The Westerford 2022 Grade 11 Orange River trip, from start to end, brought joy, fun and excitement to all.

Day 1: After months of planning, trips to Home Affairs and document checking, 83 Grade 11 pupils and 6 staff members set off North to find the Orange River. Departing at 4am from Main Road on the 29th September we made great time to arrive at the Vioolsdrif land border to Southern Namibia by 1:15pm. For those that have never had to, processing 89 people at a border post is never an easy task, especially if they are under 18 and without their parents/guardians … documents galore are required. Fortunately, the South African border did not ask to see these said documents, however in true SA style LOADSHEDDING would time itself perfectly for our arrival and thus crash the system required for our police clearance – add 45 min to the process. 

All in all, getting out of SA was less hassle than expected, yet now we faced the Namibian border crossing, traditionally a pleasant experience. NOT THIS TIME. For some unknown reason Namibia assumed we were smuggling younglings in, therefore requesting that we produce the compiled documents, Unabridged Birth Certificates etc. This would slow the process considerably, having arrived in Namibia at 2:15, we would only complete the process of checking 89 people through by 4:15. 

Once we arrived at Felix Unite’s base camp, Provenance, we were introduced to our guide team of 9, by our lead guides Titus and Freddy. We settled into our campsite and enjoyed a first of many delicious meals, followed by a briefing of how to pack our belongings into the crafts we would be paddling down the river in. After this long day we made ourselves snug into our sleeping bags and slept the night away. 

Day 2: Our first day on the river. Up early in the morning, fed, packed and ready to go. We were given a safety briefing and shown to our chariots. By 9am we were paddling Eastward on the river in temperatures of around 30 degrees. A beautiful start to this trip … however this bliss would not last long as by 11am we turned a large bend in the river and were faced with a significantly strong headwind, whipping up waves and spinning canoes in circles. For the inexperienced paddler these conditions are a baptism of fire. A stretch of river no longer than a few hundred metres took us a good hour or more to complete. Tired and wind swept, we parked off for lunch.

Post lunch and the wind dying down we set off on leg two of the day. From this point in the river we would be entering a section of river that is completely untouched by human activities on the banks and truly is spectacular in remoteness and beauty. We had an up-close sighting of a Fish Eagle and various other bird and reptilian life. Coming toward the close of the day we faced our most significant rapid of the day – ‘Dead man’s Rapid’. We disembarked here and frolicked in the water and rapid, nappy runs and all. Good fun all round. Camp was around the corner on a wide bend in the river. A massive sand bank had been deposited in the flood last year and this provided us with a very comfortable night’s sleep. For many pupils and staff alike this night would be a first of firsts – sleeping out under the stars exposed to the wild like never before. Spiders and creepy crawlies were abundant … shrieks and shouts emanated from camp throughout the evening. 

Day 3: Our second day on the river. Another early start, and straight into our toughest rapid yet – ‘Entrance Exam’. We had some good laughs watching pupils enter into the rapid from all different angles and approaches. We had 4 crafts capsize, crafts enter and exit in reverse (still a mystery as to how this happened) and a close encounter for Ms. Fisher and Ms. Croxford with 2 cows making a river crossing seconds before they entered into the rapid – tensions were high to say the least. Post ‘Entrance Exam’ we entered a long stretch of river that meandered North through fast flowing waters and tight corners – single file was the name of the game, many submerged rocks were discovered with crafts becoming beached left, right and centre.

Around 11pm we stopped at our halfway refill point, this would be a long stop that allowed us to take a scorchingly hot walk out into the Namibian sun where we hiked up to an abandoned Fluorspar mine to scavenge for Fluorspar minerals. More impressive is the commanding view one is awarded from this vantage point. Endless blue skies, rolling dark mountains and luminous green vegetation spattering the valley floor all focusing on the flowing, life giving, Orange River – truly spectacular. After a mouthwatering lunch of gammon sandwiches we would depart to face ‘Sjambok Rapid’.

This rapid is the most infamous on this stretch of the Orange, we faced it with trepidation. With it being late afternoon we had the sun straight in our eyes making it very difficult to navigate the fast flowing water, kicking up spray and glamorous low rainbows. The guides gave us a ‘how to’ in terms of approaching this rapid, but much of it went in and out our ears as we sat waiting to head down one boat after another. While we were waiting, nerves began growing in some of the canoes and a couple pupils and a teacher decided this wasn’t for them and chose to walk the banks to the bottom of the rapid. With a total of 45 canoes having gone down this rapid only 30% made it through without capsizing – this is to say it was total carnage on the other side of the rapid. However it was smiles and laughter from the banks as pupils and staff went looking for their floating belongings. 

Not much further down the river we would make camp on the South African bank for the night. Another beautiful day completed. We enjoyed yet another delicious meal, albeit a late one around 9 pm, and had a wonderful night’s sleep. 

Day 4: We woke up bright and early to yet another beautiful sunrise on the river where french toast was the sustenance for the day. Before we left, the kids had to play the “left right” game which was both hilarious and a disaster to watch unfold. It was worrying that at this point in the trip, people were still getting their lefts and rights confused. Why everybody was hitting so many rocks was starting to make more sense to the guides.

Off we paddled for our final day of rowing. Despite the very relaxed rapids of the day, Ms. Croxford, Ms. Fisher and a few learners managed to go down backwards through some rapids. It was a scorcher of a day and so we were all grateful for the relaxed day paddling gently down the river. We stopped at a beach for an early lunch under the Witches Hat which can only be described as a beach which belonged in a catalogue of beautiful beaches of the world. Learners played seesaw on their boats, chilled, swam in 39 degree heat and chilled. Cue HEAT STROKE Patient #1067 – Zoë Nuttall.

We set off into our final flat plains of water where many paddle alliances were agreed on and some boats got drenched with water. We headed into the final two rapids, Roller Coaster and Rocky Horror Show, which Ms. Croxford and Ms. Fisher finally passed through successfully. Mr. Hutton-Squire started a trend of capturing the back wind and used his sarong as a sail. Unfortunately, because Mr. Hutton-Squire and learners are not trained sailors, many a crash ensued.  Mr. Classen, caring as ever, kindly offered to tow some of the tired teams. After some time, we unfortunately saw our exit point coming up in front of us and all became rather sad that it was beginning to end.

Getting 54 boats out of the water, cleaned out, and secured was a massive task and we all realised just how strong our guides really are. We all settled in for the night on the bank and had a lovely time relaxing and reminiscing about the trips; all trials and tribulations, all hilarious events and crashes. This was paired with a big finishing off of all the over catered for snacks. Most capitalised on the running water at the camp and a good cleaning session ensued. Mr. Hutton-Squire and Mr. Classen decided that a shower through the sprinklers was the only way to go. The last supper included an incredible Namibian lamb stew with the most creamy, fluffy, smooth pap. We ended with a finale show of fluorite rocks (collected at the mine previously) in the fire where the rocks glow bright blue and pop – a beautiful site!

Day 5:  Final sunrise on the river for the team! We woke and once again had a delicious breakfast of pancakes and banana bread. We all sadly packed up our things for the last time, helped pack the truck with all the river paraphernalia and got onto the buses to take us back to the base camp. We helped the guides with all final tasks, had our final lunch, said our farewells and thanks, and off we went. 

The border posts went much smoother this time round but, of course, nothing is guaranteed on a school tour and unfortunately there was a massive accident on the road we were on. A slight detour was needed but we soldiered on. We got home late to many parents excited to see their babies.

Many thanks to all involved in this trip, especially to all the incredible guides as well as Mr. Hutton-Squire, for making sure that this was truly an awesome experience.