Just found out that the university has Christmas holiday almost a month this year, and was thinking it might be time for a paddling trip (can probably extend it with a week or two in Jan). Was thinking about maybe Chile (have some family there) or somewhere in Africa (its just warm). Or any other suggestions? Where is it good Christmas-paddling?

So far its only me going (found out 1hrs ago), so if you want to guide me as well, that would be great! (I'm about IV-paddler)

Since I know that you're Norwegian, I'll write this in Norwegian. Much faster for me:
(Sorry about this Jeroen, don't have so much time now. I'll translate to english later)


Jeg var i Mexico i januar i år (2008), det kan anbefales! Og i tillegg så kan du få surfet der også.
Har guide til mexico og vet om steder du kan bo og elver du kan padle. Kjøp deg et kart, så skal jeg krysse ut for deg
Min tur kan du lese om her: www.playak.net/profiles/blog/show?id=1616047%3ABlogPost%3A24869
Og se film her: www.vimeo.com/749941


Hvis ikke så er Peru et bra alternativ. Bra elver og billig land. På denne siden så finner du en del informasjon. www.peruwhitewater.com/

Costa Rica er også et bra alternativ, her er en liten film fra David Arnaud methode-kayak.com/videos/costa-rica_2007.wmv
Til Costa Rica finnes det også en guidebok som er grei å ha. Forøvrig en bra bok.

Chile er også et alternativ. Rundt Rio Futalefu finnes det flere selskap som du kan betale for å få mat, overnatting, kajakk og guiding. Det billigste er nok ExChile med Chris Spelius i spissen. www.exchile.com/kayakchile.html
Nils (fra Valldal) var der i 2005 i en mnd. Husker ikke hva han betalte, men ta kontakt så skal du få kontaktinformasjon.
For litt mer reising rundt i Chile er Pucon ett bra sted. www.kayakpucon.net/english/index.htm

Ellers er det padling i Portugal på denne tiden av året, riktignok kaldt der på denne tiden av året. Men det er bare om vinteren at elvene fungerer der.

Andre forslag: Sør-Afrika - Kontakt Adrian Tregoning (han er på playak, send han en pm)

Zambezi pleier å være stor rundt jul. En kamerat var der i fjor (god grad V padler), og han likte ikke at det var flom der....
Uganda - Finnes masse informasjon om det på nettet, bare søk litt.

Sist, men ikke minst; New Zealand. Burde være ganske kjent og lett å finne informasjon om

Hmmm, some Norwegian words are similar to Afrikaans, and of course I saw my name mentioned. Kontakt is kontact is Afrikaans, not much difference...

Anyway, Mr E, are you only available in December? When in December?

Takk,
Adrian

Well, my last exam is 16 dec. and lectures starts 12. Jan, but I could probably stay around to about 20. jan without getting big troubles. Do you have any suggestions? Øivind said, indeed, to contact you for SA-guiding.

16 December will be too late for what I had planned... I'm more than likely (water permitting) going on a road trip from the end of November for 2 weeks, thought maybe that you might be off during that time. From about 14/15 December the roads start to really get busy and everything fills up in SA, so that's when I rather stay at home. I'm trying to twist certains peoples' arms from Scandinavia to join!

SA is a good bet but obviously not unless you're going with someone else, or joining a local group. Best time for SA is January/February actually. Of course holidays don't work with those months for most normal people. December can still be good though.

The Zambezi is an option of course, although I would rather go in October when it's low. 12b probably won't even be working by then.

The Nile is also an option and word on the street is that the day 1 section will be forever lost by December, this year! Although the water level is quite low right now...

I would seriously consider Chile. Some world class creeking.... Some mates of mine went about 2 years ago and loved every minute of it. It seems a top destination!

Or otherwise something like Costa Rica/Mexico might also work. It all depends on what your budget is. If you have a lot of money you can buy into a prepaid type of trip where satisfaction is virtually guaranteed or else the cheaper (and better, I think) route is to hook up locals. Good luck! So many choices! So little time!!!

Translated version:

I was in Mexico in January 2008, and I really reccomend it. And you can find good surfingspots there aswell. I have a guide to
you can have a look at and I know where you can paddle and where you can stay. Buy a map, lets meet, and I'll point it out to you.
You can read about my trip here: www.playak.net/profiles/blog/show?id=1616047%3ABlogPost%3A24869
And watch the film here: www.vimeo.com/749941

Peru is also a good option that time of year. Good rivers and a cheap country. You can find some information here: www.peruwhitewater.com/
Equador would also bee quite good: www.smallworldadventures.com/
Saw a video from there some time back. I'll try and find it and post it here.

Costa Rica is also one alternative. here is a little film from David Arnaud: methode-kayak.com/videos/costa-rica_2007.wmv
There is also a guide to Costa Rica, which is called "Chasing Jaguars". I reccomend that one.

Chile is also an option. Around Rio Futalefu are there several companies. These companies give you food, a place to stay, kayak and guiding at a reasonable price. The cheapest one I think is ExChile, which has Chris Spelius as the manager. www.exchile.com/kayakchile.html
Nils (from Valldal) was there in 2005 for a month. Don't remember what he paid, but contact me and I'll give you his contact information.
You can also find good creeking around Pucon: www.kayakpucon.net/english/index.htm

Otherwise you can find creeking in Portugal at this time of year. It's cold creeking at that time of year, but it's only in the north hemisphere winter that the river runs there.

Great Britain would be an option aswell for cold creeking. Use google

Other suggestions:
South Africa - Contact Adrian Tregoning (he's on playak, send him a PM)

Zambezi is usually big at that time of year. A friend of mine was there last year in December, he is a solid grade V paddler and was a bit scared by the power of a Zambezi in flood.

Uganda - lots of information about that place on the internett. Use google.

Last, but not least - New Zealand. Should be well known and easy to find information about.

kayakSA wrote:

Also Adrian, it is kontak without the c. Should have listened in Afrikaans lectures! (Not that I can speak seeing that my spelling is up to crap in any language!!)

Whoops! hehehehe... Better stick to my home language, EngEliiiish