One of the highlights from a month spent kayaking and holidaying in Croatia has to be the paddle through the Zrmanja Gorges just outside Zadar
It proved to be simply stunning
Our start point was the beautiful town of Novigrad, a small fishing port.
From here, it is a short (4km) paddle across the ‘Novigrad Sea’ to the mouth of the Zrmanja river. Leaving at dawn almost guarantees you mirror calm waters
And the gorge, itself – well, the pictures tell it all
After the town of Obrovac the scenery quietens
We paddled on, finally reaching a waterfall – we camped by the old mill buildings here
A lazy end to the day, swimming below the falls and watching several ‘Dice Snakes’ that shared the waters with us
And arrived back at our campervan the following day, to enjoy another stunning Croatian sunset
There were loads of other ‘Croatian Highlights’, beautiful island camps, crystal clear waters, wonderful old towns, secret tunnels, magnificent forts etc. etc.
Wild camping on the islands did not prove a problem and, while we saw some hideously crowded campsites we managed to avoid these and found some great alternatives
Mid July and summer put in a fleeting appearance. Just enough to grab kayak and hammock and slip away from the office a little early
It is nice to know that you don’t have to venture far for a bit of tranquil hammock swinging
Arne, in Dorset, proved perfect for a mid week sojourn - and I was able to get back to the office by 9am the following morning
A rowdy family of foxes insisted on playing under the hammock for long periods of the night though, so perhaps not quite as peaceful as it could have been
Rumour has it that IT have fixed the issue and good weather might be on the horizon now
Rumour has it that here in the Northern Hemisphere water
vortices down a plug hole anti-clockwise owing the Coriolis Effect of the
earths spin. Using the same principal I will always favour taking the right
line through the gnarl. Of course, paddling in the Southern Hemisphere going
left seemed to work for me, and water drains clockwise. Obviously, this is all
rubbish – but we had to have a scientific quest to justify a paddling holiday
in Ecuador didn’t we?. Bang on the equator, surely the water drops straight down
and the safest line will always be centre – well, that was the hypothesis we
went out to test :- ) Dave Surman, Andy Newell and I
The Laboratory: Wet and Warm
Tena (about 4 hours drive South East of Quito) and capital
of the Napo Province, is arguably the most popular kayaking destination in
Ecuador. Tena was originally founded by missionary explorers and retains a
wonderful frontier atmosphere - A real jungle town that lies at the confluence
of the Tena and Pano rivers. These rivers soon join the Misahualli and flow
into the Napo River the 9th largest tributary to the Amazon. The city sits at
an altitude of around 500M – it is hot, steamy, wet. We paddled at the
beginning of the ‘not so wet’ season (Dec to February) the main kayaking
season. The heaviest rains come in April, May, and June. But don’t let the
weather put you off – it is invariably hot and sunny for part of the day –
thunder storms bubbling up in the afternoons. Wet and warm – a kayakers dream
environment.
Tena lies one degree South of the Equator but we reasoned
that this would have minimal effect on our experiment, particularly in view of
the good selection of cafés and restaurants offered and the opportunity to enjoy
Coco Ron cocktails at Spiders bar
- a time honoured way of finishing a paddling day
A couple of hours drive North of Tena, the adjacent Quijos
catchment, at around 1500M altitude, offers some cooler boating. Both Endless
Adventure and Small World
Adventures are based here at San Francisco de Borja (Borja). Most kayakers
visiting Ecuador sample the rivers in both these catchments
The Logistics
On all previous paddling adventures I have managed to fly
with my own kayak. However, flying American Airlines through Miami we elected
to hire boats from the good folk at Endless
Adventure who have a fleet of decent (although somewhat battered) creek
boats on offer.
Jondachi Put In
To make things even easier, and to appease Chris Ryman at Endless
Adventure who was concerned about our losing / trashing more precious
boats, we elected to purchase a ‘Gringo Warm Up’ – three days where Endless
Adventure provided guiding, shuttles, lunches and, perhaps most importantly,
wisdom and knowledge.
Dave S on the Quijos
We enjoyed the
hassle free boating so much during these three days that, having counted the
dollars, we elected to continue with guides for the remainder of our stay. For
us three gentlemen, no longer in the flush of gnarl boating youth, with limited
time, and even less savvy, this proved perfect - No faff, good company and
maximum paddling time.
Andy N, Rio Piatua
Guiding is not essential – Transport to put
ins and get outs is comparatively easy to arrange with taxi drivers in their
4wd pick-ups. Many of these drivers are familiar with the runs and know all the
access points. Some, like Elluardo seem to have an infinite knowledge and can
describe the character of the river, grades, lines, levels, etc. etc.. – But pick
your taxi driver well to avoid getting lost in the jungle. However, if you want
to maximise your time in a boat and minimise time spent planning, scouting long
drops, waiting for transport etc. we would highly recommend talking to Endless
Adventure.
