Kayaking Kariba

We especially ticked the Do Epic box. Like the Bob Seger song, we paddled all 320 kms from Milibizi to Kariba against the wind because it is more epic to climb up Mt Everest than down it. We paddled 318 km over 12 days, averaging 7 hours a day in the water.

I have huge respect for the Batonka fishermen who do it tough on Kariba, plying their trade under the baking sun for a few bucks a day. We even saw 2 fishermen returning from night shift on the Sengwa basin, in a 10-foot steel boat with homemade paddles, with one life jacket and one not-very-bright headtorch between them, and still they had smiles on their faces.

But most of all I have respect for my fellow paddlers and sailors- Andy Lowe Evans who paddled Kariba in his hand-crafted from plywood HMS Ikea herding cats relentlessly, Ryan Moss and Wayne Moss on board the HMS Penga and the HMS Priscilla With A Lisp respectively who paddled with excess energy, enthusiasm and mischief, Mark Johnson from Brisbane who paddled the HMS Endeavour with humour and metronomically, Billy Prentice from California who paddled near double the distance in his HMS Omicron for the sheer love of it, enjoying the waves, soaking up his Africa experience to the max, and especially Greg Hall on board Psalms 91 who delivered yachts and kayaks safely and soundly, and is now permitted to wear his underpants on the outside.