Karnali River Rafting
One of the finest big volume rafting and
kayaking trips in Nepal-spectacular,
remote, jungle-clad canyons, Big white
and abundant wildlife. The Karnali is
Nepal's longest and largest river and
with its tributaries it drains most of
the far west of Nepal-the 'wild west' as
many people call it, rising in the
vicinity of Tibet's holy Mount Kailash
and glacier of Kanziroba Himal,
other small peaks, as well as Rara lake
rapid encountered on this river is 1 to
5 class. This bottom section of the
river definitely lives up to that
name-the area that it flows through is
wild and relatively unpopulated with
some of the most pristine jungle scenery
in Nepal abundant wildlife.
From the frontier town of Surkhet there
is an unique and lovely two-day trek
through lowland Sal forest to the
village of Saul in the seldom seen area
of far West Nepal. From Sauli it's 180
km to the nest road access at Chisopani,
on the northern border of the Royal
Bardia National Park. The river section
takes about seven days, giving plenty of
time to explore some of the side canyons
and waterfalls, which comes in to the
river valley. For 180 kilometers we
won't see a single sign of the modern
world. It's one of the last places in
Nepal that you can see old growth forest
and have a real chance of seeing Nepal's
wildlife.
The rapids are also pretty wild, with
the river building to its climax in
these lower canyons shortly after the
sharp bend in the river 'the elbow' by
the Lohore Khola, the valley narrows
into a series of canyons, the river
speeds up, and there are big rapids, one
leading into another, almost
continuously down to the Seti river from
the 'Elbow' down to the Seti the
gradient is 3m/km (15ft a mile), but
after here, the gradient eases, as the
river winds through some magnificent
un-spoilt scenery, eventually emerging
onto the plains and flowing through the
Royal Bardia National Park to join the
Ganges. Finally leaving you close to
Bardia National Park, where you can
combine your rafting adventure with a
safari trip and maybe spot some of the
park’s one-horned rhinos and elusive
tigers or you can either drive back or
fly back to Kathmandu.
Go on this trip if you want a true
expedition style adventure and a totally
classic river journey.
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