Ralph Price: River Globetrotter

By: 
Ralph Price
Date: 
Friday, March 1, 2013
Bumpy Ride on the River Exeter
Bumpy Ride on the River Exeter
Ralph Price

All my life I have been both a globetrotter and river user, so feel as if rivers are an essential part of my existence, and I am passionate about them. Indeed, I see them as the veins of the planet, and it pains me to see people destroy them with such disregard. I don’t have a particular river in mind, but my nearest rivers at the moment are The Tyne, and The Wear and it would be impossible to imagine the cities of Newcastle and Durham without them. Indeed they just wouldn’t have the same form, and be much poorer for that.

One of my first rivers was the Thames, and the fact that people for generations have talked and sung about ‘Father Thames’ says how deeply people feel connected to ‘their’ river.

Ruacana on the Kunene River, Namibia
Ruacana on the Kunene River, Namibia
Ralph Price



Every great city is on an undammed river, and is much richer for that.

I have seen desecration of rivers everywhere, but can I make a special plea for two really urgent cases.

The Kunene Region in Namibia
Relentlessly the Gov. and vested interests press the Himba for a dam on the Kunene, while the Himba have resisted for generations virtually empty handed. The region’s name would become meaningless, and the Himba would lose their sense of identity; sacred sites would be flooded; habitats ruined, water sports, tourist attractions would be ruined, traditional river crossings would be more difficult. There would be NO benefit to the locals. Heavy goods traffic would be brought in and further ruin the environment. Gone is forever. I don’t know how these people sleep nights!

Locals never know when the next release is coming, and it is an unmitigated disaster.

River near the Potala in Lhasa, Tibet
River near the Potala in Lhasa, Tibet
Ralph Price

Rivers near the Potala in Lhasa, Tibet
I have seen piled up unstabilised mud from river works not far from Tibet – not long before China had the mudslide disasters – entirely predictable. They also show the remains of rivers near the Potala in Lhasa. Dead - due to mining and damming upstream. The people responsible should not just be fined, or censured  (which they are immune to), but shot.

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