Tatshenshini International

Nepal Trips, 2000 and 2007

The first trip we organized in Nepal was in October 2000. 16 of us went; 10 rafters and 8 kayakers.

Our first river was 7 days on the Lower Karnali River in western Nepal . The Karnali is a big volume fun river and the most remote trip I have seen in Nepal. It is an 18 hours bus ride to get there from Kathmandu but well worth the trip. In 2000 it was our first exposure at the wild culture of Nepal and a sensory overload for many of us.

We finished the Karnali with a tour of Bardia National Park. It was great and I would recommend the elephant ride to everybody.

Our next river was a day trip, kayak only on the Seti River near Pokhara. This was a fun run, more technical and mainly grade III.

6 of us then proceeded to the wild Marsyandi. This river was a gem; I say was because a dam will wipe out 2/3 of the run. The Marsyandi was one of the best rivers I have ever paddled; incredibly fun white-water with a splendid view of the Annapurna range.

Political trouble plagued for a while and tourism was down. We return in 2007 mainly to paddle the Tamur and return to the Marsyandi.

Nepal had not changed much. Kathmandu is the same chaotic much polluted city. We often wondered why such an ancient culture is so dirty!

Our first river was 8 days on the Sunkosi. The locals are still very curious and friendly. The river is beautiful but too populated and polluted for our taste. 12 out of 13 of us had bouts of diarrhoea. We never had this problem in western Nepal; I guess less people equal less polluted rivers. The SunKosi has a lot of flat water, some good fun grade III and a few easy IV rapids. After the SunKosi we trekked up for 3 days to reach the Tamur River. The trek through eastern Nepal is beautiful but dirty. I would not do it again!

The Tamur is great. Lots of easy Grade IV at the start then the river flattens out for a day. The last section is a good fun grade IV and was the best part of the trip.

The complexity of the Nepal culture is fascinating and at time hard to absorb or comprehend. After the Tamur we spent 3 days in Chitwan National Park . This was great and I would recommend it to anybody. Elephant are an amazing animal. We all had a great time.

We left Chitwan for the Marsyandi and it was sad to see the dam but it is progress.The upper part of the Marsyandi was still running and I suspect we did the last run. Completion of the dam should be complete by next year and most of the great white water will be under a lake. What a great river the Marsyandi is! The trekking around there is also fabulous.

We finished our stay in the tourist city of Pokhara. Most returned to Kathmandu and home but a few of us went to see the Annapurna Range. The trek to Poon hill was dirty and lots of uphill.

A couple of us left to paddle the Madhi Kola whose reputation is of a small Marsyandi. It is a great run and would recommend it to anybody.

The success of our Nepal trip was partly due to the fantastic support of:

TREKKING TEAM PVT. LTD. They organized the logistics for both trips and did a splendid job. www.trekkingteam.com