Massive earthworks open old Dusi portage

PADDLERS taking part in the Dusi Canoe Marathon from 19 to 21 February will have to deal with several new portage decisions as a result of massive earthworks across the river outside Durban and the re-opening of an old portage over Nqumeni Hill.

Canoeists tripping the lower uMngeni during the recent rains were startled to discover that the river, at the notorious Island Rapid, had been totally excavated by Umgeni Water to bury a water aqueduct beneath the river, which runs from Kloof to the township of Ntuzuma.

While the race organisers have not got a clear idea of how much water will be flowing from Nagle Dam for the final stage, they have urged paddlers to be very cautious and advised them to elect to portage at the construction site if the flow through the left-hand and right-hand channels is dangerous.

“I don’t think the construction at the rapid is going to cause too much of a problem when the paddlers get there,” said Dusi Umgeni Conservation Trust (DUCT) field officer, Bart Fokkens.

“There may possibly be a little less water on the left, but I think if paddlers can they should get down there and check it out and make decisions for themselves about how they going to go about it.”

Fokkens and DUCT are ultimately more concerned about the environmental impact that construction of this nature will have, but he, again, is not too concerned and feels that the municipality is on top of its game when it comes to environmental rehabilitation, so he does not foresee any issues.

“What happens before projects like these take place is that the people in charge of environmental assessments will go in and harvest seeds from the indigenous plants and grasses in the region, and once all the construction is done they will replant these plants and grasses.

“Another benefit of this is that the weeds are destroyed, so after the rehabilitation is complete the area should be free of weeds,” he added.

The inspectors and the people in charge of rehabilitating the area are professional, and Fokkens is sure that they will follow all protocols and stay well within the rules.

Site agent for the company that is in charge of the pipeline, Esor Construction’s Lean du Plessis, said: “We are looking to close up our operation about a week before the race, but we are heading down to the pipeline this weekend to make sure that we can measure what water levels might be during the race so we can move equipment in accordance to this.

“It is important that we are able to make sure that the site is not damaged during the race, but we are also concerned about paddler safety, so we will gauge all of the implications when we go down and have a look this weekend,” Du Plessis mentioned.

Meanwhile, the Dusi race committee has agreed to change the rules governing the portage in the middle of the second stage over the high Nqumeni Hill that cuts out the unpaddleable Mamba Gorge to allow paddlers to use the old route that starts earlier and includes a steep descent through thick bush back to the river.

Dusi organising committee chair, Brett Austen Smith, said: “The old path will be open in this year’s Dusi, but paddlers have to stick to the existing path, and may not try to cut any new paths or detours off the existing paths.

“We are acutely aware of the environmental impact on the area, and one of the reasons we closed this portage option is that a paddler carved a new path that went straight up the hill. With rainfall, this path became very muddy and caused serious soil erosion.

“If we become aware that any paddlers are cutting their own paths, we will simply close this portage option and act very severely on the paddlers concerned.”

The sixty-fourth edition of the Dusi Canoe Marathon takes place from Camps Drift in Pietermaritzburg to Blue Lagoon in Durban from Thursday, 19 to Saturday, 21 February.

Visit www.dusi.co.za.