Rio Huancabamba - Middle Section

Tom on day one

03/07/2012 – 04/07/2012

To get to the Rio Huancabamba we first got a bus from Lima to La Merced across the Andes over a high pass of 4800 metres, which took 8 hours. After spending the night here we then proceeded to travel to the small jungle town of Pozuzo via Oxapampa, completed in a lively 15 seater minivan, known locally as a collectivo. Pozuzo is a very interesting valley and town as it was founded by German settlers some 100 years ago and the architecture and feel of the town is quite Alpine. Many of the people we met were German in appearance with blond hair and blue eyes. Weiner Schnitzel and German sausage were all on the menu!

Tom

After spending the night in Pozuzo we got up early and drove for half an hour up-stream to the edge of the National Park, 17 km above Pozuzo. The river gave us no warm up and we were immediately thrown into pushy grade 4+ rapids. We progressed slowly as each rapid required inspection. The scenery was fantastic with the river flowing through steep sided jungle gorge, with the road 75 metres or so above.

Alex on some bouncy grade 4

As the day progressed we realised we wouldn´t be able to complete the river in one day, so we left the boats in the gorge and hiked out, hitching a lift in the back of a pick-up back to Pozuzo. The next day we hiked back into the gorge and paddled for 6 hours finishing in Pozuzo. The river was a fantastic medium volume grade 4/4+. With it´s warm, green water, huge boulders and jungle wildlife it was reminiscent of paddling in Nepal!

Alex

The Huancabamba was first paddled in 2000 by Kurt Casey of www.peruwhitewater.com and it has seen few decents since then. It was a special feeling to be one of a handful of groups to have paddled the river!

 

Logistics

Transport: Take one of the regular (4 per day) combis from Pozuzo to the entrance to the national park on the way to Oxapampa

Cost: Expect to pay somewhere around S15-S20 per person for transport plus the same again per boat

Length/Time: 6-7 hours of paddling

Other: Remember your deet, the moscas on the walk in are relentless!

Arrival in Peru

A sunny day in London

After our battle at the check-in desk at Gatwick with Air Europa we finally managed to get the kayaks onto the flight to Lima! The first drama of the trip happened only moments after arrival when we found one of the paddle bags had been mangled by some heavy handed baggage handling. The result was 3 destroyed Werners, luckily our spare paddles.

The work of some heavy handed baggage handlers

It also turns out that roof racks on cars are not as common as we expected in Lima. This resulted in some hilarious methods for transporting kayaks.

Getting creative with transport

It feels great to have arrived!! Next stop is the Pozuzo valley for what we hope to be some great Jungle Boating.

New sponsor!

With only 2 days to go before we set off we are happy to announce a new sponsor! Canon have given us an all singing all dancing D20 waterproof shockproof camera for us to trial. First impressions are great and it will be fun see how well it copes with 3 months on the water, up the mountains and in desolate desert and humid jungle!

Testing our new boats

Having picked up our boats last weekend, Alby and I were keen to test them out on some classic white water. We headed to the beach in Devon for a spot of picturesque outfiting on the sand, before a quick surf over lunch at high tide in Saunton. Early indications were good, both boats fairing well and fitting their new owners like very expensive gloves, but a real river was needed to challenge the boats! With plenty of sunlight and plenty of rain in the middle of June, of we went to paddle the East Lyn with some of the club. Whilst this may be the first Imperial club trip on the East Lyn, Alby and I put the nomad and mamba through their paces in the gorge section - the new small mamba fairing well on all the drops (so responsive!) whilst the nomad suffered it's first cosmetic damage in the form of a dent in the nose... Emerging out of the gorge we slowly met up with the rest of the team, then paddled out to sea to the sound of the nearby Llama festival's jungle beats with sunset not far behind. A perfect end to Derf and the mamba's first outfitting!* Almost as perfect for Alby and the nomad. Photo's to follow.

*(except for that short OBE and immediate self rescue...)

Here is a short edit of some of Tom Haywood's GoPro footage from the gorge:

Planning

With less than 3 weeks to go our planning has ramped up a gear - good session last night sorting out our expedition first aid kits and unpacking all our juicy new kit! Thanks to Kent Canoes for their generous help.

Lyon Outdoor Equipment Award!

The kind folks over at Lyon Outdoor have awarded us their Expedition Award. We'll get some serious use out of their head-torches, dry-bags and aquapacs this summer!

Double Crown in Devon

Rachel on a sunny upper Dart

Team members Tom and Adam were joined by Rachel and Mark for a sunny Saturday of boating in Devon. We managed to paddle both the Upper Dart and East Lyn in one very long day trip from London. Water levels were low, but temperatures were high. I've not paddled the East Lyn for about 4 years and I'd forgotten how good it was! We randomly met up with local Exmoor paddlers Hugh Kingdon and friends on the East Lyn and paddled down with them - they had been paddling the river nearly everyday for the past 2 weeks.

This is probably the last bit of whitewater we will get to paddle before Peru - can't wait!!

Tom on the East Lyn

Mark Flower in a boat!

Now that's what I call a gurn.