More Waterfalls
A number of events have happened over the last few days after our hike out of upper Champi. The day after our gruelling day Lachie and I decided that it would be appropriate to spend the day nursing our scratches, bruises and very sore bodies.
The next morning Lachie and I went back to Tad Champi, the 45-foot waterfall we had scouted a couple days earlier. At the falls we met up with one of the only tourists we had encountered, a Frenchman who offered to hold a camera for us. After a quick scout I geared-up and walked the forested-in path to above the lip. As I arrived I had one last scout from the river left bank while Mr. Slick walked out on the rock island in the middle of the river for a look too.
Burning off a leech
I had to pull a hand-full of leaches off and then rested my Solo on a rock above the entry rapid. A couple strokes later I was in the main current, one hole later I was at the lip. I saw the horizon line moving below my bow. I could feel my bow beginning to drop and as soon as I felt I was vertical I took a gentle stroke. My bow lifted a little so I smoothly leaned forward stretching my arms out to keep my angle.
The landing was soft and I rolled up with a smile on my face.
Craig on the 45 footer
After packing up we headed to TadFan. Tadfan is a magnificent pair of waterfalls, which stands in the middle of the rainforest creating a pristine photo opportunity. For this reason buses full to Thai tourists arrive at the waterfall everyday. Lachie and I stood at the look-out point getting pushed and bullied by the tourists in bright shirts for a couple of minutes until we could get a set of photographs.
On out walk out Mr. Slick pointed at a crater on the forest floor and with broken English said that is was “a present from out friends in America”. This crater had been formed by an exploding ordinance. Again this made us consider the huge danger of walking around the forest, caused by the Bombings. More Bombs have been dropped on Laos than any other country and thus unexploded ordinances litter the countryside.
Crator in the forest floor
With relief Sean arrived that evening. The second Australian has decided to join us after the end of the rafting season in Canada.
As an introduction to him, the next morning, we took him to kayak the waterfall at the end of the lower Champi section. Lachie and I had run this 20 footer earlier in our trip and it was a great “welcome to Laos” waterfall for Sean. With an array of cameras catching our every move we paddled the waterfall a handful of times. We even found a pretty forgiving line on the far right which fell spectacularly under to a dead tree.
Sean being welcomed to Laos
Lachie amongst it
The log run - Lachie
During our lunch at the falls we spotted photos of a new waterfall and following a brief enquiry we worked out that the falls were 400 meters downstream. We followed a well-marked path to find that the new waterfall was actually about 150 meters away and on a completely different river. Laos has so many different rivers and creeks holding thousands of waterfalls waiting to be kayaked.
Sean on the lip of the 20 footer
This 20 or so footer had a sketchy entrance over a man made weir and looked very shallow at the bottom. I went first and after a bad line in the entrance I had a hard landing at the foot of the falls. Sean followed with an awesome run of the drop showing me how it was supposed to be done. Good lines.
Feeling a little upset with my poor first run I walked up again and proceeded to have a better descent of the falls.
Craig on the 20 footer (2nd attempt)
Mr. Slick who had been wanting to get into a kayak finally got a chance as we sat him into Sean’s boat and set him out into the pool at the bottom of the last waterfall. After a couple missed stokes he fell over. Seconds later he surfaced with full eyes and a crab in his hand.
Mr Slick and his crab
We all (including his crab) headed back to his Tuk-tuk and started packing all our gear. Next thing, out of nowhere Mr. Slick took off like a bullet after a shadow in the road. He chased the meter long monitor lizard until it beat him up a tree. He explained how monitor lizard is one of his favourite meals and that they fetch a huge price in the local restaurants.
Lachie, Sean and I are heading east today in search of new waterfalls and the daunting Se Kaman River. Hopefully the rest of the trip will be as successful as the beginning has been so far.
The evening view from our hotel
Good Lines
Craig Rivett
