A quiet morning was slowly starting on the Saturday 29th of June, with a great blue and sunny sky welcoming all the 125 adventurers and their 13 handmade recycled rafts, for the 7th edition of the Environmental Manifestation of the Rafts in Douro River, organized by the Ecoclubes network in Portugal, represented by OPE (Organisation for the Promotion of the Ecoclubs).

Once again, this big initiative was carried out in order to raise awareness about some environmental issues, specially around subjects related to water and rivers protection, as well as to waste reutilization and recycling.
During two days (Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th of June) and along 15km of the Douro river, between the cities of Vila Nova de Gaia, Gondomar and Porto, the rafts, their crews and the ground supporters were joining their voices and actions for showing to others that there was something worth to stop and think about it for a while: water is a precious element, rivers are sources of life and we all need to take care of those gifts offered by the Earth!

In this International Year of Water Cooperation (declared by the United Nations for 2013), the Ecoclubes wanted to contribute also for it and continue with this already traditional event, where besides the main activity of the rafts adventure in the river, also other moments of entertainment and public awareness happened, such as the camping, riverbank walk, Upcycling workshop, zumba experimental class, music and story-telling around the fire and always lots of fun.

OPE, Portugal