World Paddle Award ceremony is the event that gathers the paddle sport community from around the globe, amongst it some of the most influential individuals in kayaking. At presentation of the Golden paddle Rok Rozman decided to make a speech addressing our community with words that follow: “Kayaking is all about freedom; freedom of mind, freedom of movement and freedom of spirit, all underlined with freedom of the river. In the last few years, I’ve been getting a feeling that this freedom is somewhat fading away, that our community overlooked the ever so important roots, the roots that make us one of the most honorable outdoor communities. I started kayaking […]
»Golden Paddle, the award by academy World Paddle Awards, is a confirmation that the project has reached the global scale,« Rok Rozman, former Olympic rower, extreme kayaker, biologist and leader of the Balkan Rivers Tour. The Balkan Rivers Tour project connected people from 18 countries who paddled 23 rivers in 39 days. The project begun in mid-April on Sava River in Slovenia and concluded on the Vjosa River in Albania. Over 500 kayakers and 1500 activists joined the team. Rok Rozman, the laureate of the Foundation Award obtained the prize for his work on the Balkan Rivers Tour, biggest European River protection action. The project included peaceful protests, petitions to […]
The Balkan Rivers Tour has become the biggest river conservation action in Europe and, simply put, exists because of three people; Ben Webb, Rok Rozman and Anka Makovec. The connection between these three people – who are/were fighters for free flowing rivers in three different continents – is a story of coincidences and fate, and maybe something much more. As it was only after Rok has decided to organize Balkan Rivers Tour to realize Anka was so important part of Franklin blockade that inspired Ben to start defending river in South America which inspired Rok to start defending rivers in Balkan Peninsula. “When I told Benjamin about Anka, he was […]
WE MADE IT! Against all odds we made it – Rok, Matic and Ben went to Tasmania, met their hero Anka and paddled the Franklin River. Adventure never to be forgotten, special moments, places and people. We brought home some really good footage. Now we have all that takes to make a great film about defending rivers – The Undamaged. Here you can travel trough 3 weeks down under with us: Big Thank you all!
WE NEED YOUR HELP The Balkan Rivers Tour has become the biggest rivers conservation action in Europe and, simply put, exists because of three people; Ben Webb, Rok Rozman and Anka Makovec. The connection between these three people – who are fighting for free flowing rivers in three different continents – is a story of coincidences and fate, and maybe something more. Rok started the Balkan Rivers Tour after meeting Aussie Ben Webb by chance on the streets of Pucon, Chile in 2014. While kayaking in Peru, Benny heard about plans to dam one of the sources of the Amazon, the Rio Maranon, and started a campaign against that. His […]
Every success should be properly celebrated. This is why we all got together in Soča valley for a weekend packed with adventure and party. It sure was fun!
Sometimes crazy ideas come true! It takes years of good times next to rivers to come up with idea like that, crazy kayaker, amazing group of friends that joins on board, a fair bit of luck and wonderful supporters to get to statistics like that. But statistics are just a pile of numbers – what is important is the fact that Balkan Rivers Tour crew had the times of our lives while on tour; we met so many incredible individuals and communities, experienced 23 beautiful rivers and had an uncountable number of special experiences… We can say this was and adventure and a half! We hope you spent some nice time […]
We are happy to present a set of posts that will show how our initiative is rooted in kayaking community, Science, Art, Outdoor community and much more. Top level athletes, scientists, conservationists and artists speaking about the tour. MARIANN SAETHER – REIGNING EXTREME KAYAK WORLD CHAMPION Mariann Saether (35) Born and raised in Norway, Saether is the current Extreme kayak World Champion, and holds a number of titles ranging from big volume freestyle competitions to canoe slalom titles under her belt. She is an avid outdoor enthusiast, and enjoys nature even more than books, which says a lot concerning her 9-year university degree in history, Spanish, English and Norwegian. She […]
We are joyfully announcing one month till the biggest European River conservation action. On April 16th we will BE launchING it big time on Bohinj lake in Slovenia which is one of the sources of River Sava, the River that defines the Balkan peninsula and is really endangered by new hydropower projects in her upper stretches in Slovenia. The start of the tour will be a perfect opportunity for every one to join in, no matter if you are a kayaker, fisherman, hiker or simply Nature lover – this event is suited for everyone, having a boat or not. Paddling on a lake is big fun for everyone, there will […]