About Whitewater Rafting/Kayaking Adventure of a life time Arun Gorges
The spectacular Arun River Gorges expedition is a trip for those interested in undertaking a remote expedition. The scenery on the trek and river journey is unrivalled and unspoiled. The Upper Arun is one of the most powerful and respected rivers in Nepal, cutting through the Himalaya with deep and awesome gorges, lush valleys and superb riverside beaches.
The powerful current and big volume water ensures huge and impressive rapids are encountered throughout the length of this river journey. The rapids are challenging and technical with a high degree of difficulty. The first part of the river trip consists of primo class 4-5 whitewater and is for adventure seekers.
The Arun’s source is up on the Tibetan plateau and this river and its tributaries drain a huge watershed. The expedition descends through an idyllic setting consisting of granite canyons, overhanging jungle and many varieties of plant and animal life. Only a few expeditions have been down this river so far and it is the first choice for those wanting a true adventure expedition into the wilderness.
In terms of topography it begins far north of Kathmandu in Tibet and swings in an easterly direction for around two hundred kilometres, draining the northern slopes of Everest and Makalu before cutting south through the Himalayas and into Nepal, it carves through the Himalayas providing some of the deepest and most impressive gorges that have fascinated explorers, travellers and river runners.
***Adventure Hub Nepal is organizing an expedition to the upper Arun Gorges.***
The journey to the put-in point for the rafting and kayaking on the Upper Gorges of the Arun River involves a 16-hour road trip from the nation’s capital, Kathmandu with transportation arranged by Adventure Hub Nepal. You will travel to Tumlingter or Bumlingtar by private bus. From here we will start our three day or four-day trek to our put in point which will be below Num village or the Apsuwa Khola tributary. We will paddle approximately fifty kilometres which will take three or four days of action packed rapids graded three to five with a few portages as well. Then the crew will be joined by the rest of the group to paddle the lower Arun from Tumlingtar.
From here we load up our gear boat with delicious fresh food for the next four or five days’ river journey of mostly grade 2 to 4 rapids. This section comprises of fun, bouncy white water where you can relax a bit and enjoy the spectacular scenery with your fellow paddlers. Paddle down into the Sun Kosi River and onto Chatra, the take-out point of Arun and Sun Kosi. If you don’t want to do the overnight bus trip from here back to Kathmandu (approximately 18 hours) it is also possible to arrange a flight from Biratnagar. This is a 1hour road journey from Chatra, and this flight takes around 35 minutes to Kathmandu and this will be an additional cost.
Arun River Expedition: Adventure Hub Nepal organizes all the logistics for the expedition; transport, food, permits, guides and the trekking, rafting and kayaking sections in the Arun valley. Ram ( Co-Director of Adventure Hub Nepal ) has been on the Arun Gorges before many years back with a Russian crew with kayaks and a bublick.
Ram revisited this spectacular place when Adventure Hub Nepal organised and succeeded in a great expedition in 2015 which was a first decent rafting trip with crew from United Kingdom, Canada, France and Nepal. We managed to run 80% percent of the river on our 16ft raft with well organised safety and well experienced team members. If you ever wanted to do this trip then this is for you, experience of class 4 and 5 raft guiding is preferable but not essential. The lower section can be paddled with people of all types of experience.
The plan is to put in at the Apsuwa Khola River (tributary). Keep in mind that this section has been rafted very few times so we will be taking our time on the bigger rapids and from Ram’s memory from his previous expedition there are a couple of long portages in this section. Otherwise it is primo whitewater which is loads of fun!
We will have space for six rafters (must be experienced) and four kayakers. On top of this there will be three Adventure Hub Nepal staff which will make the maximum trip number at thirteen people. The kayakers must be experienced on grade four and five whitewater.
The total length of the trip will be 116 kilometres.
Fixed Departure: 1st to 16th March 2023/24
