 3 rapids. Although if you were Nino, another grading system would be in place for sure! I would like to grade for the majority anyhow.. so there we have it.
The waterfalls are very easy to run, but be carefull at different levels however, as it ain’t too deep in certain areas as Dean found out when he had a re-doo of his kayak nose on the 2nd Waterfall, even though levels were optimal!
Highlights for the day- Nino shooting his first waterfall! A puffadder encounter! Nino wanting to paddle without a paddle for the whole trip, ‘God knows why’, especially when the bottom of the river is a preferred view!’Nino paddling straight for a retentitive hole looking lovingly into its depths, smiling, and then submitting, WILLINGLY to its wrath!
Nino putting his paddle into a bush, and then floating on by with paddle hands…
Nino being wrapped around a rock, and Super man coming to the rescue…
Sorry Nino… your 1st time… had to make a it last!
Gerald breaking his paddle,
Dogs rolling in Human pooh.
Richard Freewheeling the 2nd waterfall!.. in a creek boat!
All in all, a great day!
Thanks Justin for the pics!
