Nepal
Karnali River Rafting
Overview
The far west of Nepal is one of the most remote and least explored areas of the Himalayas and has only recently been opened to foreigners. Based on this unique wilderness setting, our rafting trip on the Karnali River is an expedition rafting trip from the trek to the put-in to the take out!
The Class IV Karnali River is the longest and largest river in Nepal. The Karnali is also one of Nepal’s premier fishing rivers with Mahseer, a form of freshwater perch, and giant cat fish. The river source lies high in Tibet near holy Mount Kailash and then descends from high Himalayan snowfields through a series of spectacular gorges and emerges onto the Terai flowing through Royal Bardia Wildlife Park. Continuing across the northern plains of India, it joins the Ganges and the Bay of Bengal.
Our Karnali River rafting trip begins with (and includes) a chartered plane journey across Nepal followed by a two day trek along old trade routes to the put-in at the “Great Loop” of the Karnali. The next 8 days, we raft through steep canyon country and spectacular jungle scenery. This is one of the finest stretches of whitewater in the world. We raft “expedition-style” carrying all food and equipment with us in the rafts. We float through very sparsely populated remote areas and it is not until the final days that we encounter villages of any significant size.
