Tradouw River
Tradouw River · western cape
Grade
V
Length
11km
Duration
6 hours
Type
continuous
About
An 11km creek-boat run graded 4 to 5, taking 6 hours — continuous creeking with some big holes. Permission to park at put-in required from Bronze Grove Farm and Chalets. Put-in at the Bronze Grove river parking; take-out river left where the road rejoins the river after the gorge. Bordering the arid Karoo, the Tradouw only runs about once every two years, drawing Cape paddlers to Barrydale when it does. The river holds water better than most Cape rivers and remains paddleable for up to three days after good rains. Thomas Bains' Tradouw Pass (linking the N2 with Route 62) parallels the river for the first few kilometres, after which it enters one of South Africa's great gorges — once 3km in, escape is almost impossible. The river is continuous with rapids stacked close together. The biggest rapids are in the first few kilometres; if comfortable on those, the downstream commitment is manageable. Lower-down rapids are smaller but technical and demanding. About halfway down, an unrun waterfall has a boulder at its base — a marginal line exists but remains unclaimed. Due to the rarity of flow, eddies fill with natural foam — surfacants released from the flora, not pollution. Avoid eddies where the foam is over head-high, as swimming in it is dangerous. River description contributed by Scott Reinders.
Access
Put-in
Take-out
Permits
Bronze Grove for permission to park at put in.