I am looking forward in one way or another to running all the rivers in my 7 rivers, 7 continents project. The vastness of the Volga, the isolation of the Nile, the Huckleberry Finn-ness of the Mississippi and of course the sheer uniqueness of the Onyx River in Antarctica.

I am still in the preliminary stages of planning and research but the Onyx looks set to be a river to remember, not least because it is just 40km long! A touch less than the 6000km plus kilometres of the Nile, Yangtze and Mississippi Rivers each! According to that source that is never wrong and oh so accurate at all times (!), Wiki, the river runs only for a few months each year in the Antarctic summer. Word is that it has been run before, at least in part by some Kiwi researchers who were stationed down there.

The landscape that the river passes through is magnificent. Pure Antarctic desert! Bleak but unforgettable terrain.

The logistics, permissions, cost and overall feasibility of running this river are all up for question. But in spite of any obstacles I may encounter I would hazard that it will not be the most difficult of my 7 rivers. Tough? You bet! But with a distinct lack of crocs, disease, men with guns and corruption I will take on whatever it can throw at me.

How will I run this bad boy? It looks in parts to be a very shallow, low volume river so I would be extremely reluctant to haul a 14 foot raft down it. Portaging for long stretches can be a real drag (no pun intended!) Kayak would seem, at first glance to be my best bet. It really does depend what further research reveals. Perhaps something that I talked a little about in a recent post might be in order!