White Water Paddling

377 Words2 Pages
Whitewater paddling can consist of kayaks, canoes, and small rafts that are navigated through whitewater rapids. The most popular operations consist mostly of a day trip and are usually located near mass tourism destinations. The most popular rivers for whitewater paddling occur in locations such as Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, Queenstown in New Zealand, Chamonix in Switzerland, Cairns in Australia, and many sites in the United States such as Moab and the Grand Canyon.(25) Many North American Rivers are so popular they have a permit system, which requires the person or group paddling to make a reservation in advance to paddle that river. Many factors influence these patterns of location. Physical geographic factors include how small the river is and if there is enough rain or not. Whitewater paddling occurs throughout the world wherever there are rivers with enough rapids for paddling and enough rain and sufficient gradient.(24) A river can be paddled with a fair level of safety and excitement when it is a smaller river thus having a steeper gradient. Climate is another main physical geographic factor because some rivers are only seasonal so this has a huge affect on the number of tourists traveling to that specific site. There are many human geographic factors that influences the popularity of a location. Many tourists will plan there whitewater trip as a vacation and will tend to visit all inclusive resorts that includes a variety of amenities. Tourists also have to consider the time to travel to the destination and the costs. There are also political affects that will make tourists avoid some areas to travel to such as dangerous areas, war zones, and government bans. Many trips that require tourists to plan months to years in advance could simply be canceled within a couple of days due to huge protests such as the Egypt Revolution of 2011. The geography of
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