The Trishuli is the obvious and popular choice for either whitewater or easier rafting. However, if you have 2 days and are looking for an easy trip, then your top choice should be the Seti River, which is away from the road and has beautiful scenery. If you only have a day, then the upper Sun Koshi is close to Kathmandu yet is relatively unspoilt.
For the experienced guests, the Bhote Koshi offers two days of challenge and continuous adrenaline buzz.
Summary of the ‘Bests’
- Best long, whitewater trips, ‘World Classic’ – Karnali, Tamur, and Sun Koshi
- Best rivers for wildlife and fishing – Babai, Bheri, Karnali, Mahakali
- Best 3-6 day whitewater trips – Marsyangdi, upper Kali Gandaki, Arun
- Best 4-12 day easy water trips – lower Kali Gandaki, Bheri
- Best 1-3 day whitewater trips – Trishuli, Bhote Koshi, lower Tamur
- Best 1-3 day easy water trips- upper Sun Koshi, Seti, Babai
- Best combined trekking & rafting trips – Tamur and Marsyangdi
- Best budget trips – Sun Koshi, Kali Gandaki, Trishuli
- Best family trips – upper Sun Koshi, Seti
Travel Arrangements
When planning your rafting trip, try to build this into your other holiday arrangements so that you minimize highway travel. For example: fly to Pokhara, trek, then raft down the Seti River to Chitwan and then return by bus to Kathmandu. If you just want a taste of whitewater, then go for rafting on the Trishuli River on the way from Kathmandu to Pokhara or vice versa. If, after your river trip, you are traveling over land to India, why come back all the way to Kathmandu?
The roads in Nepal are often rough and bus journeys can be slow, uncomfortable and hazardous whereas internal air flights will be a good value and will also save precious vacation time. These are well worth considering while traveling to remote rivers and your rafting company will be happy to give suggestions regarding the best options.
The history of river running in Nepal
Traditionally, the Nepalese people have always revered and at the same time feared the holy rivers. To ferry across a river in a dugout canoe was dangerous and a fearful experience as most Nepalese could not swim and of course there were no life jackets or quotations. The idea of running rivers, especially Whitewater Rivers, for ‘fun’ seemed quite crazy to us in the past.
The first ‘crazy’ river runners arrived in Nepal in the late 1960s. Two French men are said to have descended parts of Sun Koshi in 1968. Kurt Jorguestein from Germany explored the Sun Koshi and Trishuli. Two Americans, Teri and Cholis Beach, also explored the local rivers in 1973 as an alternative to climbing and trekking. They began with an inflatable ‘ducky’ that was quickly replaced with a foldboat and then an Avon raft the following season. Skip Horner of Sobek helped to design a car frame for this and Al Read realized the commercial potential and started Himalayan River expedition in 1976, this was the first commercial river rafting company in the Himalayas or in Asia.
An experienced river guide, Mike Yager was brought in from America to manage the company and to train Nepalese guides. They advertised in ‘The Rising Nepal’ for ‘Raft Guide Trainees’ and received over a 100 applications. Most of the applicants had absolutely no idea what was involved in rafting but they thought that being a Guide was a glamorous & well paid job. Mike Yager arranged some capsized drill on the Trishuli and when may of them found out what whitewater really meant, they were horrified and never returned!
Mike finally selected eight men and they started a very thorough training programme that included travel to the U.S.A. for training. Mike Yager was so successful that, by 1980, he had worked his way out of the job and the former students formed the nucleus of a strong team of professional guides who then went on to train others and later to split off and form their own companies.
They imported some of their excursion guides from Europe which resulted in the fertilization of international expertise.
At the same time when commercial rafting was developing, ‘expeditions’ from abroad were arriving. In 1976, Major Bashford Snell led an expedition to conquer the Trishuli and broke his nose in the rapids, which is now named ‘Snell’s Nose’ in his honor.
A Czech team of Kayakers attempted parts of the Dudh Koshi in 1973 and in 1976 a British team led by Dr. Mike Jones also ran the river. The Arun river was first explored by Mike Yager and eight Nepalese guides in 1976. An ABC TV programme filmed a kayak attempt on the upper Arun River in 1979. The Indian Navy descended the Kali Gandaki in the early 80s.
In 1980, a British kayak expedition attempted the descent on the Marsyangdi River and Bruce Mason led a descent on the Karnali River in 1981.
By the early 1980s, Nepalese rafters were recognized as world class professionals and were invited to lead and support expeditions to other countries in the Indian Sub- Continent including: Sikkim in 1980, Bhutan in 1981, and Zanskar in 1981. The Nepalese teams were also invited to, and attended, International Rafting Rallies in Switzerland in 1988, in Siberia in 1989, and in the U.S.A. in 1990.
In the years since then, rafting and kayaking in Nepal has taken off really well and Nepal has become known as one of the world’s premier river running destinations.
