This is one of the surprises of the Orange River. The water is perfectly flat above and below this section, with no indication of what’s happening at Neus (the name of a mountain close to the river, meaning ‘nose’).
- Ideal for: Kayak
- Grade: 3 to 5
- Length: 800m
- Duration: 10 min to 1 day
- Type: Lots of steep channels
- Access: Dirt road between Kakamas and Keimoes. Walk down from road (few hundred metres) from where the weir is visible, approximately 15km from Kakamas.
- Dam controlled: Bloemhof Dam
- Permits: None
There is a high weir across the river, feeding irrigation channels to the nearby grape farms. An amazing section of channels, rapids and waterfalls starts just below the weir. When the water is high, the best word to describe this spectacle is ‘chaos’.
The river is approximately 800m wide here and the section is about 800m long, with numerous channels of all sorts. Some channels give a good taste of low volume creeking while others are hardcore big volume runs.
A whole day can be spent here portaging across the islands and running different channels. Big surfwaves are the order of the day when the water is up. The centre of the scene is a waterfall, which, although it has been run, is neither safe nor easy.
This river description is taken from my book “Run the Rivers of Southern Africa”.
If you have any pictures or recent information on this section of river to share, please contact me:
blog@cellierskruger.com
I appreciate any contributions to keep this content up-to-date.