Kontiki 2005 – Raft Building

For the uninitiated, Kontiki is a raft-building competition with a rich tradition in scouting. Scouts from all over Gauteng annually converge on Murray Park to show off their raft-building and camping skills. When the rafts are completed, they take to the water and only return 24 hours later.

Raft-building is clearly not a man-thing. Many teams of girl scouts competed in this competition.

Raft-building starts on Friday afternoon. Dozens of trucks arrive from all over heavily laden with poles, drums, planks, paddle wheels and other paraphernalia needed to build the perfect raft.
Boys and girls of all ages pitch in to help with the offloading and building of the raft. Construction carries on deep into the night with crews only taking a break to eat a well deserved meal.

The air is filled with an almost tangible vibe of excitement, festivity and competitiveness. Not all groups aim to compete, but many groups pull out all the stops and pay much attention to every little detail.

Building resumes Saturday morning and ends at 12 noon sharp when a gun shot announces that rafts must enter the water.

Raft building

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