Borderlands' International Raft Guide - Welcome Diana Harl

The water was running fast this weekend on the Kelani River, and Diana, or newest raft guide, was ready to tackle the Class II and Class III rapids. She had just arrived from Germany tired after a twenty hour flight which included a missed connection. Nevertheless, she was determined to participate in rafting the day she arrived. Recent storm surges had made the Kelani deeper and more turbulent – and also, more fun. So Diana got a chance to use her training and skills when the raft got stuck on a series of rapids, and nearly everyone fell out.

Diana is from Nuremburg, Germany, and holds a degree in sports science from Technical University-Munich. She began her career as a raft guide in Austria, where she was certified in the trade. With two years of rafting in Zambia, India, Switzerland and Austria, she is truly a world traveled guide. Her favorite rafting experience occurred during her first trip at Borderlands on the Kelani river. With the water level low, the raft got stuck five times: three “pins” (when the raft gets stuck on top of a rock) and two “wraps” (when the raft wraps around the side of a rock). Luckily, “the clients took it very well” and the trip turned out to be a success.

Her foremost concern is “good safety standards,” as she believes that once safety is taken care of, everything else falls into place. She has the utmost confidence in the other guides at Borderlands, who she says Wade Campbell (Borderlands' founder) has trained well. Diana's discovery of Borderlands was serendipitous. She was working as a raft guide in India and needed a place to go for the off season. “I opened a map and said, 'What's this little island down there?' So I went and was running out of money pretty quick.” Fortunately, moving to Sri Lanka turned out to be an excellent decision for Diana, and she found Borderlands. Now, a year later, she's back here again with us. If you are here this season, look out for her. She's a great raft guide and a pretty cool person to be around!