Rafting – the basics
Rafting is a recreational activity, quite obviously it uses a raft to navigate a river, or sometimes another body of water like a lake or a delta. Usually rafting takes place on white water of different degrees of difficulty which is intended to thrill and excite the raft passengers who may do all the work in steering the craft or be little more than passengers.
Since the mid 1980s this has become popular as both a leisure sport and a corporate team building activity or sponsored event where people raise money for charity in return for a seat on a ‘white water experience’
The type of raft used recreational rafting is usually an inflatable boat made of extremely durable, multi-layered rubberised fabrics which separate several independent air chambers to ensure flotation is not compromised if one chamber is deflated. In Europe the most common form found is the symmetrical raft steered with a paddle at the stern, whereas the American raft tends to have a central helm (oars). Rafts are usually propelled with ordinary paddles and typically hold 4 to 12 persons.
Like all wilderness sports, rafting appeals to people who love nature and natural beauty but this sets up a tension as more people indulge in this sport and so travel stretches of river that have not previously been much used, so upsetting the natural ecological balance. As a result, some rivers now have regulations restricting or specifying the annual and daily operating times. In some places there are objections to the desire for more exciting rafting because rafting companies seek to dredge or cut more channels in rivers to make them faster or steeper, and this again alters the ecology for local wildlife.
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