Walk in to the Jondachi
The Rivers
This region seems
to cater for every kayaker – big water playful runs to low volume steep creeks
and everything in between (I even spied 4 sea kayaks on the top of a bus
heading down to the Napo for a jungle float trip). We were looking for the
grade 4 runs and there were plenty of these to choose from
Jungle Access
Eight days paddling
over a two week holiday ticks my box (and made my ‘Over 50%’ rule).
Particularly considering it takes two days travelling each way from the UK. We
paddled
Rio Jatunyacu – a
30 km grade 3 warm up on the first day – A Big volume, wide, bouncy,
playful run
The Upper Misahualli
(Lodo and El Retin sections) from san Francisco to Archidona about 20 km of
continuous grade 4 creek boating – a Boof galore run that we enjoyed so much we
just had to return later in the week for another run
Butterflies on the Upper Mis
The lower Jondachi /Hollin).
The long muddy walk in was rewarded by a stunning 38 km of grade 4 pool drop
paddling through thick jungle with waterfalls cascading down the steep valley
sides.
Sandra B Rio Jondachi
Rio Quijos (Borja and El Chaco sections) 20 km of
powerful and steep grade 4 pool drop fun
Rio Cosanga: After
a night of heavy rain a 10km beating of continuous busy grade 4 with powerful hydraulics
– fast, furious and brown
Rio Piatua: 22 km
of grade 4 cruisy low volume creeking. Being chased by menacing thunder clouds
down to the confluence of the Rio Anzu
Dave S Rio Piatua
Rio Tena (Upper
section to the Town): A Grade 2 and 3 bimble float in the sunshine stopping for
a few beers on the way and to play with the river kids - An excellent chill
down before the long journey home.
River Kids giving kayaking a go on the Tena
There were lots of runs that we, either, didn’t have time to
fit in, or, for the grade 5s, the inclination and balls to run. Our one regret
is missing the Overnighter on the Hollin – one of my passions in kayaking is journeying
and spending nights on river beaches. However, we arrived at the Hollin put in
to find it already high and the sky black with thunder clouds. The risk of a
flash was very real and we moved elsewhere. However, this does illustrate that
there are always options. Rainfall is usually very localised – while one river
is full, tanking brown an adjacent river might be running low and clear.
Rio Hollin
This is South America
Bear in mind, this is South America, and a degree of
flexibility and tolerance always helps. If the taxi driver insists that you
crouch in the well of the cab to avoid detection as he negotiates a police
check point with dodgy paperwork, so be it. Rooms in lodges and hostels might
not be entirely free of tarantulas and other creepy crawlies. What you get
served up in an eatery might not necessarily be what you thought you ordered.
And if you have an aversion to Avocado or bananas you might struggle. If a
sloth hangs down from the rafters and grins at you while you are trying to
enjoy a steak – live with it!
But, in the main things work out just fine. Our taxi drivers
invariably turned up at the get-out within a few minutes of our arrival, with a
case of cold beers (even on Sundays when new laws prohibit alcohol). And for a
few bucks you can hire a little old granny to carry your boat down a muddy track
to a river for half an hour (oh the shame :- ).
My Little Granny Porter
The locals are great too –
children treat the rivers as their playground. It is not uncommon to find
yourself being shown the lines through a boulder choked river by a bunch of ten
year olds riding tubes.
The Hypothesis Proved?
So back to our scientific quest then, did we prove that
water goes straight down a plug hole when on the equator? Did we establish that
the middle line through the gnarle works best? Hmmm we did find plenty of holes
to experiment with and, I for one, was most diligent in my studies of these
features. But, no, we didn’t prove the centre line (which seemed to get me into
some of the larger holes) and we did learn that water and, more to the point, boats in Ecuadorian holes don't seem to go
anywhere. Indeed my coveted 9-year ‘no swim’ record was trashed by these
equatorial waters.
Dave S
However we did
prove, beyond doubt, that Ecuador offers some fine boating even for ‘soft core’
boaters like us. An abundance of quality grade 4 runs where the boulders are
smooth, the water is warm and the beer is cold.
Information
The Kayakers Guide
to Ecuador –not all the runs are included and please remember the flash floods in
this region are frequent and extreme the rivers can come up feet in seconds and
rapids are constantly remodelled. Some updates to the published guide are
included at http://www.kayakersguidetoecuador.blogspot.com/
But talk to Endless Adventure too, they are masters at sorting out logistics, hiring boats, fixing accommodation, problem solving and, of course, guiding
Thanks Chris Ryman and Andrea of Endless Adventure for your hospitality, flexibility and company and, of course, Dave Gore, Abby Dent, Abraham Herrera for safely guiding these three Englishman down some splendid jungle rivers
If the above doesn't convince you to consider paddling in Ecuador, perhaps a few more images might
