Mike H, Dave H, Brian, Mark Mc John H and Pete B spent 17 days in Nepal paddling the Sun Kosi, and Tamur rivers.
This was more than just a paddling adventure, so snippets of shared thoughts form the whole team are combined to give a flavour of what we experienced.
Our first campsite was on a lovely sandy beach, and this proved to be the case every day. The rivers have shaped themselves over the many years and have provided the perfect campsites.Drift wood collected for camp fire and chores done just in time before we lost the light. Sun setting around 5.30pm.
The Sun Kosi runs west to east down the spine of Nepal and even at these low levels is a mighty river with huge volume. The next day we stopped for lunch just before Harkapur rapid. This intimidating rapid is a result of the wide river being squeezed between rock face and boulders. I inspected and decided on my line, however I was turned round part way down and ended up running nearly half of it backwards.
Monkeys were seen more frequently as we left the nearby road behind. More small villages and children making their way to school, crossing the river on wagon inner tubes!
The Tamur , our second river river definitely feels more remote and the sense of adventure really kicks in. Every campsite was as beautiful as the last and lying in your tent looking up at the stars was amazing.The last couple of days really increases in difficulty, and inspections were more common. I can’t remember their names, not all rapids had them, but standing on the river bank looking down at your lines really heightened your senses.
Overall I had one swim and about six rolls in anger during the whole trip. It would have been good to have not swam at all but the sheer force and power of the Himalayan water is really something.
Our last camp was at the confluence with the Sun Kosi, we enjoyed our last day and night mixing with the locals, enjoying a beer or two and cake, cooked by Dip, wow.delicious. So this was the end of my Nepal experience. I can honestly say without a doubt I would return in a heartbeat. The people, the rivers and the scenery were just perfect.
It’s only when you get home that you have time to reflect, and echoing in my head were the words “Well it’s a long way from the Cocker” and I couldn’t agree more. What a journey it’s been so far and who knows what lies around the next corner.
Trips away just give you that time for reflection, a move away from the normal routines of life, get up at first light, asleep just after dark.I never really sleep all the way through and often have an hour or so awake in the night. A good time to reflect.
There is lots to think about, sometimes if a big rapid is coming up tomorrow – maybe a little apprehension, if it has gone well, a nice glowing feeling. I always think of loved ones at home, both human and canine, and thoughts move on to the many humans and dogs come to visit us during our camp. Both I suspect are looking for food and I am not sure about getting too close to either. But we chat with what little English we have in common and watch them going to school across the river on an old inner tube and makeshift paddle.
The pools are 80m wide flowing fast, the drops ride up to 300m long, grade 3 they say or maybe 4, with trains of waves 4 to 5 feet high, occasionally more, add breaking tops and the odd hidden hole, oh, oh don’t go there! And eddies lines are occasionally metres wide boils.
Our groundhog day becomes food, paddle, food, paddle, tea, soup, dinner, lie on the sand in shorts around the driftwood fire gazing at clear skies. 10.00 p.m. the last of us slip to slumber. Only subtle changes in green and ochre landscape and the arrangement of waves differ each day. Very few rapids need inspection, most go on sight. A common theme seems float the top of each confusion, see 80m of deep water funnel into exploding wave trains…. Think I can see a route…… but the idea of going down there seems so ridiculous, but so much fun.
Harkapur is a notable rapid, Changed by the Monsoon rains the river width reduces & the gradient increases. It is fast, looks big (is big) & is certainly a little daunting. After inspecting it, as with any rapid, you make a decision, take a breath & commit. This was helped by Dip saying “Yep, you’ll be ok.”. Trusting the judgement of a guide is a strange thing but he has seen you paddle & if he has faith in your ability and is happy to sort out a swim, if it happens, then take that onboard & make the call.
Each evening was a process of erecting our tents, gathering fire wood, digging the toilet & helping out where we could whilst letting Dip, Cem & Setu work their magic. What can be produced on 2 gas rings on a beach next to a river is astounding. OK the ambiance helps but what they created was as good, if not better than I’ve eaten in any restaurant. Then an evening around a fire watching the stars, lucky with the weather & cool but not cold. We all had our own little routines & it was lovely the way we drifted around each other like fire sparks in the darkness.
For me, Nepal was never just about the paddling, though the chance to experience ‘big water’ was certainly an enticement. I’d anticipated an ‘adventure’, and that was what we got, from start to finish. I was last in Nepal in 1982 and remember vividly the colourful sights, noise and apparent chaos of Kathmandu and other towns. Thankfully none of this has changed, particularly the anarchic approach to driving. The journeys to our two rivers formed a key part of the experience.
Once on river the `Big Water` more than met my expectations. It was both exhilarating and intimidating with the ability to seriously question my paddling confidence. With the sound of the river reverberating through our river-beach campsites, sleep was often interrupted by dark thoughts of the rapids to come and my ability to cope; am I competent or not?! However, we were a strong and coherent team, LCC together with our Nepali guides, and everyone pulled together when things went awry. Advice and encouragement was freely given, my technique slowly adapted, and apprehension turned to occasional delight – mine mostly, but I also sensed a shared pleasure in my success.
We had a wonderful adventure, I’ve never been to Nepal before, Kathmandu was as busy, crazy and colourful as I’d hoped, the crew guided us to sights and views that were stunning. The real adventure began after the Sunkoshi, an afternoon in Dhranan; which is not a tourist town, chickens in cages next door to trendy cafes, with monkeys and cows roaming the busy streets. Now imagine five, middle aged white guys with stiff shoulders looking for massages. What a hoot! Then onward, the ‘new road’ up the Tamur, it will be a new road in fifteen years or so, when it’s finished. The delay then took us over passes with sun set views of the Himalayan giants, Kanchenjunga and Makalu to then be benighted in a small bazaar. The hotel, which was more like a house with a spare room, had never ever had foreign guests, our guides got them organised, helped them with the cooking and we all had an unforgettable evening. Feedback on this “add it to the itinerary it was fantastic“.
The final adventure, internal flights, the 23hr. delay was pushing our luck to get back for the flight home, but hey, that’s adventure.
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