This beautiful section of river has been on my to do list ever since I paddled the bottom stretches of it in 1994 prior to the closing of the Katse dam wall. The difficulty is that the drive around is several hundred kilometres each way and spans two of Southern Africa's highest passes making a pick up team essential. Perhaps the opportunity to paddle this stretch  got in the way of my better senses. The put in is no more than 20km form the source, its April in lesotho and there hasn't been much rain for a month - that should have been enough to send us in the other direction towards the water transfer outlet pipe!

At Oxbow Lodge, better known as a haven for South Africa's limited number of ski fanatics, we were initially happily suprised. The water was low, but the pools were deep and as clear as glass. The first kilometre wended through a beautiful little canyon with lots of photo opportunities for the watchers on the rock walls. The two drops poured into ice cold pools but were easily runnable.

Now for the warning and heed it well!. Before you decide to paddle this stretch walk down from the lodge to the confluence with the Tsehlayane stream, about 3 km. If the small boulder gardens in these first kilometres are not almost completely covered, return to the lodge, do not remove your boats from the roof racks and head straight for the pub to drown your sorrows.

Knowing nothing of this we hefted our heavily laden boats onto our shoulders and carried through the rock fields - after all the maps showed lots of tributaries all the way down to the dam. Woe our poor boats and feet!!

The first night was icicy cold at 2500m and in the morning all around was covered in a deep white layer of frost. Bracing ourselves we paddled into the freezing water. This is a truly different stretch - all around the peaks rise to over 3000m, the pools sometimes 3 and 4 metres deep are so clear you can see your shadow clearly outlined against the bottom. Between the pools and never more than a 100 metres apart are rock slides, small drops and boulder gardens with few stones over 80cm in diameter. With water the river would be almost continuous, without it the river is very hard on the boat and the soul.

Kilometres before you reach the falls you are aware that something is about to happen. The two spurs around the final bend seem to meet at a point and then the mountains fall away all around. The water is very strongly channeled above the falls and I suspect that a portage down the left hand side gully would be possible at all but very high levels. A flooding river might entail having to portage over the right hand spur but this is just a guess. At the top the falls split into a number of chutes. If possible paddle to the center rockshelf immediately above the shelves. It is possible to lower your boat into the pool into pool about two thirds down the right hand side drop and then run the last 4m slide waterfall. Time constraints didnt permit us to try this option. (Have a look in Run the Rivers of Southern Africa for a picture of Mark McClue doing just this). Instead we seal launched out the left hand gully into the deep pool.

From here on the rivers mellows dramatically. A couple of kilometres from the falls you will come across a footbridge across the river. In theory this bridge could be reached by a 4x4 but it really in no sweat to paddle the 25km to the next bridge.

The next bridge has both a footbridge and a low level road bridge. Either arrange for a pick up here or spend another day and a half paddling to the bridge over the Pelananeng River at the top of Katse Dam. A long stretch of this last portion will be flat water. By this point we were nearly desperate. The deadline to leave lesotho was 4 hours away and we were two days paddle from the pick up. Then down the hill came a very old and very decrepid land cruiser with 10 people on the back. Greg was not deterred - he threw his body in front of the cruiser and refused to move until they rescued us (He also promised the driver vast fortunes I recall!) The passengers, who were miners returning to the mines after easter, observed these strange brightly coloured foreigners with friendly smiles and lots of questions. The drive out was an adventure on its own. Every village saw more passengers crammed in, on top and outside. The driver seemed obliously to the awful groaning and creaking sounds from the grinding suspension and the high pitched shreaks of brakes worn to metal. We were not so staid and a number of deities were invoked as we sought protection from the seemingly inevitable slide into the abyss and down to the river far below.

About the take out. White people in 4x4 sare regarded very suspiciously. These mountains are rich in diamonds and the locals are wary of treasure seekers. A full scale diamond mine is buried beneath Katse Dam but therein lies another tale altogether. To get to the bridge take a left turn off the main road down from Katse in HaLeJone. Follow the dirt road down the spur towards the dam and cross the bridge over the Pelananeng River. Turning left immediately after the bridge will take you to a beautiful campsite near the transfer tunnel entrance at the head of the dam. Continueing straight and up the hill requires a serious 4x4. Sorry your 'Zuki Vitara is not going to cut it. The road to the take out bridge is about 1 and 1/2 half hours of the most incredible scenery. Probably neither the driver nor his passengers will appreciate it They will be too busy worrying about not going off the thousand meter drops and avoiding the oncoming collection of very ancient and very battered vehicles that ply this road as taxis. 

Thanks to Heidi, Holger and Ivan for waiting so patiently at the end for us. We promise to take you back to this wonderful place but only when there is water!.

Jono Heher

See another review of Malibamatso at http://ru-into-kayaking.co.za