Whitewater Rafting on the Bhote Khosi

We just got back from a two day rafting trip on the Bhote Kosi river. We had a lot of fun. The river has class IV and V rapids on it. Because its late in the season for rafting the water was pretty low and there were a lot of rocks. We left Kathmandu on the first day and drove about three hours to the first put in. We floated down the river and through several class III rapids. The water was not as cold as rafting in Alaska, but it wasn't very much warmer either. We stopped for lunch along the river and shared our lunch spot with a group of curious cows.



After lunch things got more interesting. Coming into one of the bigger rapids on that secton of river our raft went into a rock, got pinned there and flipped over sideways dumping most of us into the water. The current sucked me under the boat and through the wrong side of the rapid. I popped out of the first rapid and floated on downstream through a few other waves. The other boat came floating by upside down. Apparently my boat was still stuck on the rock and the other boat had flipped on another rapid, so there were about a dozen of us floating down the river. The safety kayakers gathered up some folks and the rest of us climbed onto the over-turned boat and paddled it to shore. Eventually they got the boat I was in unstuck and we regrouped on the bank. No big deal, lets keep going. Some of the other folks were pretty shaken up and two dropped out for the following day. I managed to get thrown out of the boat once more that day but after the ride I'd taken earlier it wasn't a big deal.



We spent the night at the Borderlands Resort. It was a nice place right on the river with beautiful waterfalls coming down from high on the mountainsides. We put in on the upper Bhote Kosi aound 10:30 in the morning. The second day runs more challenging sections of the river. There were definitely some nervous faces in the group before we set off. We floated downstream through some pretty good rapids before stopping for lunch. After lunch we got our boat broadsided on a rock maybe 10 yards from the lunch spot. The boat got pinned against the rock and wrapped around it. Brian fell off the front of the boat and got to go down through a few nice waves before one of the kayakers got to him. The rest of us were stuck on the half of the raft that was out of the water, the left side of the raft was totally swamped. The other guides came back up the river bank to us and threw us a couple ropes. We secured the boat with one (although it was pretty secure against that rock) and used the other to get people off the raft. They would slide off the raft and into the water and then the rope would swing them with the current into shore. Everyone else got off the raft but the guide asked if I would stay and help him get the raft unstuck. We tried a few more useless things before breaking out a rope and a few pulleys to set up a hauling system on the bank. Once the guides rigged the ropes and started pulling they managed to tear three of the sewn D rings off the boat. We rerigged the system to try to flip the raft over. After a few tries we managed to flip the raft and the guide and I dove onto the inverted raft as it drifted by. The rope system swung us over to the shore. We packed up the gear and got back on the water. The rest of the trip down was pretty straight forward. Brian managed to get popped out again, we were both sitting up front where there isn't much to hook your feet under to keep you in the boat. The guides took the rafts through two class V rapids, but the clients all had to walk around. The rapids didn't look too bad but a swim in the middle would probably kill you. When the water is higher they can run those rapids because its less likely you would flip with the rocks deeper underwater. We finished off the day with a 3 hour bus ride back to Kathmandu and most of our boat went out to dinner together.



Just a few days left in Kathmandu. I'm trying to see some more of the sights before I leave. I've had a great time over here, but its just about time to be moving on.