Nepal
Marshyangdi River Rafting
Overview
The marsyandi river rises on the northern slopes of the Annapurna Himal, flows east through an arid valley around manang and then swing south to joint the Trisuli river at Mugling.
Marsyandi means ‘raging river’ in local dialect, and this aptly describes it. Some of the river above Ngadi has been kayaked – the 1980 British Expedition started from Tilicho Lake at 4920m – but much of the upper river should probably be considered as unrunnable.
The scenery is magnificent with every bend of the river opening up fresh vistas of some of the world’s highest mountains, but these are behind –as someone said “great views but you need rear view mirrors”. The Marsyandi is a photographer’s sculptured boulders, some spectacular white water, green valley sides, and a magnificent backdrop of the world’s highest mountains. It’s worth mentioning that although the valley has a rough road up it, and is quite densely populated, you don’t see this when you are padding because the river is incised about 100ft into the valley floor.
Highlights
From : From Nagadi Alt. 850 m
To : Bimalnagar Alt. 370 m
Distance : 52 kms
River days : 3 days
From Katmandu : 2 days
Difficulty in November : Class 4+ (5-)
Average gradient : 1.0 % (50 ft a mile)
Est. max. gradient : 2.0 %
Volume in November : 50 cumecs
Best season : Nov > Dec and Mar > Apr
