Rafting Bhote Kosi River

The sun is just up when we gather for the still closed rating travel company early in the morning. Everyone is still half a-sleep when we were ready to leave at 7:30 with seven tourists and four guides. It was a three-hour drive in the minivan from the capital Kathmandu to the border with Chinese Tibet.

We stop at a field with a number of wooden houses where we leave most of our belongings for the weekend. In front of the building, in the shade, we first receive an extensive briefing of an hour from our guide. After that we’ve got some time during lunch to digest all this information which was intense.  

It’s half past one when I ty my helmet on my head and put on my safety jacket. We walk with two groups (we have two rafts) to the mighty Bhote Kosi river and brace ourselves in the boat. Our main guide reiterated that the river was currently running at 3 and sometimes 4 in terms of gradation, the latter actually too high for beginners. So we had to pay attention and listen carefully to the instructions.

These were repeated - "get down", "jump left", "all forward", "left back", "right forward" and "hold on". There would be a "safety tiger" paddling in a kayak for us and also one behind us. If you were going overboard one of the options are that you cling on the front of the kayak until the river would be quieter and you could get back in the boat. The guide took a seat in front of the boat and there was also an assistant rower in the boat to help us. Our belongings are tied in watertight containers. I think everything is safe now and we can go. 

There is little time to get used to the boat, the commando’s and the waves because it’s starting immediately. Large rocks stand upright in the water, we bang against the first waves and water comes into the boat. Our guide is calling out loud instructions and we try to remember what to do.

Luckily we’ve got a young and eager group and after our first waves when we try to stay in our spot in the boat it’s getting better. With beautiful weather, an unique landscape and a nice group we try to enjoy although it’s hard in the beginning. What is always the case; when you see it on a TV screen or on the shore it looks so easy – but when you’re in the boat and the water is banging against the sides it’s totally different. It’s so more intense and heavy. After an hour everyone is an experienced rafter, but suddenly somebody flips over the railing.

The young Englishman clings to the kayak (of the tiger) and is put back in our boat a little later. Luckily, he did not have any unpleasant things about his fall, which can happen with the many rocks in the water. It is the end of the afternoon when we moor at a green field with a number of wooden buildings on it. Here we are going to stay tonight - it is baptized borderland. Everyone is full of adrenaline, telling each other their own stories but we are also very tired. We have diner together, have a shower and some people stay a bit later with a drinik. I share with three others a big tent where we stay in bed tonight. Everyone goes to bed extremely early. 

I feel my muscles in the morning; there are some scrapes and bumps on the arms and legs. Main reason is that you want to brace yourself against the sides of the boat not to fly to the other side and/or overboard. The water is so powerfull that this is almost impossible.

Breakfast is served at 08:00 and two hours later we return to the boat. We raft more than two hours and then prepare ourselves for lunch. In the afternoon we also raft from 13:00 to 14:30. Then it is time to stop and I have to admit it’s more than enough for me. Half an hour later we are back in the minivan to kathmandu and our rafting adventure is over. Some people fall directly asleep.