Coursing the Parapeti

First descents are hard to find these days, & you’ve got to go a long way to find a river that hasn’t been mapped, but look far & wide enough and you may be lucky. In February a five-person British-Bolivian team will use open canoes in an attempt to navigate the ephemeral waters of the River Parapeti in Bolivia for the first time.

A little known & virtually unexplored part of the eastern lowlands of this landlocked South American country the challenges of the river are set by the terrain. Emerging from Andean valleys the Parapeti enters the vast plane of the desert-like Gran Chaco with a well-defined watercourse. Within 100 miles the river has braided to form a multitude of cañadas or channels to create a vast sprawling inland delta called the Bañados de Izozog which struggles to journey across the great South American watershed between the Amazon & the River Plate basin. Each year in the wet season the drying out pools of lagoons & water channels are filled with fresh rains & eventually flush through the Bañados.

Remarkably the precise route of the river is unknown. In 1881 J B Minchin, a British engineer reporting to the Royal Geographic Society, suggested the river leaves the wetlands near the town of Quimome to eventually join the River Amazon. While this link would make the river the most southerly tributary of the world’s largest river basin, even today this is more presumption than fact. Some maps show the river flowing east to join the River Paraguay.

The team will navigate the region using GPS to plot their course against 30-year old maps. Teaming up with Bolivians from nearby communities & the Kaa-Iya National Park the hope is that the experiences of the expedition can be shared to the maximum benefit to protect this fragile ecosystem covering an area slightly larger than North Yorkshire that was declared a RAMSAR site – a wetlands of international importance - in July 2001.

Moving around in Bolivia is often troublesome & getting to the put-in point is a particular challenge with the easiest access provided by a rail link that heads south to Argentina. Size restrictions on aircraft flying to Bolivia due to the high altitude of La Paz mean that a fixed hull canoe is not a viable option, the train journey simply adds to the problems. Drawing on the tried and tested experience of veteran explorer John Harrison, the team will be travelling in two Ally canoes manufactured by Bergans (www.bergans.no). Lightweight & collapsible into a medium sized backpack, the Ally has to be one of the ultimate solutions to difficult access.

Open canoeists may also be interested to know about the annual Travelling Fellowships provided by the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust (www.wcmt.org.uk) who provide funds for international travel and living expenses for those wanting to further their careers through foreign travel. As expedition leader I received a Fellowship award within the category of Adventure, Exploration and Leadership there is normally an award provided specifically for canoeing.

Peter Hutchison

[Peter will let us know how he fared in a later issue of this Journal]