Canoeing in South Africa - South Africa

South Africa is renowned as the land of fantastic rivers, and therefore offers numerous choices in water sport activities like canoeing, rafting and kayaking. Canoeing is a type of outdoor paddle sport that involves a boat called canoe. This sport can be enjoyed in varied water bodies like fast rivers, lakes and dams dotting the whole of the country along with the magnificent Indian Ocean.


Ideal Places For Canoeing
The Umkomaas, Umzimkulu, Mooi, Umgeni, Umkomaas, Thukela, Buffalo and Pongola rivers flow across the KwaZulu Natal from the high Drakensberg Mountains to the sea provides immense challenges to the canoeists. In addition to this, Orange River, Augrabies Falls, Doring River, Palmiet River, the lakes area of the Garden Route, especially Wilderness and Knysna Lagoon, Blyde River in Mpumalanga and so on provide numerous opportunities for enjoying this water sport. Beside, the wilderness enthusiasts who are more experienced in canoeing can enjoy the lakes of Maputaland, Lake St Lucia, Lake Sibaya and the Kosi system. These lakes allow paddlers to share the water with wildlife such as hippos and crocodiles.


The Umkomaas River on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast offers fantastic paddling opportunities which are fun and challenging with not very twisty rapids. Again, the Umgeni on the north of Durban, has some delightful little rapids. This type of canoeing is ideal for birders, school groups and adventurers who can use easy to paddle crafts and inflatable arc canoes.


White Water Canoeing
White Water Canoeing is a water sport which is gaining high popularity due to the opening of a section on the Buffalo River near Dundee. Rank beginners can aim for the easy sections while the tough sections are tried by the adrenaline junkies.


Traversing the beautiful scenery, the tourists can revel in the joys of canoeing in South Africa. This will provide them with the aesthetic pleasure of drinking in the sights and sounds of mesmerizing nature and also the thrilling experience of competing against the challenging aspects of nature.