Barging up the Zuari river - the river journey

We're on a slow boat towards the loading site. I'm given a corner on the bridge, and there's nothing to do but enjoy the trip and he surroundings.


Coconut palms, green fields and the occasional temple passing by slowly.

After a period of activity in the boiling hot engine room, the second enging wakes up and lives. Black smoke erupts, our speed increases marginally and people gather upstairs in the wheelhouse to enjoy the breeze and watch the white guy. The wheel, by the way, is pretty close to the only piece of technical equipment on the bridge, apart from the engine controls. No hi-tech navigation systems or other fancy stuff on board this old lady, only experience and complete knowledge of the river and it's ways.


The barges we meet on their way downriver are heavily loaded with iron ore. Down in the port of Vasco lies plenty of bulk ships waiting. Most of them going to China, the world's giant steel consumer.


As the hours pass, the river is getting narrower and the riverbanks even more lush green. A few incidents of meetings with less maneuverable vessels on our way acts as welcome breaks from the slow routine.


The fact that the river is now hardly wider than the lenght of the barge, and they've got to turn this thing around somehow, indicates that the busy action of the loading site is drawing nearer.