*Flipped gear raft on the second scout first day on the river (all beer supplies lost, 2 lost oars and lunch down the river);
*Day 2 on the river: front tube of the customer raft exploded (we waited 2 days on the beach for a new raft to arrive from Kathmandu)
*Third day rafting: Garth dislocated his shoulder in class 1-2 water
*And….. too many ‘’big jobs’’ between the whole group to count!
Yes the Tamur trip was an epic but most of us found the carnage highly entertaining! The Tamur River is in fair Eastern Nepal and involved a 2 day local bus ride (some people flew which meant they had 1 day on a local bus), 4 day hike in and 6 days on the river (but for us it was cut down to 5 days on the river and 2 lay-over days on a beach).
So where to start? 4 of us decided to get the local bus with all the gear to the put-in (Karoline from Norway and Jesper & Garth who are kayakers who worked in Norway this season). For me I have slowly got used to insane driving in India but our bus driver was a maniac! He started the bus journey around 4pm and was still driving until around 2pm the following day before we changed drivers. He still stayed with us on the bus and kind of stunk of alcohol before he was relieved of his duties but once he finished driving he made a point of having his own personal rum party on the bus!
View just outside our mountain hotel the first morning of our hike in
One of the children absolutely fascinated by the fellow Canadian Cory
He was pretty fast for our liking and we broke down 2 hours before we were meant to pick up the other clients from the airport in a town who’s name I cannot remember for 4 hours. Luckily for the other Nepali staff on the bus with us the four of us were pretty easy going about the bus journey and saw the lighter side of things.
The night before we started hiking we stayed at a mountain teahouse that reminded me something out of a fairytale like Hansel & Gretel. We had the best Nepali dhal bhat I had tasted so far and each of the rooms we slept in were so small they only had enough room to fit the beds in so they felt very cosy and had a warm feel to them.
The following day we started the 4-day hike. Karoline and I stayed out front for most of the 4 days hiking which gave us a lot of experiences that the other part of the group missed (but I think they would have had special experiences of their own).
The 4 days of hiking were a lot easier than I expected. Nights were extremely cold though even in a down sleeping bad with a down jacket and all my thermals on!
Young girl sitting outside one of the tea shops on the first day of hiking with what looks like her own tea stall
One of the many Yaks we saw coming down the mountain
During the first two days Karoline and I made friends with two Israeli boys hiking who offered us tea and biscuits. Our paths kept crossing during the hiking trail. We were also extremely lucky on our last day of hiking. We were both out in front and passed a small village that were holding a polja. There were Nepali girls and boys dancing around the polja and then they performed a group dance for the village. We felt strange passing by but were really fascinated about what was going on. Some Nepali villagers invited Karoline and I to join in with the girls dancing, gave us chai then made a special spot for us to sit on the ground and watch the festivities. Some of them spoke English but Karoline tried to initiate all her conversations in Nepali, as she has been living and studying in Kathmandu the last 6 months. Locals usually appreciate a few Nepali words such as thankyou and hello but whenever people realise Karoline can speak Nepali they are so fascinated.
Goat line up!
Karen taking a quick nap on the 3rd day of our hike in
Corn stacked up to dry in the warm Nepali sun
Karoline and I were lucky enough to pass by a small village where celebrations were taking place. We both were invited to dance with the girls, drink chai and then watch a performance including dancing and singing.
Villagers watching the performance
The last day of hiking we arrived a campsite that backed onto the Tamur River and we were all able to wash in a side creek that was amazing! After 2 days on a bus and 4 days hiking it was such a relief to get semi-clean in the creek even if it meant putting smelly clothes on afterwards!
Onlooker at the put-in of the Tamur River
I was pretty nervous the morning of our first day on the river. I had been given so many different explanations of what the Tamur River would be like. I guess I had this image in my mind that it was going to be steep, huge and full on continuous! But I was surprised, it was all read and run and where there were more difficult rapids we stopped and scouted.
Garth on the first rapid of the Tamur River
Chris running safety down the first rapid of the Tamur River
I really enjoyed the second rapid (first scout) of the day but it was a little intimidating after scouting and choosing my line that when I entered the rapid there was so much water I almost couldn’t see anything but made it down fine.
