Whitewater River Rafting in Nepal:

Whatever your desire for adventure, it is easy to find the perfect river in Nepal. With a wide range of difficulties from a gentle 1-day float down the Treshuli river, Seti river, to an exhilarating 10-day adventure through the rapids of the remote Tamur, Arun and Karnali, there is an experience for everyone waiting in Nepal's famous white waters. Nepal's rivers change with the seasons. Each year, after the heavy monsoon rains the waters swell, changing the run of the rivers and the nature of the rapids. New rapids are created, others become more difficult and some simply impossible to navigate. It is important to remember that some of the white water action you are about to read about could have changed by the time you come to run the river. At MRR we are constantly monitoring changes in the rivers and their rapids, so that we can always ensure the safety of our clients and plan expeditions with precision

Nepal has earned a reputation as one of the best destinations in the world for white water rafting. For the rafting purpose, rivers are graded on a scale of one to six depending on how wild they are. Four grades are considered to be quite challenging without being exceedingly dangerous to the novice rafter. Grade five requires some previous river experiences.

River Name & Days	Best Season	Grade*	Water Flow	Departure Date
Trushuli (1-3 DAYS)	Sep - Dec	3+	500-300	on request
	Jan - May	3	250-1100	on request
	Jun - Aug	3+	1600-4800	on request

River Name & Days	Best Season	Grade*	Water Flow	Departure Date
Seti Khola (2 DAYS)	Sep - Dec	3	1400	on request
	Jan - May	2+		on request
	Jun - Aug	2+		on request

River Name & Days	Best Season	Grade*	Water Flow	Departure Date
Bhote Koshi (2 DAYS)	Sep - Dec	4+	30-170	on request
	Jan - May	4-	20-50	on request
	Jun - Aug	4+	90-220	on request

River Name & Days	Best Season	Grade*	Water Flow	Departure Date
Kali Gandaki (3 DAYS)	Sep - Dec	4-	60-550	on request
	Jan - May	3+	25-100	on request
	Jun - Aug	3+	300-800	on request

River Name & Days	Best Season	Grade*	Water Flow	Departure Date
Marshyangdi (4-5 DAYS)	Sep - Dec	5-	50-480	on request
	Jan - May	4+	30-100	on request
	Jun - Aug	NR	250-600	on request

River Name & Days	Best Season	Grade*	Water Flow	Departure Date
Sun Koshi (8-9 DAYS)	Sep - Dec	5	250-1700	on request
	Jan - May	4+	200-300	on request
	Jun - Aug	NR	700-2400	on request

River Name & Days	Best Season	Grade*	Water Flow	Departure Date
Karnali (10 DAYS)	Sep - Dec	5	200-1300	on request
	Jan - May	4+	150-430	on request
	Jun - Aug	NR	700-1700	on request

River Name & Days	Best Season	Grade*	Water Flow	Departure Date
Arun (9 DAYS)	Sep - Dec	5-	150-800	on request
	Jan - May	4	100-300	on request
	Jun - Aug	NR	600-1100	on request

River Name & Days	Best Season	Grade*	Water Flow	Departure Date
Tamur (9 DAYS)	Sep - Dec	5	90-750	on request
	Jan - May	5-	40-200	on request
	Jun - Aug	NR	500-950	on request

Grading System:Maintaining the highest standard of safety and service, river trips have been classified in accordance to status of water flow, rapids & remoteness.

Class 1	Easy: Moving water with occasional small rapids. Few or no obstacles.
Class 2	Moderate: Small Rapids with regular waves. Some maneuvering required but easy to navigate.
Class 3	Difficult: Rapids with irregular waves and hazards that need avoiding. More difficult maneuvering required but routes are normally obvious. Scouting from shore is occasionally required.
Class 4	Very Difficult: Large rapids that require careful maneuvering. Dangerous hazards. Scouting from shore is often necessary and rescue is difficult. Kayakers should be able to roll. Turbulent water and large irregular waves may flip rafts. In the event of a mishap there is significant risk of loss damage and/or injury.
Class 5	Extremely Difficult: Difficulties of class 5 carried out to the extreme of navigability. Might possibly (but not probably) be run by a team of experts at the right water level, in the right conditions with all possible safety precautions, but still with considerable hazard to life.
Class 6	Extremely difficult but can be run by extremely Rafters exports: Extremely difficult rapids, high chances destruction of equipments and very slim chances of rescue.

*For consistencey river grades are taken from the guide book "Whitewater Nepal".

Rafting River

Trisuli (1-3 days)
It is one of the most popular rivers for the rafters having easy access by road along its major part. It runs between Kathmandu and Pokhara. It is about 3 hours drive to the west from Kathmandu where the rafting can be easily managed to end at a place where a wildlife tour begins in Chitwan. Over 250 species of birds are found around the river. The river flows through grain fields and villages to the surrounding hills. 1-2 days tour from Kathmandu or Pokhara or Chitwan. Normal graded river. Easiest organizing one. Ending near Royal Chitwan National Park.

A river, which is most popular with impressive gorges, exciting rapids some easier sections and easily accessible from Kathmandu. Recommended for intermediate rafter and those who have limited time and would like to have a family trip.

