Days 1 and 2 – Monday 18th and Tuesday 19th October 2010
Flying with kayaks is always an interesting experience and this starts from the moment of arrival at the airport. We can really use public transport due to the kayaks so I drove. I dropped Jethro off at the terminal with our boats and all of our luggage before I set off to leave my car at a friends house in Ealing for the duration of our trip. Things started to go wrong immediately as I took a wrong turn as I left the airport! About an hour later I returned to the airport ready to find Jethro and then check-in.
Jethro with our boats
At check-in, we knew that we had a baggage limit of 32kgs each. My boat weighed 22kg and Jethro’s 21kg. This did not leave much weight for our paddling kit and equipment for the three weeks. Fortunately, the check-in assistant asked me how much our boats weighed rather than having us fight to get them through the queues so they could be weighed. “About 15 kilos” was my response, barely expecting to get away with it. A few seconds later I was presented with our baggage tags, boarding passes and instructions on where to drop off the boats. We dropped off the boats and rest of the kit at oversize baggage before heading to find a bar for a few pints.
Our flight to Nepal required a three hour stop-over in Delhi. After going through numerous security checks we were able to take in the new terminal 3 building whilst we waited for the final leg of our journey.
Upon arrival in Kathmandu, we organised our visas and collected our bags and boats before being met by Shankar from Mountain River Rafting (MRR), who had organised our transport to our hotel. MRR was the company we had booked our Tamur trip with. After dropping our kit at the hotel we wandered down to the MRR offices to meet Tej and find out more details about our trip. Although we had booked to do a Tamur trip, Jethro and I were the only customers. Unfortunately this meant that, due to the high costs of running the trip, we were not able to do it. Instead, Tej proposed that we do a Sun Kosi trip, tagging the last river day of the Tamur trip on the end. The Tamur trip would involve a days drive from Kathmandu, a three day hike along a 3000 metre ridge, six days on the river and then another days drive back to Kathmandu. The Sun Kosi trip would involve a three hour drive from Kathmandu, seven days on the Sun Kosi, a three hour drive from Chatra to Mulghat, one day on the Tamur and then a days drive back to Kathmandu. We agreed to the Sun Kosi trip as it involved more paddling and still included the bottom of the Tamur river, which is arguably the best section of that river.
Leaving the MRR office Jethro and I decided to take a walk around Thamel, the tourist section of Kathmandu. Within five minutes we were lost and it took over an hour to work out where we were! By this stage we were both tired so had dinner and a beer or two before hitting the sack.
Day 3 – Wednesday 20th
Myself and Jethro were the only customers on this trip. Accompanying us from MRR would be Shankar, a Nepalese raft guide and Ben, Ras and Rem to help paddle the raft. There was also a dutch raft guide called Patrick who was out in Nepal travelling and accompanied MRR on some of their trips. Day 3 saw us set off for our Sun Kosi trip. This involved an early start for a 3 hour journey to our get-in near Dolalghat, with a brief stop in Bisantapaur to pick up the last of our supplies. After getting the raft rigged and loaded we finally set off to start our 270km journey down the Sun Kosi to Chatra.
Finally on the river 48 hours after leaving the UK
Jethro decided to test himself by ending up in a sticky hole only a short distance after getting on. After about 25km of flat water we pulled in to a beach to strike camp. Following a starter of fresh popcorn and coffee, our Nepalese guides cooked up a delicious dinner of spaghetti, sauce, veg and cheese.
Day 4 – Thursday 21st
During the night we were all awoken by heavy rain – with only a thin tent between us and the elements and only a few metres between the tent and the river a nervous night was had by all. In the end we needn’t have worried as, although the river did rise by a couple of feet, it was still a long way from reaching the tent. The river had turned orange though!
A now orange Sun Kosi, not far from our camp
Today saw our first decent-sized rapid, a rapid called ‘Meat Grinder’. Due to the high flow of the river, this rapid was not as big as the guides expected it to be – it was more like a collection of big waves. The rest of the day was mainly flat water with a few smaller rapids. This gave us all lots of time to think how lucky we are to be able to travel to see such amazing places and people.
