Orange River Canoeing | Experience the excitement!

Amanzi Trails offers Orange River canoeing / rafting trips that you will have you talking and reminiscing about for many years to come! The route we follow is a family-friendly section of the river that requires no previous paddling experience. This enables us to offer canoeing trips for the whole family! Children as young as 5 years and adults over 70 years have enjoyed the experience with us as the river meanders through the breathtaking landscape of the Richtersveld, with its fascinating rock formations. As a true activity for everyone, there is no better way to spend quality time with family and friends. Not only are existing relationships cemented, but new friendships are formed!

If it’s one of your life’s ambitions to complete a canoeing trip in South Africa, an Orange River trip is the option you have been looking for. It is a life-changing experience that will leave you feeling restored, revitalised and with a unique sense of achievement. This canoeing experience is one wherein one moment your adrenaline is pumping as the white water surges around your canoe and in the next you feel complete peace and tranquillity as the huge, shimmering river becomes placid and still again. This experience allows work and life stress to fade almost immediately as your only concerns become negotiating rapids, finding a comfortable spot for the night and catching that big fish!

Drifting with the flow in a 5-metre Indian Mohawk canoe or an inflatable craft (“croc”), gliding alongside the river banks with their abundant bird life, conquering rapids, hearing the call of the fish eagle, letting the sun soak tensions away, sleeping under the stars near a crackling fire… This and more will be your experience with our team.

Despite the immediate stress-free experience this trip will bring you, there are a few details to know before joining us for this once in a lifetime adventure.

The rapids we canoe through are only Grade 1 and often sound more daunting to visitors than they actually are. They are, however, still exciting and contrast the hours of floating down-river with the current. Names like Deadman’s, Sambok, Witches and Snotklap rapids add to the anticipation of this experience. When canoeing with our team, it is important to remember that all waters must be treated with respect. This is how safety remains a priority during your Orange River rafting adventure. Amanzi’s guides are highly experienced in navigating these rapids and will ensure that safety procedures are communicated, understood and maintained throughout your trip.

Visitors can rest assured that the region is malaria-free, and the river water is free of bilharzia. Furthermore, there are no crocodiles or hippopotami which eliminates an additional safety concern many first time visitors have.

This section of the Orange River is known for its abundance of yellowfish, mudfish and catfish. If you are interested in fishing, please remember to bring your rod or hand line along. There is definitely plenty to catch and enjoy!

All your meals, from dinner on the night of arrival until breakfast on the day of departure, are provided by our team. Our meals are delicious and wholesome and cooked by our guides on an open fire. Special dietary requirements can be catered for.  Please be sure to discuss these with us in advance of your trip.

Your Orange River canoeing adventure begins at our beautiful Amanzi Trails base camp, an oasis in the Richtersveld desert overlooking the river and the rugged Geelkrans cliffs. The camp boasts hot showers, flush toilets, sheltered lapas and lovely green lawns to enjoy and relax in. While rafting sun-drenched kilometres downstream, your vehicles are safe at this rustic thatch-and-reed complex. At the end point, a vehicle will await your group to transport you all back to the base camp.

You will depart for home with a sense of achievement and well-being. New friendships will have been established and existing friendships and family relationships will have been renewed.