There was no Water

There Was no Water

There was no water in the rivers, there was no water in the dams, there was no water for the gardens , no water for the animals, no water for the Dusi marathon 2017. But still the entries kept coming in. There were more than 600 entries and still counting.

 The news had been visible on Face Book.

There were rules for low water in the river called ‘Low level rules’. Day One and Day Two of the marathon should be made good, with water let out up  river from the Henley Dam. It was Day Three that would be the  problem and they expected the portages to be long!

There was a holiday resort at Msinsi on the banks of the Dusi where there was also a game park. Diana had been astonished at the end of Day two, to see zebra walking in and out amongst all the paddlers and seconders. Surely, she asked herself, zebra were supposed to be wild animals? She had heard they could kick a lion to death and they had a vicious bite, saved up for humans! She kept her distance. There were numerous chickens, cows and other domestic animals, dogs, donkeys and horses grazing around. There were no fences to keep the animals and humans apart.

“Wake  up Di!” was the early morning call from Andrew, who was up and already dressed. The paddlers were always a bundle of nerves before a race. They could hardly speak to you and if you asked them a question of any kind, they would just stare in to space and not answer.  They were always in a panic about something or other, like losing a wing nut, or not being able to find their splashie. You just had to be patient and calm and not ask questions.

Can you please get a move on, Di, we are running late and this third day is going to be really hard for everyone.”

For Diana getting up at 4am three days running was quite an achievement. Andrew was in the A batch,  starting at 6am and they still had to drive some way to get back to Msinsi Resort, for the start of Day Three. The Valley of a Thousand Hills hid the resort,  right down next to the Inanda Dam. The winding roads all looked the same and the hills all looked the same. She frequently had to stop the car for directions and was waved on by the villagers lingering on the road side.

Seeing the race start, Diana got into the bakkie and steered through all the animals, people and other vehicles. She loved driving the diesel  fuelled  bakkie.  It  just seemed to purr along the roads but she had to be careful in crowded areas, because of its size.

She enjoyed driving for Andrew. They had been dating now for almost a year and she had the feeling that they were both ready to make a commitment.

The dragon shaped  Inanda Dam glistened and sparkled in the sun and Diana was heading for one of the view points  where  she could watch the canoeists and be there, for Andrew when he came through, in case he needed some more juice, a banana, or an energy bar.  Directions were always vague and being afraid of getting lost in the winding roads covering the hill sides, she tried to keep her eyes on the other seconders driving ahead of her.

Getting to the view point she was astonished to see, right in the middle of nowhere, a group of lovely young girls dressed in the briefest of shorts and shirts . They were swaying and moving to loud music, coming from various loud speakers. They had a good supply of bananas and ice cold bottles of water standing in buckets of ice cubes keeping cold. How she gasped for a bottle of water. She had early on, drunk  her whole bottle of luke warm water she had brought along, for keeping herself hydrated. Her hair was plastered to her head and face and her jeans clung to her legs like wet armor. The noise from the loudspeakers was giving her a headache.

Under a gazebo, there were four or five officials sitting on folding chairs. How she longed to be a part of the group who were drinking iced water and chatting and laughing. They at least were under cover .

 “I remember one year one of the men said with a grin, I was in a K2 with Daantje and we took a few swims in this dam which was full that year, hardly likely to happen now.” They all nodded in agreement.

 There were rules for seconders  and she was not sure of them so she  dared not ask if she could squeeze in beside them. Officials on these sort of events were very strict about protocol. All men, she thought they were very inconsiderate to take no notice of her. She could drop dead in front of them for all they cared but then she could hardly blame them. There were more and more spectators rolling up along the dam edge.

 Some paddlers were appearing in the distance. The sun sparkled on the shallow water and some of them were actually walking through the water in places and pulling their canoes along behind them. This must be new experience for them, not to be in their boats but walking alongside.

She walked up to where she had parked the car to see if she should move it along because now there were a lot of vehicles pulling up. This place felt like a place from Hell! She walked down to where the cool looking troop of girls were shaking their cold water bottles and passing them to some paddlers who stopped for a drink. The paddlers all looked done in, more or less like she felt.

