Any trip is always about new experiences, getting to know new places, people, and nature. And what can we say about a good mood and a charge of positive emotions for the coming months!
A special place among travel is occupied by rafting, and it doesn't matter what kind of boats and rivers - in any case, good mood and unforgettable memories are guaranteed for the participants of such an event. Be sure to check out our previous post about the Dniester Canyon.
There are many rivers in Ukraine that can be rafted in fairly comfortable conditions. One of the first places in this regard is the Dniester, as it is not a very difficult river to raft. In addition, the presence of small obstacles, such as rifts and shoals, allows beginners to gain invaluable experience in water hiking, as well as basic skills in boat handling.
From Kutyshchi to Ustechko
The Dniester with all its tributaries is a very beautiful river, especially the part that passes through the canyon of the same name, which was recognized in 2008 as one of the seven natural wonders of Ukraine. That is why this city always has a huge number of people who love outdoor activities, and the presence of a huge number of architectural monuments makes the Dniester Canyon even more interesting. The route "Kutyshche - Sokyrchyn - Khmeleva - Ustechko" can be called a journey to the heart of a natural wonder.
It takes about 2 days to overcome the above route, which is about 100 km long. Our group set aside July 22, 23 and 24, 2017 for this purpose. Of course, if you set a goal, you can do it faster, but it is unlikely that in this case you will be able to fully appreciate the beauty of the Dniester nature.
Thanks to the excellent road connections, a trip along the Dniester can be started and finished in any city/town/village located nearby In 2017, our choice was Kutyshchi, which, by the way, became the finish line of last year's rafting trip, which you can read about in another article.
So, having successfully arrived in Kutyshchi on July 22, as of 15:00, the inflatable boat with the Kolibri KM-330 engine was assembled and ready for a three-day trip on the Dniester waters.
The rafting started in beautiful, sunny, summer-like warm weather, which accompanied us throughout the days. Of course, in this case, there are two sides to the coin - it's good when the weather is good, but when the sun starts to bake, you wonder if it would be better if the clouds gathered and it rained.
Since the trip started in the afternoon, it was decided to set up camp after a few hours of rafting. The choice was made on a picturesque bank opposite the village of Sokyrchyn - there was a suitable place for a tent and a place to go fishing...
The night passed calmly, without precipitation. Morning greeted us with a thick fog.
However, in an hour there was no trace of it.
The journey continued.
Rafting down the river, it is impossible not to admire its beauty and incredible landscapes that fill every bank and wait for travelers, as if in ambush, at every turn of the Dniester
Going downstream, the banks overgrown with dense mixed forest change to high, steep banks with abundant shrubs, and then vice versa. And so on without stopping.
Further along the route, we pass by Rakivtsi Castle, a seventeenth-century fortification, an architectural monument of national importance, whose ruins meet us in the distance on a hill.
When we got close to the castle, we met our colleagues from the project, who had built a real house on the water and even named it "Mudryi" - either in honor of Prince Yaroslav or, perhaps, the leader of the water trip with incredible intellectual abilities.)
Moving further downstream, we encountered other, no less interesting boats - from orange rescue sea rafts that were almost uncontrollable and were carried along the Dniester by the wind, not responding to the crew's attempts to regain control, to handmade two-story boats.
The camp for the night was set up opposite a beautiful dense forest near the village of Khmeleva. Like the previous night, it was quite cozy here, and no one disturbed the peace of mind of the campers.
It is safe to say that for such moments, in fact, you go on a trip - when all the problems are somewhere far away, and at the moment there is absolute harmony with nature, incredibly beautiful, unique, sung in poetry by famous poets, the nature of our mother Ukraine!
The next day, we had to overcome the last part of the route without hurrying. The weather, like the previous days, contributed to a comfortable rafting and achievement of the final goal - the village of Ustechko.
Tips:
- during a downpour, the Dniester is characterized by a sharp rise in water level (it can rise up to 2-3 m overnight), so when choosing a place to camp, you should never forget about this and never pitch tents close to the water or leave boats on the shore;
- if a thunderstorm catches you on the water, immediately end your trip, come to the shore and set up camp;
- with frequent turns of the Dniester riverbed, the wind direction often changes from tailwind to crosswind and vice versa, so when planning the crossing, this should be taken into account;
- never forget about the existence of poisonous plants and animals of the Dniester region, which you can encounter at any time of the trip - either on water or on land.
