The air is still and the surface of the water smooth. On the banks of the Vaal River the branches of the willow trees hang low like the arms of bored teenagers. Kobus Filmalter propels his K2 canoe forward with even, rhythmic strokes: left, right, left, right.

 

Then the silence is broken by a familiar call. Kobus looks up and watches as the fish eagle, the sentinel of these waters, proudly arches its white neck and repeats its call.

 

The next interruption, a rapid, makes for a jaw-clenching challenge.

 

“You are rowing on a smooth stretch of water and as you approach a rapid the river starts flowing faster,” Kobus, project manager at Infrastructure and Planning on the Vaal Triangle Campus, explains.

 

“It sounds like a raging waterfall. Everything roars. Then come the waves and the foam – wild waters all around you. The adrenalin flows. If you land on the rocks you can damage your canoe and sustain some injuries of your own.

 

“Passing through a big rapid is like the first day of school. Initially it scares you, but once you come out the other side you can't wait to go back.”