Seti (2 days)
2 days tour. Starting from Kathmandu or Pokhara and ending at Chitwan. Normal graded river good for beginners. Less crowded by tourists.
The seti is an excellent 2 days trip in an isolated area. Where beautiful jungle, plenty of easy rapids and fantastic Himalayan scenery. The river is an excellent for beginners, intermediate, learners and family trips.

Bhote Koshi (2 days)

Bhote Koshi lies to the east of Kathmandu where the rafters experience rafting through a veritable maze of canyons and boulders. 2 days tour from Kathmandu to Kathmandu. One of the wildest rafting river, Steep blows. Starting near from the Nepal-Tibet border.
A beautiful mountain river, Nepal's shortest and wild river for your limited time or desire of white water running. A few hours drive from Kathmandu offers a relaxed day rafting.
Bhote Koshi means "river from Tibet". This river offers quite a lot of steep, technical and challenging sections.

Kaligandaki (3 days)
Starting and ending at Pokhara, west Nepal. 3-5 hours rafting every day. 4 graded river. Classic and moderate rafting tour.

Nepal's medium length river trip, turbulent rapids, slow drifting, white water, world's deepest gorges, rich wildlife, historical and feeling of remoteness.

River of Kali rises in Mustang, an enclave of Nepal poking in to Tibet on the other side of Himalaya. Then flows between world's deepest gorge and in an arid open valley. Where drifting through technical, challenging streams.

Marshyangdi River (5 days)
5 days tour from Kathmandu or Pokhara. 4+ graded river in Middle West Nepal for steep blows expedition. Narrow and a rocky river, it is a four days run through uninterrupted water, which lies to the western part of Nepal.

"Steep and challenging" Marshyangdi means "Raging River" in the local dialect and this aptly describes one of the best white water running in the world through continuous, exhilarating white water and Great Mountain scenery. We trek through charming Gurung village and arid valley for one day to reach Ngadi. Where we put in. Few rivers rival this for exhilarating white water and sustained sections of steep technical rafting test our teamwork. Rapids are steep, technical and consecutive making Marshyangdi a serious undertaking.

Distance: 50 Km. Aprox.

Sun Koshi (8-10 days)
Sunkoshi rafting starts from Baseri (dolalghat) and end at Chatara, requiring 08 to 09 days. Baseri is 3 hours drive from Kathmandu to the east. Among many advantages of a long river trip, one is a pleasant diversity of things within a short span of time with a chance to see 250 different species of orchids and 400 species of birds available around the basin. 4-5 graded Wild River in east Nepal. Challenging one. Tour not recommended in the months February to April.
The warm water of Sun Koshi surges for 270 kms, there are dozens of adrenaline pumping big rapids and miles of calm water to reflect on this beautiful area with scenery. There is not any road and town between starting and ending point. Sun Koshi means "River of gold" perhaps named after the gold, that is found from the river gravel or alternatively it refers to the orange color of the water in the monsoon when it is thick with flood.

Karnali River in the "wild west" (11 days)
The river lies on the far west from Kathmandu. The rafters run through narrow gorges having challenging rapids. The biggest river in Far West Nepal, starting and ending at Kathmandu, 3 to +4 graded Moderate River.
The Karnali, Nepal's mightiest river, descends through the Himalayas in the series of magnificent gorges. It drains most of the far west of Nepal. It is called "Wild West". The area it flows through is wild and unspoiled with some of the pristine jungle scenery in Nepal and abundant wildlife. The Karnali is a gem, combining lowland trek.
Exceptional big volume rafting through tropical jungle deserted beaches and small villages. The rapids are also petty wilds, with the river building to its climax in these lower canyons in a matter of hours, as the river rises the difficulty increase exponentially.

Arun River (9 Days)

The Arun is respected as one of the most mighty and powerful rivers of Nepal. The lower valley is in parts quite well populated with a wide variety of different tribes. The whole area is relatively un-spoilt, and sees only a few trekking groups, mainly taking the Eastern approach to Everest and Makalu Base Camp.

We schedule rafting trips on the Arun every year. Tumlingtar is the obvious and most convenient starting point and we recommends that you fly here as it is only a short direct flight from Kathmandu and only forty minute’s walk from the river. The 70 km down to Chatra has been kayaked in a day, but normally makes a relaxed 3 day raft trip and you can then fly back to Kathmandu from Biratnagar.

Tamur Rafting (9 Days)

The Tamur and its tributaries drain the snows of Kanchenjunga third highest peak in the world. The river is the sixth largest river in Nepal and seems to have a feeling of thrusting power and of being constrained by its valley sides. Tamur and its tributaries have a steep gradient and are probably only of interest to expedition kayakers. Downstream from Dobhan the gradient is more reasonable, but the river profile is unusual in that the river is steeper in the last 30km before its confluence with the Sun Koshi. The Kabelli River adds about a quarter to the volume of the river but from here down there are no substantial tributaries.

The valley itself is beautiful and un-spoilt with relatively few villages and little agriculture. Valley sides are well wooded there are good beaches for camping and plentiful signs of wildlife. Local people are a fascinating collage of tribes and castes. Local don’t see lot of westerners and are very welcoming.

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