Capri Village dog joins river rafting adventure

A five-year-old Staffordshire terrier, Phoenix, from Capri Village, surprised a group of rafters when she joined her owner on a river rafting trip on the Orange River.

Her owner, Kesia Koorts, and Ms Koorts’s partner, Monty Guest, arranged the five-day trip last month and said they were surprised that the company allowed them to take the dog along.

“The owner said as long as she is well-behaved we were welcome to take her," Ms Koorts said, adding that Phoenix loved water and adventure and they were always up on a mountain or a beach somewhere.

Ms Koorts said Phoenix had received hydrotherapy while recovering from an injury as a young dog and had also previously gone kayaking and stand-up paddling.

That, she said, had prepared her for the adventure on the river.

Ms Koorts said Phoenix had quickly become popular among the 20-plus participants on the trip and even the guides had commented on how well-behaved she was and what a pleasure it was to see her every morning.

The trip, she said, had involved camping at base camp near Hopetown in the Northern Cape on the first and last night as well as two free camping days during the river journey, and Phoenix had slept with them in the tent.

Ms Koorts said Phoenix had adapted well to the raft, also known as a crock, and that by the end of the trip, Phoenix had been nominated as the group's mascot.

"She was adored by everyone."

The rafting company’s owner, Terence Macadam, said Phoenix was the “first four-legged client they have taken downstream”.

He said she had been well-behaved and had handled the rapids well.

"She just took it in her stride as if she was an old hand at it.“