Welcome to my site! This site is intended to showcase rivers in South Africa. Whether you’re sitting elsewhere in the world and just browsing around or here in SA having a look at some rivers you want to run, I trust you will find what you’re looking for. Become a fan of this site on Facebook. Click on the logo below!

All info on this site (including all graphics) is Copyright © Adrian Tregoning. No part of adrian.playak.com may be duplicated in any way without explicit permission from the editors. click below for information on the site...

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Ok, so in the last two years I’ve been exceptionally quiet on posting any articles. It’s quite amazing considering the “excellent track record” I previously had. There are many reasons which I won’t bore you with, but if you’re curious I did post an article why I gave up sponsorship which you’ll find under articles. But here I am posting an article, can you believe it, and indeed, it’s not about rivers?

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The Palmiet River starts its life high up in the hills just south of Franschhoek. From here it begins its journey down south where it spills into the Atlantic Ocean only a stone’s throw west of Kleinmond – a distance of about 73km from source to sea. We are only interested in the last few kilometres.

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11 April 2012. Yes I am slow. Yes this was actually the first river we paddled, and yes I had to hold back the photos and hence this article because they were featured in the National Geographic Traveler magazine in Indonesia. Anyway, here’s what happened that day.

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Class: 2 – 4 (4+ at flood)
Length: 3.1km from top to Lodge, another 5.1km to OUT 1, another 4.4km to N1 bridge, OUT 2.
Gradient: 8m/km to Lodge, 14.3m/km for middle section and 11.4m/km for final section to N1.
Character: Continuous with swift flowing pools, no drop higher than 1m, bottom section sometimes braided and fast with strainers and at high levels some solid holes.
Level: 4 – 40+ cumecs.
Gauge: If the Wittenberg rain gauge has had more than 8mm you can try your luck – DWAF gauge H1E011.
Duration: 15 minutes for top section, 25 minutes for middle section and 30 minutes for bottom section.
Dams: None – this river rises very fast and drops quickly too.

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I had seen whitewater kayaking whilst rafting with my father on the Zambezi in December 1999 and knew deep down that that is exactly what I wanted to do. April 2004 I bought my first kayak, a Necky Blunt, with the money received from a third party accident claim because I had a car crash, compressing the third vertebrae in my neck. With a mate in the pool and a book lying precariously next to it, I taught myself the Eskimo roll. I lived three streets up from a lake and would go down and paddle the flat water as often as possible. Internet resources were limited using a dial up connection but I found a few small video clips of cartwheels and bow stalls. It took me 3 months of struggling to get the bow stall right but I was loving it. At a stage I stumbled onto Playak.com which is still the best kayaking resource on the net and somehow became friends with the owner, Jeroen Houttuin. My enthusiasm for kayaking was quite evident and I can’t even remember how it started but I must have posted more photos when Jeroen offered to create my own little space for me on the internet where I could post my photos and articles – this was the birth of adrian.playak.com.

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