Many would argue–especially many a river surfer–that there’s no finer freshwater wave on the planet than the famed, barreling feature on Zambia’s mighty Zambezi. It’s been ridden by several groups of fantastic surfers. But this pilgrimage by Koby Oberholzer and Roydon Bryson is the latest iteration and again shows just how powerful and dynamic the wave is. Both surfers wore helmets (good call) and raft tourist life jackets (somebody needed to get them some real whitewater vests) but they still ripped the hell out of the thing.
Their sessions were timely, too. In a trip organized by South Africa’s ZigZag magazine, the boys were raising awareness about an “ill-considered hydro-electric power project” that could actually make this iconic section of river disappear below a lake. And the radical wave with it. This river feature is only in for about a week each year with the right water levels. So they had to get on it to make it happen. You can read the full feature from ZigZag, here, and check out more footage of the wave from California cinematographer Scott Lindgren, below, by clicking to the 6:50 mark:
