Paddeling the Pongola River

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Willz

New member
Hey guys.

Ok so after recently completing a rather long (80km) paddle on the Buffalo river in KZN (3 days camping), with plenty of decent fish caught along the way, the bug has really bitten my freinds and I quite badly.

So we are allready planning the next trip for Nov/ Dec.

This is what we have in mind, starting at the Bivaane dam wall (just outside Vryheid), paddeling the bivaane river section untill where it meets the Pongola river, dont think much fishing will be done in this section as there are about 60 rapids along here. Then following the Pongola river all the way untill where it goes into the Jozini dam.

We will all be on plastic sit on top kayaks. My question is, does anyone know of anyone that has paddeled this section of river, and further do you guys think we will survive without being eaten by a croc or trampeled by a hippo.

Maybe someone on SL knows the Pongola well and can give us a yay or nay?

any comments will be appreciated. I know its going to be dangerous ....but the thought of the tigers that must be swimming around in some of those unfished sections of river is maybe making me underestimate the risk just a little!

What do you guys think are we dead men or are we in for an epic adventure?
 
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banshee350

New member
dont know about the bivane section its narrow with lot of rapids near pongola there's a big weir where you would have to get out there are a lot of crocs in the river latethly but i think the pongola section is do able we did a 6km strech on a small rubberduck. there's 2 low water bridge where you also would have to get out but nov/dec it's rainy season here so the river would be flooded and brown and flowing very fast march april would be a better bet.
 
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Guy Logan

New member
I've paddle and fished the pongola river below jozini.Nice and wide and great fishing. Easily navigated in a plastic kayak. contact the guys at the pongolarivercompany. they have an awesome tented camp on the river there and will give you all the info you need. Oh and no crocs or hippos below jozini,just some bus tigers.
 
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Guy Logan

New member
we based our selves at their tented camp,about 12km(guess) down river and we would be taken by bakkie about 10km back up river and paddle down again. If you want more solid info,contact them or look at their website. I'm going for a 3rd time in june
 
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Guy Logan

New member
we based our selves at their tented camp,about 12km(guess) down river and we would be taken by bakkie about 10km back up river and paddle down again. If you want more solid info,contact them or look at their website. I'm going for a 3rd time in june
 
W

Willz

New member
Hi Guys

Thanks for the replies, only spotted them now. In appreciate the feedback.

We starting to think maybe we should reconsider our options, weve spoken to some locals and they recon theres some hectic rapids on the stretch between Bivaane and Pongola, apparently from Paul Piet to Pongola is doable, but its comes highly recomended that we dont attempt the strecth between Pongola Town and the Dam itself (Lots of hippos and crocs)

Banshee...for paddeling the fuller the river the better but then again its not the best for fishing. So we will probably have to think about the dates carefully before we decide when to do it.

Guy:Glad to hear it is being done, do you have any idea how far one should be able to go down the river from below the dam wall.

Sjo still alot of research to do.

Thanks for the replies sofar.
 
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Guy Logan

New member
These are the points that I've paddled and fished between. 20.33.77S 32.12.15E and 27.15.47S 32.14.37E Its not much,full days lea surly paddle and fishing. It is extremely easy paddling, with maybe 2 rapids easily negotiable in plastic or inflatable kayaks . all water level depending . I can't help you much on anything below or above this area as u haven't ventured that far,but I've been tad there are no crocs or hippos. I can help you out greatly with the fishing advice but i think contacting the guys from pongolarivercompany on info about the river itself . hope this helps

G
 
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Tiger Hunters

New member
Hi There, i did a recce of 60km paddle below the jozini dam wall was a great experiece to paddle a earea never done before, there are very few rapids below the dam and water level and clearaty is pretty consatnt all year round, logistics are a bit of a problem, as access to the most of river is very limitted but it is awsome, and there are many big tiger fish in this section, but be warned it is not true that there are no crocs or hippos, i been living in the earea for 23years and the biggest crocs in the river is in that area, also many hippos but they are very shy and tend to keep to themselves.
 
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Willz

New member
Hi There Tiger Hunters.

You wont believe this but I was just sending you a msg on your facebook group wanting to ask the same questions as in my post (after seeing your pics about the paddle you guys did)

This is great news and  your post has send me into a frency im itching to start planning.

A few questions if I may.

How long did the 60ks take to complete and did you guys camp next to the river,

Would one need to arrange with farmers along the river or does ezemvelo manage some of the the section or can we just sneak in skelm,  camp, clean up and move on?

Appart from the natural dangers (hippos and Crocs) how safe do you think we would be from Humans ( i dont wanna get robbed of our kayaks and equipment)

I presume launch would be just below Jozini, we wont need any back up while on the water just a place to end the trip where a vehicle can access to pick us up, any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank you so much for the reply, my friends are gonna flip when they hear this!
 
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Tiger Hunters

New member
Hi Willz,

i Am glad to be able to help, we where in no rush when we did the trip so we did it in two days, the people along the river where very friendly and didnt see us as a threat, what we did is we took two lacal guys with that started a small very rural camp and we stoped over there for the night ill see if i still have the gps points of the camp the enter and exit spot.
 
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Rory

Sealiner
next time im in st lucia we must have a chat been wanting to do this for a while. Your neighbour across the pool at paridiso.
 
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Mission Man

Senior Member
Hey guys, was wondering if any of you would be willing to put up photo's of you kayaks. i've been wanting to get one and even though most people and even my heart says i must get i fiberglass one, i think its time for me to be realistic. i dont see myself getting a better paying job down at the coast so my desires for yak fishing will have to be filled in a different way. although i can use a fiberglass ski on the dam it dont really scratch my itch.

now that i have come across this thread talking about kayak fishing while going down rivers, this is definitely something that does tickle my fancy so to speak.

so a fiberglass ski wouldn't be ideal here, but a plastic one would be better.

so i guess my research would have to start again, however this time it wont be fiberglass vs plastic but plastic vs inflatable. my head is telling me plastic as modifications, repairs can be done a lot easier plus the chance of puncturing and inflatable are a lot higher than cracking a plastic.However inflatables have more storage space.

any advice and photo's of your ski's would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
M.M.
:kaykak:pad::
 
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