Himalayan waterfalls Photo courtesy of Christian Chester

Modi Khola

Difficulty: class 4

Volume: Oct, 20 cms

Gradient: 20m/km

Summary: I ran this river twice. The first time it was just Trent and I. When we went to pay our taxi driver he wanted three times the amount we had agreed on, which resulted in a big argument and him marching off to the village, telling all the villagers that we were cheap. After that no one would porter our boats. We had to carry our boats for three hours over a 500m pass into the Modi khola valley. The run itself is a real pretty class 3 continuous boulder garden with lots of class 4 on the upper parts. However, the last 27km is class 2 dog water.

Upper Modi Khola

Difficulty: class 5

Volume: Oct, 25 cms

Gradient: 30/km

Summary: This river I ran twice as well, once in early October and once in mid October. The first run, done in higher water, was a high-speed class 4-5-bobsled run, with only three portages in 12 km. When we got down to the town called Birethanti we walked a side creek and ran two out of three 10-meter waterfalls, which are all runable at different flows. This is one my favorite runs in Nepal.

Upper Upper Seti

Difficulty: class 3+

Volume: Oct, 20 cms

Gradient: 20/km

Summary: The best thing about this river was taking the bus home after a night of partying and one hour of sleep. The day was a national holiday so everything was three times the normal price for taxis, porters and buses. We set off and after walking for three hours a bus drove past us. Then we got to the river, which was described in the guide book as 'soupadoupa class 4-5.' It turned out to be class 3+ boulder grovel, hence the bed at the end of the day was the highlight.

Upper Bhoti Kosi

Difficulty: class 5

Volume: Nov, 30 cms

Gradient: 16m/km

Summary: This is a beautiful piece of class 5 water with a 200m deep sheer-sided canyon, one portage and roadside access. A great section of white water, but one you want to have at the right flow.

Big boulder gardens Photo courtesy of Christian Chester

Tamba Kosi

Difficulty: class 5

Volume: Nov, 80 cms

Gradient: 12m/km

Summary: I was a little dubious about running this river since the guide book described it as "most groups who have run this river portage some of the rapids, but all rapids have, in fact, been run at some time in the right conditions, and by some of the world's best boaters. They have called them class 5, but others reckon there are class 6 drops."

We were running at the end of the monsoon so it was still considered high water and I wasn't sure what we were getting ourselves in for. It ended up being 44km of awesome class 4 with some stompy class 5 in between. An awesome trip, and a definite highlight of our trip.

The first time I went to Nepal it was full of tourists, business was bustling and most of my Nepali raft guide friends were busy and had plenty of money, (samasta a china, "no problem"). This time it was different; the shop owners were milling outside their shops with nothing to do, the towns were empty by 11pm, and you were stopped every 50km by an army check post. But, it was still an amazing place to visit; you can never take away the warm hospitality of the people, the laughing of the Nepali children and waking up in the morning to a panoramic view of the Himalayas.

Although Nepal is considered a dangerous country to travel, it has so much to offer to the budget traveller and especially the low budget paddler. The Nepalis hold westerners in high esteem and will in no way put a westerner under any form of danger, but take you in as their own. I hope they sort their problems out so the tourist flood back in, making it one of the most popular places to visit. As for the river scum of the world, they will always be in Nepal as it a place to chill and paddle the might of the Himalayas.

Courtesy of New Zealand Adventure

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