Is River Rafting Safe?
Let’s face it, life itself can be a hazardous journey fraught with dangers around every corner. River rafting is right up there with activities like skydiving, bungee jumping and being the Finance Minister of South Africa. Unlike being a Finance Minister, you can ensure that when rafting, the journey can be very safe.
How do we make rafting safe?
Rule 1: Stay in your raft. 0% of persons who have stayed in their rafts have drowned. Some get stuck in trees and stuck on rocks but never drowned. So the first rule of Hadeda Creek Safety (HCS) is to always stay in your raft while on the water.
Rule 2: Pay attention to the safety brief. It is no good when heading into a meter high wave to tell your partner that you weren’t listening to that port of the safety brief.
Our super guides give the brief in a similar way to when flying on Kulula or any airline. If you have rafted many times, you tend to skip the listening part, but if it’s your first time…pay attention!
Beyond Teambuilding pride ourselves in creating events, activities and challenges that push any team past mediocrity, allowing them to express themselves in a way that unleashes a team synergy that is often lying dormant. Our teambuilding is done in two definitive ways; formal and informal. Both have merit and are used to create the specific objectives of your particular team’s needs.
Rule 3: Ensure your rafting partner is better than you. Imagine if you are the owner of a company, would you want to employ “idiots” to run your company or those as smart or smarter than you?
When the going gets tough, and all hell is about to break loose, your partner should have arms of steel, a heart of gold and a desire to live a long and hardy life, which hopefully includes you.
We allow you to pair up and then watch you for a few minutes. If you spin around uncontrollably, we will reallocate your skills to someone else. Don’t choose a partner just because he’s cute or nice or you are trying to date his sister or has little or no idea of what he is to do, or has suicidal tendencies and doesn’t care if tomorrow happens. Let them go with someone else.
Rule 4: When in the water, either voluntarily or by some freak accident, don’t try to swim. You are wearing a helmet and life jacket for a reason.
The helmet is to protect your head, so if swimming, it means your head is out front trying to hit rocks…ouch! Also, swimming with a life jacket on means your face is under water…does not make much sense as this is what you are meant to use for breathing.
Lay on your back, relax, enjoy the bird life and only when you hear the sound of a waterfall or a guide calling your name should you back paddle towards your friendly guide/life saver.
If you are one of the 80 % of the guests that cannot swim and have never swum before, do not worry, you are not alone. You will be scared, nervous and look for any reason to say no….once you walk off the river alive and smiling you will think you have won the Powerball plus bonus!
Rule 5: Don’t run, drink the river, jump over wet rocks, or smack people with your paddle. 99% of injuries on the river are caused by the above, the other 1% by freak happenings that are unexplained even by scientists.
We have done this for 25 years, and we are the best at it. We ensure all clients who go on the water come off alive, well fed and smiling. Anyone who complains, we leave behind.
So is rafting safe? Only you can make it safe by doing the right thing. There are times when some people “freak out” and are overcome with fear, fright and anxiety and sometimes all three at the same time. Our super guides will grab you and toss you into their boat, and all is good again.
See you soon for one of the best days of your life, better than even birthdays, weddings and a day at work.
John Ingram
Director Hadeda Creek Rafting
