Once, an Irish lady exclaimed to me, “Look, this newspaper report says that load-shedding has been curtailed to only eight hours a day,” and then, in a tone fairly dripping with sarcasm, “Only eight hours!” Indeed, such is the state of affairs in the country today, and while locals have somehow got used to it, considering even eight hours as ‘only’, it must be a really unique experience for people of de developed nations, where a few hours of blackout would probably create a panic situation.
Ironically, Nepal is a country rich in water resource, with plenty of rivers originating in the mighty Himalayas. So rich, that studies have shown Nepal to have hydropower potential second to none in the world. Now, don’t ask why it hasn’t been utilized properly. Reasons are too many. Anyway, leaving this aside, the country’s intrepid tourism entrepreneurs have made good use of these rivers for another good purpose—white water rafting. Oh yes, rafting has been one of the country’s prime attractions for quite some time now. One could even say that, aside from climbing and trekking, rafting is the number three adventure activity for which the country is justly famous.
To recapitulate, Nepal’s rivers (the major ones being Kosi, Narayani, Gandaki, Karnali, and Mahakali) originate from the glaciers of the mighty Himalayas. Riding down the crashing waves and swirling rapids of these rushing mountain rivers in an inflatable rubber raft could be one experience that will stay in your memory forever. And, don’t worry, there’s plenty of rafting operators, most of them in and around the Thamel area, who have been in the business for at least a couple of decades, which means that they are very experienced, thus assuring you a safe ride.
Before you go white water rafting, you might want to know more about the technicalities. Well, first of all, there’s a grading system for the rivers, with Grade 1 being the most tranquil and Grade 6 being really hazardous, so much so, that you wouldn’t want to go rafting there. And, anyway, nobody’s going to take you either, because some rapids there are considered to be almost impossible to raft in. Generally, if you are in good physical shape and at home in water, you can go rafting on Grade 1 to Grade 3 rivers without any problem. If you have done this before, and are more confident, you could try out the higher graded rivers.