Wherever we went we always drew an audience
The river plays a vital part in every-day life out here – it is used to provide water as well as food in the form of fish. We saw many fisherfolk during our trip, and many techniques were used for catching the fish. The man in the picture below travelled down a stretch of river numerous times each day – first to lay nets in some of the eddies and then, after walking back upstream, he would travel back down to collect his fish.
Travelling down the river to check his fishing nets
Our camp for the night was located located on a beach which had a clean stream running through it. Boy did it feel nice to wash all the sand out of our kit after spending the day being rubbed raw! Unfortunately this water was also used for refreshment by local animals, so we were treated to buffalo and goats wandering around and through our camp during the afternoon and evening.
We got up close with the local wildlife
Throughout our trip we would tend to stop for camp by mid-afternoon. This would give us enough time to dry our kit, pitch camp and cook before it got too dark. At this time of year it was pitch-black by 1800 in the valley. After dinner we would lie back and spend an age looking up at the sheer number of stars visible in the sky and then retire to bed by about half past eight.
Day 5 – Friday 22nd
Crawling out of the tent this morning we were treated to the sight of the valley covered in mist and the river was back to its normal bluey-grey colour.
Just downstream of our camp were the Punch and Judy rapid – first major ones of the day. Jethro ran Punch first as I took photos, before we swapped and Jethro took photos of me running the rapid. This was the way we did most of the rapids on the river, taking it in turns to go first.
Arriving at the beach we were to camp on I realised that we had paddled two of the named rapids without me noticing – they were either washed away during the monsoon or the river was still too high. We ended the day on a beach just a few kilometres above the hardest rapid on the river – Hakapur. We camped on a beach where Slime, author of the current Whitewater Guidebook for Nepal, was camped with the Equator Expeditions trip he was paddling with.
Sharing a camp with the Equator Expeditions group
Day 6 – Saturday 23rd
Following a short, gentle warm-up we quickly reached Hakapur rapid. Looking at the rapid we could see why no-one else had run it since the monsoon this year – it was very big, very fast and there was one hell of a hole at the bottom. Despite this, both Jethro and I could see lines down and were happy to run it. Jethro went first, starting on river right and aiming to hit and surf a big lateral wave across to the centre-left for the bottom of the rapid. The lateral wave turned out not to have as much power as expected and didn’t give Jethro the help he needed, leaving him to ferry hard in order to avoid the big hole at the bottom on the right. My line was slightly different, starting just right of centre at the top to skirt a hole before working my way across to the left for the bottom. We both made it through without so much as a roll!
Here are videos of both Jethro and me running Hakapur:
Jethro running Hakapur rapid
Me running Hakapur rapid
Now, both Jethro and I have similar ideas when it comes to whether to run or portage a rapid, with the difficulty of the portage and effort required forming a considerable part of the equation. The portage around Hakapur didn’t look particularly easy as it would have involved carrying our boats over some quite large rocks. By making the decision to paddle, we thought we had avoided the effort of portaging. How wrong we were. The raft could not make a safe line down the rapid, so everything had to be unloaded and carried around the rapid whilst the raft itself was led empty along the side of the rapid, as close to the bank as possible, before all the gear had to be loaded back onto the raft. This whole procedure must have taken at least and hour and a half in temperatures close to 30 degrees.
Jethro aiming for the lateral wave
Me narrowly avoiding the big hole at the bottom
During the afternoon we paddled past the confluence with the Dudh Kosi, famous for its 1976 Relentless River of Everest Expedition. This marked approximate 143km paddled in three days! The rest of the afternoon was almost entirely flat, with no rapids of note to speak of. We passed another large group – about 35 clients – who were partaking in a raft guide training and assessment course. We stopped quite early today and entertained ourselves by playing in quicksand.
Day 7 – Sunday 24th
Today we paddled from just above Jaws rapid to below the first rapid of the Jungle Corridor. Whilst paddling Rhino Rock, Jethro went first whilst I was on photo duty. As I was happily snapping away, I witnessed Jethro suddenly disappear completely from view, only to re-appear a second or two later by shooting vertically out of the water! It turned out there was a considerable sized hole in the middle of this rapid and Jethro had paddled right into it. Needless to say I took a slightly different line around the edge of said hole.
