A deservedly
popular and medium length of river trip
is combining exhilarating white water with
fine scenery. One of the famous names of
Himalayan Rivers, The Kali Gandaki rises
in Mustang and an enclave of Nepal Poking
into Tibet on the other side of the Himalayas
here; it is a flat and braided river, flowing
in an arid open valley. As it tumbles down
between the majestic Dhaulagiri and the
Annapurna ranges, it creates one of the
world's deepest gorges. The explorer Michael
Peissel ran this stretch of the river in
a small hovercraft in 1973 and at least
two other groups have rafted and kayaked
in this section.
All day you have to continuous keeping paddlers
busy against all technical rapids on the
Kali Gandaki River. Both experienced and
novice rafters love this. Nowhere else is
it possible to find such diversity on a
3 day raft trip. Nice drops, sparkling chutes
and turbulent rapids provide class III to
IV+ runs during the fall and spring seasons.
After your exhilarating white water trip
you have options either to drive or fly
back to Kathmandu or to visit the Royal
Chitwan National Park or again you can go
for the trekking trip in the popular area
of Annapurna region for few days.
Outline
Itinerary
Day
1
At
around 7/8 am, you drive for
around 3-4 hrs to the put-in
point near Beni. Throughout
this drive you have stunning
views of the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri
peaks as well as the sacred
Machapuchare. Upon arrival,
you unload all the equipment
and you will receive a full
safety briefing. Have lunch
and then the guide will take
you to the river starting point
ready to begin your exciting
3 days raft trip. First day
you begin with some class III
rapids this is a warm up for
the team, after 10/15 minutes
you will be encountering 2 big
class 4 rapids i.e. ‘Small
Brother’ and ‘Big
Brother’. Your guide will
be making you work hard at doing
exercises to work as a team
maneuvering the raft efficiently.
After scouting the rapid, the
safety kayaks will go first
then the raft. Soon after encountering
these two big rapids you will
reach the Modi Khola confluence
where you will choose the beach
for the evening campsite.
Day
2
Once
the rafts are packed you start
down the river for a day mixed
with adrenaline calm and spectacular
scenery including views of Annapurna
1 and Himachuli. You will tackle
many class III sections and
the challenging class IV named
REFUND. This section of river
is abundant with vines, wildlife
and lush vegetation hanging
from the cliff faces. Your campsite
is below the village of Purti
Ghat.
Day
3
Soon
after being back on the water
you reach the holy village of
Seti Beni. The river has deposited
a house size boulder in the
confluence with a smaller tributary.
Since confluence is considered
holy places in the Hindu religion,
this boulder has become an important
shrine to the local river people.
There is usually a great audience
to watch and listen to the spectacle
as each team negotiates the
rapid that has formed around
this holy place. Not long after
this it is time for the journey
to end. You load up the gear
and prepare for the bus journey
back to Pokhara.
