grahamfitter
Expedition Leader
Hi all,
I haven't been around here in a while but I figured some of you might be interested in seeing some pictures from a recent kayak and raft trip down the Rio Marañon in Peru. This is, by flow anyway, the primary tributary of the Amazon and is in a canyon deeper and longer than the Grand Canyon of the Colorado in the USA.
My pictures are on Picasa.
With all that going for it surprisingly this river isn't commonly paddled. We were only the sixth party to ever paddle the Marañon and our group of 20 in rafts and kayaks probably doubled the total number of people. Not surprisingly whenever we arrived at a small village in five large inflatable rafts and a swarm of kayaks we were the local curiosity. No we didn't leave any shrunken heads on poles, the folks living down there are friendly and generous and when we turned up the chicha came out!
This trip was run by the nonprofit organization Sierra Rios to bring attention to the fact that the Peruvian Government is considering damming the Marañon river in multiple places for hydroelectric plants. If this happens the consequences to the local environment and people who live downstream and depend on it will be tragic. If you're interested on finding out more about this, maybe signing a petition to voice your opposition or even joining a future trip to see this wonderful part of the world, see the Sierra Rios Marañon Page.
Cheers,
Graham
I haven't been around here in a while but I figured some of you might be interested in seeing some pictures from a recent kayak and raft trip down the Rio Marañon in Peru. This is, by flow anyway, the primary tributary of the Amazon and is in a canyon deeper and longer than the Grand Canyon of the Colorado in the USA.
My pictures are on Picasa.
With all that going for it surprisingly this river isn't commonly paddled. We were only the sixth party to ever paddle the Marañon and our group of 20 in rafts and kayaks probably doubled the total number of people. Not surprisingly whenever we arrived at a small village in five large inflatable rafts and a swarm of kayaks we were the local curiosity. No we didn't leave any shrunken heads on poles, the folks living down there are friendly and generous and when we turned up the chicha came out!
This trip was run by the nonprofit organization Sierra Rios to bring attention to the fact that the Peruvian Government is considering damming the Marañon river in multiple places for hydroelectric plants. If this happens the consequences to the local environment and people who live downstream and depend on it will be tragic. If you're interested on finding out more about this, maybe signing a petition to voice your opposition or even joining a future trip to see this wonderful part of the world, see the Sierra Rios Marañon Page.
Cheers,
Graham