Showing posts with label rafting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rafting. Show all posts

29 July 2006

6° g - 29 LUG: Varie attività nella valle di Leh, rafting, birra chang

Oggi il gruppo si divide. Io vado con una metà a fare rafting sul fiume Indo (900 Rs/pax, no TLF, compreso pranzo caldo buffet servito in un ristorantino a fine navigazione). Mehraj organizza tramite una ditta locale specializzata, vengono a prenderci in albergo e si va fino al fiume, dove ci si imbarca in grandi canotti da 7-8 persone. La navigazione è lenta e molto piacevole, si gode di una prospettiva diversa a vedere la valle dell’Indo dal basso, con la strada su in alto, tagliata sul costone brullo. Ci si bagna nelle rapide (sono sei) ma non c’è assolutamente alcun pericolo. Forniscono salvagenti ed un contenitore stagno per macchine fotografiche, vestiti ecc. La navigazione dura 3 ore circa finisce poco dopo la confluenza dell’Indo con il fiume Zanskar, presso Nimu.

15 August 1999

16. - 15 AUG: Victoria Falls - rafting - ULM

Full day of activities in and around Victoria Falls.

In the morning I go for a white water rafting tour down the Zambezi. You can do this for half a day, a full day, or several days. All things considered half a day is a good appetizer, I'd like to do more. But our program is already quite full, so there you go. Some of the rapids are quite easy, after one or two it almost begins to feel boring. But then we get a really steep one, and then a really terrifying one that make it all worthwhile! All the staff are local blacks, except one person who is white. I talk to to him and he is Italian! He says he's been living here a long time, and feels African. When he speaks English he does have a heavy African lilting accent! And especially striking, he has picked up that special African laughter!

In the afternoon I book an ultralight flight over Vic Falls. I miss flying my glider, and I have never really flown a motor plane of any sort. Paul is a young Zimbabwean pilot who makes some money taking tourists around. I meet him at the small Vic Fall airport and off we go. He even wants to let me fly it but I am not so sure this is the best place to try so I regretfully decline. Paul is white, so I asked him about black pilots and he says there are not so many, with a tone in his voice which means there is none really. No money, no education...

We fly over the falls, much lower than we did the other day with the helicopter. Can hear the noise of the water crashing down, the people walking by the walkway. We also fly over my cliffside hotel, I can see people sunbathing by the pool, and my room just a couple of meters from the cliff, facing south over the mighty Zambezi.

We then fly over Zambia, at the other end of the bridge that spans the two countries. We are quite low over a village and I can easily make out the huts, the people and the cattle. My pilot tells me he should not really fly so low, it is not allowed because it might scare the animals and disturb the people. But he does anyway because the tourists like it and the locals have ho telephone to call the authorities anyway. I am rather stunned and a bit irritated to be part of this but say nothing.

As we proceed to fly back to the airport, just before sunset, an airliner, a Boeing 737, is on its final approach to land. Of course we give it right of way! But we are on the ground right behind it, and I can't avoid being rather amused at how here a small ultralight can land or take off right next to a big commercial jet!


13 August 1984

Rafting in the Red River

Marco in first from left