Last Days - White Water Rafting in Swaziland

This was our second to last day of the expedition and one that the girls were really looking forward to as most of them had never been rafting before.  There was also a new dam half way down the stretch of river that we were rafting, so some of it would be new for me as well.  The Great Usuthu River is quite a friendly river to raft as there are rapids followed by pools of calmer water to collect paddles, rafts and people and as we were doing this in two man inflatable croc rafts it was likely that we would be thankful for these brief sections of tranquility!  I knew that I would be as I am not a fan of white water rafting.

Begi, our rafting guide gave us an amusing safety brief, along with a warning to everyone about the crocodiles which would be sharing the river with us....  The eight of us paired up and unfortunately poor Lexi was partnered with me, which she regretted as I got us stuck on the first rock we saw and fell out at the first rapid.  This did not instil her with confidence in my white water rafting ability.  The first stretch of the Great Usuthu River is pretty tame and we meandered past people washing their clothes and cows drinking at the waters edge.  This was a chance to get to grips with paddling as a team - or not as the case maybe.  Lydia and Menace spending most of their time going backwards.

The first major drop in water level was next to the weir by the new dam.  There is a large weir with a gap for the overflow, this is about 7m high and forms a shute into the river below and we went down this.  The scary thing about it is that you have no idea what the drop will be like until you are on top if it and by then it is too late to do anything about it.  Looking back, that was the easiest rapid of the river, but at the time it was a BIG drop.  The river then flows into a small gorge where it gets even more exciting.  This is where carnage occurred and a few of us spent more time swimming than in the raft, myself included.  I was gutted.  The last rapid is the largest one and only Kate and Bex stayed in their raft and Jess managed to stay in hers whilst watching Ellen take a little swim.  The rest of us, Lydia, Menace, Lexi and myself managed to fall out at the beginning of the rapid and between us all I think we managed to visit all the rocks in that stretch of river.  We were pleased that it was lunch and all over!  We all slept on the way back, a cumulation of shear exhaustion and a massive dose of adrenalin.  But what a great adventure.

In the afternoon a visit to he Cuddle Puddle was on the cards where we soaked in natural hot springs, had a sauna and some of us even had a massage.

The last day was spent shopping for souvenirs in local markets, visiting Ngwena glass factory and the Swazi candles workshop.  All rounded off with a fantastic last night meal at a nearby restaurant with time to reflect on the memorable parts of the expedition, which are many.

Thank you girls for a fantastic trip and I wish you all the best in the future.