what is the most frightening wild life encounter you have ever had while paddling?

mine would probably be swans

mine are swans as well, especially young parents on a narrow river... still nothing compared to hippos, bears or crocs of course, but i never paddled in such areas yet...

btw i don't find this topic all that off-topic...

I have a few...
This one almost qualifies as \"wildlife\" (I think) - locals in a small remote village in Kirgistan - yes, human! I was guiding on a commercial trip there and was the only one able to communicate with locals. The trip leader was very into \"local authentic human encounters\", so he insisted on us going into that \"village\" - 3 or 4 huts. On the way we had to pass through a whole FOREST of wild canabis (I kid U not, those were trees, not plants! ) to find male only population in the huts. They were very friendly in there way, I wasn't sure if they were more doped or drunk. It started with the locals trying to buy the female participants from my trip and when that didn't work - the most daring one tried to walk ME behind one of huts ( to see if I wuld have done) ... - and trust me, I am male and not into it!
And on different ocasion - I had a forest cobra swimming just next to my kayak.

how about a flying fish kissing you on the cheek and then bouncing back off into the water. it hurt but unfortunatly no one filmed it. i still laugh about it but its not a good story to tell over a beer!

Paddling an open canoe on the upper Zambezi (near Mana Pools in Zimbabwe) - hippos and crocs, and then elephants and buffalo in shallow water.. nervous times shallow water = not good

Some small crocs on other rivers back home. Luckily I haven't seen the big one on the U1 section of the Sabie.. Unlike Scotty. I haven't come across any hippos, yet

I was in the middle on a 4 or 5 day self supported trip. One of these suckers was in the water and boarded my kayak. The brown snake sure made me start packing brownies of my own! It was about 2m long. I didn't know what type of snake it was when it happened. I looked up and found out later, and it sent a few tingles down my spine, considering we were in a gorge that you can't walk out of the gorge and we were a couple of days out, I would have been in some trouble!

Soon after that I was paddling again, and I'd just shot an easy grade 3 rapid. A 10foot+ red belly black snake jumped in the water after being freaked out by somebody else and started heading down the rapid. It was on one side of the river but heading toward the other. I didn't know where to go to get away from it. Luckily it got out half way down the rapid :o!!

One other time, we were on an easy grade 2 river with some beginners. We were going past some farms and some cattle got spooked by us and started to run. One accidentally ran straight over someone in the group, he wasn't hurt and it was quite funny.

Another time on the same river, we'd just paddled it in flood and were waiting on a small bridge for our driver. A bull decided to charge across the bridge at us (ok so we were kind of annoying it for a while to pass the time). My mate jumped off the bridge into the water. He didn't realise how fast the water was going and was pretty far down stream before he got out. Fun times

Jeepers snakes are bad news.

I've only had one near miss with a black mamba on the river.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_mamba

The fastest snake on earth and also the top ten most venomous and also the second largest venomous snake on earth.

My one mate had swum on the bushmans river. Another mate of mine went to get his boat as it was at the bank. From where I was I could see a black mamba going towards my buddy at full speed on the bank. I screamed for him to leave the boat and eventually he heard me! I quote \"Without treatment the mortality rate is 100%\"

A friend of mine is a snake and spider expert and you would usually be dead within 45 minutes from a bite from the black mamba. I shudder to think that we were at least a 2 hour walk to the road... Luckily old Scheepers eventually heard my wild shouting!

I quote again:\"In fact, many snake experts have cited the black mamba as the world's most aggressive snake, noting tendency to actively attack without provocation.(B. Johnson, July 13, 2000; Hunter, 1998)
\"

I hate those bloody things. They really scare the hell out of me..

I fully agree with you Adrian, Black Mambas are probably the biggest worry when it comes to portaging or scouting. On the water its hippos, i've had a few experiences but nothing too drastic. Not like the experience of that beast crocodile on the Sabie, 4m long, oh no, when ever i'm on the Sabie i'm nervous when we get to the last 2km of that section.

scottyr wrote:

I fully agree with you Adrian, Black Mambas are probably the biggest worry when it comes to portaging or scouting. On the water its hippos, i've had a few experiences but nothing too drastic. Not like the experience of that beast crocodile on the Sabie, 4m long, oh no, when ever i'm on the Sabie i'm nervous when we get to the last 2km of that section.

When we were on the U1 in April this year there were about 6 or 7 of us so maybe the croc was a little bit more shy. I would crap myself to paddle down quietly with only another mate on that last stretch. Those calm pools and shallow water is the stuff of nightmares.

Chris Huddle has a good story. Him, Andrew Kellet and a few other guys paddled from directly below the Blyde dam, which is illegal to run that section. The level was flooding badly. The said they stayed in the main current at full speed and in many of the eddies there were hippos. You eddy out, you could be in trouble..

Where Chris' folks stay on the river there is a small play spot at good levels. About 30 metres downstream Bura was paddling there when a hippo came up next to him and opened his mouth to take a bite. He somehow missed and Bura sprinted to the other side and climbed into a tree, still in his boat...

Crocs. hippos and snakes... brrr Thank goodness there aren't any crocs or hippos on the steeper sections of the Blyde and the Sabie.

But it all adds to the experience of paddling in Africa, what a grand place:grin: Excuse my pride;)

scottyr wrote:

But it all adds to the experience of paddling in Africa, what a grand place:grin: Excuse my pride;)

Viva Africa

school of dolphins out the back of the break on the north coast of Ireland..pretty mad!

school of dolphins out the back of the break on the north coast of Ireland..pretty mad!

