NUKUKAMMA CANOE TRAIL SEPTEMBER 2007

Nukukamma river canoe trail……23rd and 24th august 2003.
Sundays River
Port Elizabeth

Peter, Barbara & Alli
Cathy and Jody
Gerald and Pat
Dawn And Richard
Tracy, Asher and Kayle

The hike had been postponed since the last time we when we were to do the hike the weather had appeared miserable. So that weekend we had gone to the Tsitsikamma forest at Storms River Mouth and camped for the weekend.


BIRDS SPOTTED
There were many but some of the significant and memorable sightings are these:
African spoonbill…a group of four and other individuals.
Fish Eagle…a pair sighted far in the distance sitting on electric pylons
Masked weaver…Bob puts out bird feed and these birds feed right in front of you on the deck at Hudson.
Blackshouldered Kite…This bird did a hunting display in front of us as it dived into the reeds to try to find a mouse.
Whitefronted Bee-eater…we saw a pair of them in action as they were feeding on butterfly around us.
Pied Kingfisher…we saw a number but, one in particular, did the hover and dive into the water act for Barbara and Peter but came up empty beaked.
Malachite King fisher (Gerald & Pat)
Common Sandpiper….running along the banks of the river.
Rod Knobbed Coot One doing the “Lame Duck” act for us to protect its young. We saw this fascinating display just as we approached the Hudson. This is the type of scene that one expects from a National geographic documentary. It was the first time that we had seen anything like it in action before our eyes.
Black Crake…these little Black birds feed on the weed and river grass. A few of us went for an evening paddle and saw these birds from really close range.
Two Black Eagle far in the distance hovering over a Krans
Yellow Billed Duck
Egyptian Goose
Sacred Ibis
Grey Heron
Black Headed Heron
Goliath Heron…Leave large footprints in the mud banks as pointed out by Bob before we left.
Little Egret
Reed Cormorant
Whitebreasted Cormorant
Dabchick
Pigeons
Red Bishop….But not red as they were not in breeding season.
Wagtail

Other animals
Vervet Monkeys
A lone Reebuck

THE TRIP
We left PE at about 09.30am. Drove to the Sundays River in two cars with Gerald and Pat just behind us. The Drive is less than an hour…only about 30 to 40 kays from PE. We met Bob and Dee, collected our life jackets and drove down to the launch site next to the N2 bridge. Here we set up our gear that we would be taking on the canoes and the rest we set aside for Bob to take in his LDV. Dawn, Richard Tracy, Asher and Kayle arrived a short while later and we soon were on our way.
The weather was ideal for a paddle, not too hot, slight west wind and we looked forward to an easy day on the water.. Jody and Cathy had about a half hour head start and we did not see them until we got to the hut.
The rest of the gang had a leisurely paddle for about two hours before stopping for a picnic. The little children seemed to have a lot of fun despite being confined to the canoes. After our “lunch” we pressed on and passed the 8kays to go marker. This depressed us a little as the westerly had picked up a bit (not too bad) and we had imagined that we were further along the trail.
We kept a steady pace and it was not more than about an hour and a half later when we passed the Hendersons Rest. We later learned that Cathy and Jody had mistaken this for the hut. They had carried their kit up only to realise to their dismay that this was not it. And that they still had a bit of a way to go.
The three kay to go mark seems to have been washed away but it was encouraging to think that it was not far to the Hudson from there anyway. At this stage the trail passes under a series of three (or is it four?) power and telephone lines. Once you are under the third you know that you have only the last kay to go. Also the river narrows slightly and we encountered reeds and river grass.

The sight of the Hudson Jetty was quite welcome. We had paddled for about 4 and a half hours including our lunch stop. And were happy to be able to off load our stuff from the canoes. The rest of our gear was waiting for us as Bob had dropped it off at the hut. We sorted our sleeping quarters out and then had tea, coffee, beers and juice….according to age and preference.

A little while later I went for a swim. Invigorating to say the least. The Gerald, Pat and I went for an evening paddle while some of the others attempted to fool the fish into biting the hook. Well the fish seemed to be quite smart in this area as they did not fall for this old “hook line and sinker” trick.

In the early evening we had the braai going and we all had our various goodies making the place smelling like a “Steers restaurant”. A few more beverages, plenty of chit chat and one by one the tired paddlers fell into their beds only to start up a “wood sawing business” or so it sounded like.

The next morning saw the paddlers rising at a reasonable hour. Much later than us runners are used to. The fire was relit and coffee mugs sprung up from every where. They were briefly rinsed from the previous evenings juice and soon there was the sound of voices as if we had never left off from the evening chatting.

Bob arrived at about 08.00am and we had a photo shoot with the various digital camera’s that were being tried out.
Again Cathy and Jody left first to try to catch the outgoing tide. The rest of us left at about 08.30am and set a steady pace. The main interruption was the pointing out of the monkeys and the various birds that we spotted. It was on the home trip that we saw the Fish eagles, the Kite and the Pied Kingfishers. By now Alli had also begun to be able to name some of the more common birds such as the Cormorant and weavers.

It was a bright morning and as we had not really had much of a breakfast we looked forward to our planned lunch stop which was almost exactly opposite where we had stopped the previous morning. We had plenty of left-overs and other goodies to fill those hungry bellies. The fishermen again hauled out their gear. Again they were unable to fool the astute fish. A problem with stopping on the North bank turned out to be the mess that had been left by people who picnic and fish off the banks. The river banks and this picnic area needs a major clean up.

After our lunch break we pressed on as we could feel the westerly starting to pick up. And we were right…..By the time we got to the Mackay bridge the wind was quite vicious and creating waves. It was into our face. Barbara and I had to work hard to stay going forward. Any break in the paddling action resulted in us going backwards. We were trying to catch Gerald and Pat but they took up the challenge and beat us to the finish. Later on Gerald told me that Pat was not feeling her best. That did not stop him from making her paddle hard to beat Barb and I nor did it stop him, at the end, making Pat put him on her shoulders and carry him off the canoe so as to avoid messing up the valuable “New Balance’s” that he was wearing.

Barbara was (rightly) worried about Tracy and the two little children in the canoe on her own a and so lifted her skirt and hitched a ride with a man in a power boat. He kindly went up river and put a line out to Tracy and towed her the last (and very tough) bit back to the landing area. The return trip had also taken us a little over 4 hours which included the lunch stop.

Well that was about it. We had a last photo session, packed our stuff, said our farewells and headed home.

Many thanks to Bob and our East London family for making this a memorable weekend. As Gerald said to me “Children don’t remember the extra room that you built on to the house. They remember the time they went out hiking and paddling with their parents!”


Peter Giddy
24th August 2003.