Paddling near Paarl, Western Cape

Paarl sits in the upper catchment of the Berg River in the Western Cape's Drakenstein valley, and the river is the heart of local paddling. One of South Africa's oldest canoe clubs — the Paarl Canoe Club, founded in 1962 — is based on its banks, and the Berg River Canoe Marathon, a gruelling four-day, roughly 240 km race to Velddrif, starts here every July. The river suits everything from beginner flatwater sessions to marathon training, with the upper reaches running from Paarl all the way to the Atlantic estuary.