About us
Our Company
We are a small owner run MME adventure company based in Storms River Village Tsitsikamma. Our team is comprised of eight permanent guides, two drivers, and an operations manager.
We are family
Aside from each our team members individual families, our team as a whole is a family.
We thrive on our family market and we greatly value the opportunity that we have to expose our visitors to our fantastic natural environment by means of a fun and easy outdoor river adventure
Our focus is on providing quality experience and maximum value for money.
We currently operate on a five year PPP (Public Private Partnership) agreement with SANParks. The license for tubing gives us exclusive access rights to remote areas of Tsitsikamma.
Guides training and qualifications
Our guides have always undergone the APA (African Paddling Association) swiftwater rescue training. coupled with a level 3 first aid qualification.
We along with other similar activity operators have identified that the swiftwater rescue course and corresponding qualification is not entirely appropriate for our activity.
We are therefore currently in a process that will provide us with a NQF (National Qualifications Framework) qualification through the CATHSETA. The course material is founded on the generic adventure guide platform with a tubing specific focus.
In house training and quality control
We use our quiet winter month to focus on our products and streamline operations.
As the Storms River is essentially a low volume river, and no two river trips are the same, we constantly are challenged to improve our services and products.
We invite our participants to share their feedback as we strive to deliver the ultimate outdoor adventure experiences.
History
Although we have taken charge of this amazing Tsitsikamma Activity since 2008, the history of the Tubing on the Storms River dates back almost 50 years ago when tubing first began in South Africa.
Farmers and foresters took to the Storms River in little more that a pair of shorts (piti short) T-shirt (skipper) and a tractor inner tube (tchoop). The original route started at the low water bridge in the old Storms River Pass and ended at the Storms River Mouth Suspension Bridge. as indicated in the Satellite Image by the blue and red lines
This route takes roughly six hours on the river excluding kit up and drive time and is far too long and strenuous for most people.
March 2000 Accident
20th March yr 2000 an tragic and unforeseen accident took the lives of thirteen adventurers who sought to experience what the Storms River had to offer on a high water day.
In the image on the left the blue route represents the planned high water trip on 20th March 2000. It was proven that a Witteklip River flash flood washed 13 people along with their trip leader (out of a group of 25 participants) into the Narrow Gorge where all except the trip leader perished.
The accident that was proven to have been a freak occurrence held no party liable other than Nature.
In commemoration to the families involved the significant Storms River disaster forged a path of safety and compliance measures for river activities world wide. Organisations and insurance companies institutionalised protocols that would mitigate risks of any such accident in the future.
Commercial operations began on the storms river in the late 1980's and Tubing on the Stormsrivier was therefore one of the first iconic adventure attarctions on the Garden Route.
The red route represents a spectacular and very unique section of river that can only be run on low water conditions.
It is this stretch of river that attracts curiosity and inspires the outdoor enthusiast and should not be missed by those willing to rise to the challenge
Risk Mitigation
As part of the terms under which we submitted our proposal, we insisted on the option to build and access point that would enable us to exit our trips before the confluence of the Witteklip and Storms Rivers.
We also introduced the shorter routes to allow options for participants on tight itineraries and for those that are not fit enough to take on the Red Route.
The shorter trips also provided the possibility for parents with smaller kids to enjoy an educational and fun day out in nature. Hence they became the focus of our family market.
The satellite image indicates our current operational routes