Dear Baral
This was the first time I booked directly through the WEB , and I thought it's a little risky, especially when I had to send my money to Katmandu and I wend to Delhi .
An interaction programme was organized on June 28, 2005 with twenty Thai Tour Operators who came here for FAM tour to share their experiences during their stay in Nepal .
His Majesty King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev inaugurated the Promote Nepal-2005 exhibition amid a special ceremony at the City Centre in Doha, Qatar, on June 14, 2005.
The Sun Koshi offers the longest trip
in Nepal in terms of river days. It has many tributaries
entering from the north that drain Himalayan peaks
including the mighty mount Everest. The character of
the river changes with amazing wide valley sections
and large sandy islands becoming narrow jungle gorges
and corridors.
There is only one large village on the river, the hardest rapid - Hakapur is
named after it.
The upper section is known as the Bhote Kosi, an adrenaline charged section of
river described separately in this guide. The commercial trips start at Dolalghat,
which is close to the confluence of the Bhote kosi, and the Indrawati.
You can expect the trip to take 10 days, this may include a lay-over day. Post
monsoon it can be rafted in 8 days, 6 in a kayak.
The Sun kosi has the great advantage
of having a Put-in point near Kathmandu. You could
expect the bus to take about three hours, which is
ideal to unpack, have lunch and depart at the start
of the afternoon.
On the first day you are likely to encounter
big and bouncy wave trains at class 2-3 and you may reach
Meat-grinder (4-) close to the confluence of the Tamba
Kosi. From here class 3+ to 4- is the order of the day,
with some rapids like High Anxiety (4-) which are just
massive surf waves during early October descents.
The Hardest rapid Hakapur (5-) is just before the halfway point and often a layover
day follows at Little Devisthan beach. Below here the Dudh kosi enters and the
river narrows into the jungle corridor - Imaginative names of rapids within (Rhino
rock, No Quiche, Dummy to the wall, Roller coaster, El Wasto!, Arthur Daley?).All
the above in the class 4 region. The river continues then with several more rapids
at a lower grade. The Arun and Tamur rivers join just before the Sun Kosi breaks
out of the valley it has been held in for 270Km into a vast wide plain taking
it eventually into the bay of Bengal. In a kayak it can be done more quickly
but the thought of a self-sufficient trip of that length would make me think
twice - most raft operators offer good deals to kayakers (especially early season)
and I would recommend using raft support or tagging along to a scheduled raft
departure.
Ten days is a long time on a river - the only other advice is to bear in mind
that you are confined to the area of an 8 man raft for 8 - 10 days with people
who you may not have had chance to get to know beforehand. Lay-over days are
a great way of breaking up that time - check if the operator you use includes
that option.
Lastly, the journey to the river may be short but the journey back ain't......unless
you fly, you're looking at a 16 to 20 hour bus journey from hell.