There were no toilets at the view point and she had been on the go since 6am, not bad going really. The men were always Ok they could just walk up to a tree and pretend they were talking to the birds! It was always a problem on river tripping, when the paddlers were training. Of course there were toilets at the Starts and Finishes of official races but not along the way.

Diana kept looking at her watch. Could she have missed Andrew? She had been waiting in this hell on earth for one hour. Had she missed him? Had he gone past before she got there and parked her car? Had she been waiting in vain?

Out on the water there were a number of coots swimming about. They were oblivious to the atmosphere surrounding them and the low water level. ‘ Coot, coot’ they called across the water, ‘coot, coot,’ came the reply. Lucky birds! They gave her feeling of calm as they scooted over the water, diving now and then for  water  weeds. The edges of the dam were thick with lush, green foliage, giving the lie to her own feeling  of  extreme pallor for which she had no need of confirmation in a mirror.

Not wanting to disturb the young girls, she got so desperate, that she approached one of them and asked if she could spare her a bottle of iced water.  She felt guilty taking a precious bottle of iced water that some poor paddler might need. The girl looked round and seeing Diana with her eyes rolling up into her  head  said 

 “What? Oh yes sure, here you are!” Diana grabbed it gratefully, unable  to say thank you,  just nodded and taking the top off, slowly drank the transparent, colourless, odourless, and thirst quenching liquid.

Another hour went by. The number of paddlers dwindled and not  being able to bear the hell any longer,  she decided to drive on to the finish of the race at Blue Lagoon. Getting lost in the surrounds of Durban and struggling to find a parking spot, Diana eventually parked in the grassy area close to the sponsors pavilion. Here she thankfully sank on to a wooden bench and tried to recover under the canopy provided . She felt devastated for Andrew, not knowing where he was. She still did not know if she had missed him at the dam. Once through the dam there was  a long stretch of river and the portage.

 In the pavilion the sponsors had provided a thin all enveloping mist of moisture that sprayed itself over the lucky people in its vicinity. On the back wall of the pavilion there was a video playing, of the front kayakers. They were already on the Burma Road portage. This year it was going to be 24 Km long.

 She could see in the video, the paddlers running along the dirt road, some of them with their canoes strapped to their ankles. They ran along with the canoes bouncing along behind  them . No one seemed to bother about possible damage to the boats,  probably past caring at this stage. The crowd grew and the space on the bench was cramped. This did not help. By this time her feeling of absolute exhaustion had faded, maybe her eyes could focus now on the events before her. Diana went to the edge of the water and stood for a long time watching the participants coming in. She knew a lot of them. The anxiety of waiting was now becoming intolerable. What could have happened to Andrew?

Time passed . The winning male paddlers  had long since come in. There was the K1 with Martin, being greeted by his father. It was Martin’s fifth Dusi.

“Well done , my boy! What a gruelling race this year! I am proud that you have finished it”

“Hello Martin, did you by any chance see Andrew on the water?” 

“Yes I saw him on the Umzinyati Rapid, just before Burma Road. Don’t worry Di he was looking good, he is strong.”

“But the conditions today are quite out of the ordinary, so I am indeed very worried. He is usually in the top 20 on normal days.”

“ Well I am usually in the top thirty and I am now number 199 today.’ said Martin.

There was the 22nd lady coming in now, Jennifer Watkins. Her friends crowded round hugging her ,” Well done Jen, What an amazing race.” The expert commentator  could still be heard in the background.

Diana went back into the tent to be in a little bit of shade for a few minutes. Just then Sarah, her Durban cousin ran up to her. “ Di so nice to see you here. Come quickly I think Andrew has come in and is over there with his boat. Both of them in one piece!”

The two girls walked over to the group that were standing near the finish line. Andrew was already drinking an ice cold beer. Smiling he looked at her and said, “Where were you at Inanda Dam? I looked for you.”

“I waited there for two hours and thought I would die if I stayed longer .  I thought I had missed you, congratulations on finishing the race! Anyone who has finished it deserves several gold medals, it is not only the winners that deserve them.”

“Maybe the seconders also need gold medals on a day like today” Andrew gave her  another smile.

She smiled back at him. “I am so grateful to have been part of this race even as a driver. It has been an experience I will never forget and from which I am just too happy to be a survivor!”