Wed, Aug 03, 2016 page16

• Kayakers take to water in Afghanistan’s Panjshir River

  • AP, PANJSHIR, Afghanistan
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  On a recent sunny morning in northern Afghanistan, excited children and bemused policemen lined the banks of a fast-flowing river to watch a group of Europeans in multicolored kayaks navigate the white water.

  The boys, who were on their way to school, squealed and raced along the rocks as they watched the unusual spectacle — no kayakers had ever come to the peaceful Panjshir Valley, about 140km north of the Afghan capital, Kabul.

  According to Callum Strong, a Scot who recently graduated with a geology degree from Edinburgh University, the Panjshir River offers some of the best kayaking in the world.

  

  Kayakers navigate the Panjshir River in Afghanistan on July 17.

  Photo: AP

  With three friends, he spends all his spare time and money traveling the globe in search of the best white water. Panjshir looked promising on the map and that Afghanistan is grappling with a 15-year insurgency was not going to deter them.

  “It’s extreme geography that attracts extreme sportsmen, not the fact that the place is at war,” Strong told reporters as he dragged his kayak out of the water following an invigorating three-hour paddle down the Panjshir River.

  His three friends — Brit Joe Rea-Dickins, Scot James Smith and Austrian Kristof Stursa — are also recent graduates in their early 20s and amateur kayakers who met through their love of the sport. They funded the trip to Afghanistan themselves, flying to Kabul with their kayaks and then employing a local travel agent to help them transport their kit and organize permission from security services to travel and move safely through dangerous areas.

  They spent 10 days paddling the length of the Panjshir River and introducing the local community to the sport.

  “Before I came here I was worried, as the only news you hear from Afghanistan is bad news, but I believe most places you go in the world, most people are good and the river here looked very good, so we wanted to come,” Strong said.

  His friend Rea-Dickins was similarly enthusiastic, comparing Panjshir to the best places he has kayaked in northern Europe, India and Pakistan.

  “In terms of white water, this is as good as anywhere in the world,” Rea-Dickins said.

  One of the joys of the sport is that “it takes you to pretty interesting places, it gives you purpose, you can be in a beautiful environment for weeks, you go off beaten tracks and stay where you end up and you meet with local people,” he said.

  Panjshir is considered one of the safest regions of Afghanistan. The roads are closed to outsiders, who must register with security forces and explain the reason for their visit to gain access.

  Panjshir is the home of the so-called Lion of Panjshir, Ahmad Shah Massoud, a military leader who earned his moniker fighting Soviet forces and the Taliban and whose legendary status was cemented when he was killed by al-Qaeda sympathizers on Sept. 9, 2001.

  Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah is also from Panjshir. His face beams from massive billboards. Panjshir is a province that takes its war heroes seriously.

  It could soon take kayaking seriously, too, if the efforts of the four enthusiasts find traction.

  After a week of paddling, the four set up a kayaking workshop to teach interested locals. The Panjshir soccer team showed up to give it a try.

  “They are very good learners, a lot of the guys we have seen are very fit and strong and they are used to swimming in this river, which is very powerful,” Strong said.
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