Jethro immediately before disappearing from view
Below Rhino Rock we stopped at a small village in order to make a call to organise a jeep from Chatra to Mulghat in a couple of day’s time. Whilst there the guides procured a chicken, which Patrick quickly named Jack. Jack was tied into the raft (alive) for a twenty minute paddle downstream to where we were to make camp for the night. Shankar and the others performed some magic trick to turn Jack into a curry, which we all enjoyed for dinner.
This had been the best day so far for quality and quantity of whitewater.
Day 8 – Monday 25th
Today we paddled the remainder of Jungle Corridor – an amazing collection of whitewater rapids interspersed with stunning landscapes. At the end of Jungle Corridor there is a waterfall coming in from the left bank. We took the opportunity to stop here for lunch and take our first showers since leaving Kathmandu! From the waterfall to where we stopped for camp was mainly flat water with only a couple of smaller rapids. We stopped for the day at approximately 1430, spending the afternoon sunbathing and reading my book. This evening we also had our best camp fire so far – being one of the first groups down since monsoon means that there was normally quite a selection of firewood, but Ben had a penchant for burning things and throwing all of our collected firewood onto the fire in one go. This evening we kept him away from the fire and let it burn slowly.
Day 9 – Tuesday 26th
This morning I woke up to the view in this photo – not a bad start to the day!
Not only were we paddling some amazing whitewater but we were also treated to some stunning views
Today was a short day, with only a two hour paddle to where we were to make camp on a beach formed at the confluence between the Sun Kosi and the Tamur. This confluence marks 260km paddled. From here it is only a 10km paddle to Chatra where we are to meet our jeep tomorrow to take us to Mulghat. Below this confluence the river takes on a new name – the Sapta Kosi, meaning seven rivers. From here it flows out across the plains all the way to the Ganges and eventually into the Bay of Bengal. The seven rivers are the Sun Kosi, Bhote Kosi, Tamba Kosi, Dudh Kosi, Indrawarti, Arun and Tamur.
The afternoon was spent entertaining the kids from Trebini Bazaar, the local village. As this was the first place any of us had managed to get any phone signal since getting on the river eight days ago we also took the opportunity to catch up with with the world via text message. After dinner Jethro and I lay looking up at the stars discussing various deep and meaningful matters of life and the world before we got another early night.
Day 10 – Wednesday 27th
An early start – 0815 on the river – saw us setting off on the short final stretch of the river. We paddled past a temple on the left bank, a place only accessible by foot from Chatra but sees a pilgrimage every January consisting of tens of thousands of people. Rounding the last corner of the trip we were both amazed to see the suddenness with which the mountains disappeared and the plans (or terai) appeared. We filtered off into the irrigation channel for the final couple of kilometres to Chatra, where upon arrival we packed up before making our way to a local bar for our first cold drinks since Kathmandu.
Loaded up ready to head to Mulghat
We set off in the jeep around midday for the three hour drive to Mulghat, which took us up and into the Tamur valley. We stopped for briefly at the top to take in the stunning view back over the valley with plains in the distance. Arriving in Mulghat what seemed like the entire village turned out to watch us re-inflate and load the raft before we set off downstream. We only paddled for about 45 minutes before stopping to make camp. Following a relaxing afternoon spent trying local sugar cane and some random local drink that Ben had procured from a local village, during the evening we spent more time simply taking in the amazing view of all the stars – even managing to catch a glimpse of a shooting star.
Day 11 – Thursday 29th
It is difficult to find words to describe the section of the Tamur from Mulghat to its confluence with the Sun Kosi some 35km downstream. One amazing rapid would lead straight into the next and everytime I looked around everyone in the group was grinning from ear to ear. Following quite a gentle trip down the Sun Kosi where every day we were presented with long sections of flat water, this section of the Tamur was completely the opposite – the only bit of flat water that I can remember was the final few hundred metres above the confluence. This is what we had come all this way for. The majority of the rapids were read-and-run, with only a couple requiring prior inspection. Due to the sheer quantity of rapids it would have taken us days to get photos of most of them so we only stopped to get pictures of the more interesting ones.
