The Paddler ezine WW kayak collection 2013 | Page 20

ThePaddler 20

I awoke to the sound of

raindrops hitting the
tarp above my head, the rushing sound of the river nearby and the
incessant background noise of the jungle all around me. Under many
circumstances this would be a lovely start to the day. Not so this day.
This was day four in our small campsite shoehorned into a space we had
cleared in the jungle with our machete.

This was the day that we would
run out of food!
As the team for the British Universities Kayak
Expedition to Venezuela we had so far enjoyed a
great two weeks paddling and exploring the steep
mountainous rivers of the far north eastern tip of
the Andes. Our journey began in a car park at the
airport in Caracas, exchanging large amounts of
20 and 50 Euro notes on the black market for an
even larger amount of Bolivars. Spiralling
inflation and a lack of confidence in the Chavez
regime has led to a healthy illegal trade in
foreign currency which will see you earn almost
twice as much local dinero compared to using an
ATM. Having been forewarned of the dangers of
Caracas we were understandably a little nervous

One of our main objectives for the first part of
the expedition was to complete the first descent
of the Upper Aricagua before the second descent
of the lower sections. After driving up and down
the valley and gathering wisdom from the locals,
we came to the conclusion that the only route to
the river was down a narrow, steep and rocky
tributary. The remainder of that day was spent
scraping over rocks, portaging through the dense
jungle and roping down steeper sections in what
resembled a canyoning expedition with heavily
loaded kayaks in tow rather than a kayaking
expedition. As night began to draw in we had
covered only 300m and were faced with what

at one by one stepping out of sight with a
‘security official’ to hand over large amounts of
cash, fortunately he turned out (as we soon
learnt was typical of many Venezuelans) to be
entirely honest and happy to do business. Cash
in hand it was time to load up our Land Cruiser
and make a break for the mountains.

appeared to be an even steeper section ahead of
us. Ten minutes of ‘light pruning’ with a machete
(running around like maniacs, hacking away at
the undergrowth) provided us with a small patch
of jungle in which to hammock up for the night,
unsure of the scale of the task that awaited us the
following day.

Our first stop was the rafting centre on the Rios
Siniguise and Acequias near Barinas. Catering to
a growing contingent of Venezuelans in Caracas
and other major cities wishing to experience the
thrills (and spills) of the river, several rafting
companies have set up base along the river.
Spending a few nights with the local raft guides
provided us a great source of information, food
and hospitality as well as some excellent sections
to warm up on. Not that everything ran
smoothly; it was only day two when we found
ourselves having our first epic – walking out
through dense jungle for 10km in the dark, after
torrential rain caused the river to rise by four
metres in just 15 minutes!

After a fitful sleep and a quick scout of our
surroundings we realised what we were up
against. Downstream the river entered a steep
gorge, which we couldn’t scout, where the
ground was too steep to portage and the river
unpaddleable. Unable to con