I love surfing with Dolphins here in SA, its pretty common down here. You reminded me of my scary experience in the ocean - in April while in the Transkei i was charged by a Bull Shark at Port St Johns, scary thing is was that a swimmer had gone missing the day before at the same beach...chilly thought, hey?

I've only ever had good experiences with dolphins. Lovely creatures.

Sharks still freak me out a little. We get plenty hammerheads in Plett and the little ones are quite common but surfing alone one day at Keurbooms I saw three MUCH larger sharks and within half an hour I gave up surfing. They really rattle the nerves especially considering that world number two body boarder, Neil Stevenson lost his leg to a great white here.

The smaller sharks you can paddle towards and they move off. They're just curious. The larger ones I always leave the hell alone. Catch a wave and then paddle out slowly again. Usually they're gone by then. If people swimming knew how many sharks were actually out there, they wouldn't go into the sea.

Windsurfing in the sea really opened my eyes a lot. I could not believe how many sharks there were, even in Cape Town sailing off Sunset Beach.

Paddling in South Africa, Lower Blyde. Photo by Sheena van Schoor. Perhaps the caption should be - Solo VS Hippo. I put my money on the hippo.... Oh those narrow rivers that contain hippos are scary.

Trees, definitely the worst form of wildlife to be found on rivers around here

I'm up in oh so Bonny Scotland and the worst I'v encountered is Midgies! Not the same size as a croc but they'v got one hell of a bite and if there's one there's a cloud! Getting changed is always entertaining when it's midgie season!!
Some good things might come in small packages but so does poison!

Personally TREES!

Not too keen on kayaking in africa now you guys have told me all about the hippos and the dreaded Black Mamba...
Canada sounds good though...

Its all adds up to the type of adrenaline rush!
Iv climbed into a tree whilst still in my boat trying to get away from a hippo.

Ken wrote:

Trees, definitely the worst form of wildlife to be found on rivers around here

Well now those rats in the liffey arent to be messed with sure there the ones that pollute the river in the first place. Weils disease.... ekk its bound to happen to me sometime soon knowing my luck im surprised i havent contracted it yet!!!

Also seals where I practice near home in the sea! They are viscious hand eating meat hungry seals!!!!!

Ireland is not without its meager paddling dangers!!!

Dead Bloated cow... Arse in the air and stinking to high heaven.

In January this year a large Croc bust out of the bushes about 5 meters away on the Olifants, swimming under me at full sprint. I think he got as big a fright as I did!

In February, also this year, I had two encounters with hippo on the Crocodile River, the second being about 3 or 4 meters away... It wasn't fun and it will be a while before I paddle small rivers with hippo them, at low water....

Then in September a weird experience with a wild horse I named Satan (see my Day 3 Doring River article)...

A week ago a double shark encounter (ok, while bodyboarding) at Buffels Bay in the Cape Point Nature Reserve with a German paddler, Jan Torge. Maybe some of you know him? That was a bit dodgy as when the shark came past the second time I didn't know. But when my mate was waving on the beach making a hand gesture with clamping jaws I knew it had come back!!

Been a tough year with nature... hahaha. Africa! I love it! Just some reminders to put me in place I think! We are just people, nature was there first.

AdrianTregoning wrote:

We are just people, nature was there first.

I thought the human race was a part of nature? Or did I just skip the biology lesson about "From the outer space - humans"

Enough of the sarcastic words from me, I think I've never seen anything more than fish, birds and turtles while kayaking.
Hippos, crocs and snakes would scare the sh*t out of me...

That is highly debatable Øivind.....hehehe, so I won’t get into it. Biology was not my strong point. I preferred Geography.

I read something interesting a book this week by Hyran Cook. He said the following:

“Poverty is exclusively a human phenomenon. Humankind, evidently, is the only creature that is out of step with the natural bounty of the universe.”

Interesting thought.

SEALS! i hate the bloody things. i was coasteering with a group and the big bull (3m, 300kg) decided to pay me a visit by swimming underwater past me nudging my leg and then popping up next to my face. they are scary looking mother f**kers! cute from a distance but not nice up close. cool when their swimming next to your boat tho.

dive bombing oyster catcher.( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oyster_catcher ) every time i go near a certain part of cliff face this bloody thing dives down and swoops about a foot from my head (about 4inches once!) then come back for more! and i wasnt even near its nest!

AdrianTregoning wrote:

That is highly debatable Øivind.....hehehe, so I won’t get into it. Biology was not my strong point. I preferred Geography.

I read something interesting a book this week by Hyran Cook. He said the following:

“Poverty is exclusively a human phenomenon. Humankind, evidently, is the only creature that is out of step with the natural bounty of the universe.”

Interesting thought.

But you can't get away from the fact that we have evolved into the form of life that we are in today, and that we are a part of nature. Even though I agree with Hyran Cook.

Sorry about the off topic discussion from me. We can take this in another forumpost!

kleppis wrote:

But you can't get away from the fact that we have evolved into the form of life that we are in today, and that we are a part of nature. Even though I agree with Hyran Cook.

I don't deny it. And I agree with you. But man is the weakest, IMO. We're already in the off topic.. But yes, I won't reply anymore to you! Hehehehe... Otherwise this thread might go too far and fire off people randomly! Rather come to SA and join the trip and I'll point out the snakes etc.!!!

Almost got hit by a big Salmon on the Spey back in Sunny Scotlan

Lots of copperheads here in the SE

and Deer/Horse Flys back in Wisco'

hi!
for me it was very wild crocodile ))