The most entertaining moment of the trip happened on a rapid called Hell’s Hole, which is an innocuous looking
rapid consisting of some fun wave trains. However, behind one of the waves just over half way down was lurking a rather sticky hole! I only realised this as I crested the wave and immediately dropped into said hole. As I was side-surfing the hole trying to work my escape I saw the raft crest the same wave and end up in the hole with me. Sound fun? Well it gets better! Four out of the five people in the raft were almost immediately thrown clear before the raft flushed a few seconds later. Not much later I managed to escape after digging my nose in and squirting free. After regrouping on the bank Jethro said that he was also stuck in a hole when he was joined by the raft. After a bit of confusion it transpired that we were all stuck in the same hole, but due to the shape of it Jethro and I were unable to see each other with the raft sitting between us!
Patrick despairing at the hole which surprised us all
The remainder of the river passed without further incident and by mid-afternoon we found ourselves back at the beach at the confluence of the Tamur and Sun Kosi, where we had camped two nights previously. We set up camp in exactly the same spot, although care was taken to ensure that the toilet hole was dug in a different place! As I wrote my diary entry for today, Partrick was lying in the shade of the raft reading his book whilst Jethro was playing a game of “throw stones at the little kids”, which I didn’t think was a particularly fair game – Jethro was outnumbered four-to-one with the kids throwing stones back at him!
Day 12 – Friday 29th
Setting off from camp at 0850 we only had 10km to paddle before commencing the long journey back to Kathmandu. An hour later we were on the beach at Chatra laying out all the kit to dry before we pack it up. With all our personal kit packed we left Ben, Ras and Rem to look after everything as Shankar took us to a bar in town for a cold drink whilst waiting for our bus to Kathmandu. It would later transpire that there was no bus to Kathmandu from here today so we had to make other arrangements. We took a lunch of Dhal Baat before getting on a local bus to Inaruwa. Ben, Ras and Rem had loaded all the gear onto the roof of the bus (including the 90kg raft – no mean feat!). This journey took a couple of hours and went through a lot of little villages along what can only be called rough tracks. The bumpy ride was worth it for the sights we got to see. This bus dropped us at the bus station (looked more like a road side to me!) in Inaruwa where we had to unload everything and wait for the night bus, due in three hours time, to pick us up. As we waited we witnessed that the Nepalese believe nothing is too big to be carried on a humble bicycle, as demonstrated by one man carrying some ten metre bamboo poles on his bike along a road shared with buses, lorries, trucks, cars, motorbikes, rickshaws, bicycles, pedestrians as we well as animals. The fading light didn’t seem to phase any of the road users either as they carried on regardless, leaning on their horns.
On the local bus
The night bus arrived just as the sun was setting so we loaded all the gear on the rood (and discovered just how hard it is to load a 90kg raft onto a bus roof!) before settling down on board for the 14 hour journey. The seats had almost no leg room and the road was bumpy. The short tarmacked sections of road were worse than the un-tarmacked sections because the driver would speed up regardless of the quality of tarmac – we would just hit all the bumps and pot-holes faster! The bus would stop every few hours to allow everyone to get off, stretch their legs and purchase refreshments. During one such stop we were treated to our second helping of Dhal Baat of the day.
Day 13 – Saturday 30th
Sun rise as we approached the Kathmandu Valley
The above photo was taken as the sun rose during our last rest stop, approximately 25km from Kathmandu. The journey from here became more interesting as, during the long climb up and into the Kathmandu Valley, the bus lost the use of first gear!
The bus dropped us off on the Kathmandu ring road at about 0900, tired, battered and bruised. From here we took a truck into Thamel where we dropped off the kit at the Mountain River Rafting boat store before Jethro, Patrick and I set off in search of a hotel to drop our stuff at. Jethro and I then proceeded to wander around some of the other rafting offices in the Thamel district trying to find a trip up to the Bhote Kosi in the next couple of days which we could join. By midday we had signed up to join a two day trip run by Ultimate Descents Nepal leaving tomorrow at 0630. After collecting our kit from the MRR boat store and leaving at the Ultimate Descents office, we went for lunch with Patrick before going back to the hotel to catch up on some much needed sleep.
More photos from our trip can be found at http://Photos.AndyWicks.com/Nepal2010
To find out how the trip up to the Bhote Kosi went, along with the remainder of our trip, please check back soon