First scout on the Tamur River
Garth styling the second rapid of the Tamur River
Clients with wide eyes after getting down the second rapid on day 1 of the Tamur River
Chris waiting in an eddy at the bottom of the second rapid of day 1 on the Tamur
Our second scout was one of the longest rapids on the river for the entire multiday trip. It also caused the most carnage!
I ran down first with Chris the Nepali safety kayaker and we stopped half way down and waited for Garth and Jesper to follow us in the kayaks. It was exciting watching the boys come down, especially when Garth hit one of the holes we were trying to avoid but he did a super job holding on and coming out of it.
Next up was Stan guiding the raft with all the clients. There was a moment when he got a friendly surf in a pour over parallel to me when I had a 5 second thought that there could be a possible flip but he was in control and gave the clients safe lines down the rest of the rapid.
Now we were about half an hour into the trip and this is when all the excitement began! Kumal and Umesh were in the gear raft and I saw them get spun out and hit an extremely big hole and got huge surf. All of a sudden the raft was upsidown and Kumal and Umesh were swimming like Olympic swimmers to the closest eddy. Because the guides were safe and I realised there wasn’t much I could do to help with the raft because it had already gone past me I tried to save some of our lunch which was floating down the river (bread in a plastic bag which wasn’t yet wet. The noodles had already gone past me pretty quickly!). I wasn’t really sure what was going on downstream at this stage but was later told that during the flip a rock fell on the bow line of Stan’s raft, slowing them down to get out of an eddy to chase the gear raft. Cory the Canadian then was asked to hold onto a rope which the other kayakers had attached to the gear raft and hold onto it (imagine a lot of weight and tension) while Stan was trying to push it into the bank. The clients had to paddle a lot and Chris the safety kayaker did a pro job of helping get the raft to shore also. Meanwhile Kumal, Umesh and I were upstream and I had to help them get down the river to where everyone else was.
Stan going hard over a pour over on one of the longest rapids on the Tamur. Our second scout and rapid with the most carnage of the entire Tamur trip
So with our first flip (and hopefully last flip) on the trip we had lost 2 oars, the pump, a load of cutlery and plates and we were lunch less for the rest of the day. And maybe what some people considered the most important thing……all the beer was gone! I can imagine there were a lot of lucky people fishing downstream who got those beers!
We finished off some more beautiful rapids then pulled into our first beach camp for the trip. We were pretty tired after a long day on the river and Stan once again did a great job of preparing us an amazing dinner.
The next morning it took a while to pack the rafts up. All of us in kayaks were kitted up and on the water ready to go then I heard what sounded like an explosion. I thought maybe something happened in a village over the hill but I looked over to see the entire front tube of the client raft had exploded!
Chris preparing lunch at our first beach camp
Curious young girl at our first beach camp on the Tamur
Carnage on the second day and we hadn’t even gone down the river yet. I was surprised how calm Stan remained but I think he was holding some frustration in very well. Within 30min he had arranged a new raft to be bought to us from Kathmandu so we spent the next two days relaxing on the beach, reading, sleeping and drinking some of the 28L of rum bought on the trip.
Our raft finally arrived and we were once again ready to go. We had 2 scouts on our second day of white water and one rapid which still remains in my mind was Dinosaur Rock which was a narrow rapid with a lot of water which was super fun but pretty powerful.
Stan charging down Dinosaur Rapid on the second day of whitewater
Chris giving one of the boys a lift to the other side of the river
A steep rapid which for me seemed to come out of nowhere. What a nice surprise!
The river then eased off for the next 2 days. There were still some great rapids but it wasn’t so continuous anymore.
Our last day on the river was the most intense. There were over 40 rapids and we had about 4 scouts on this day. All of a sudden I was told we had finished the section of the Tamur and I felt sad because I didn’t want the day to end because I was having so much fun.
We set up camp at the confluence of the Tamur and Sun Kosi rivers in the afternoon then Karoline, Cory and I wandered a little bit in the village (Cory was extremely happy to find they sold cold beers at one of the shops). We still had one jug of rum left and Stan made sure it was all finished before we went to bed.
Karoline enjoying the warm sun at one of our lunch stops
Jesper & Garth making it down one of the scouts on our last day of paddling on the Tamur
Brilliant whitewater on the last day of the Tamur
The next day was our last day before Karoline, Jesper, Garth and I had an overnight local bus journey to Kathmandu (everyone else was sensible and flew back). We had about an hour of paddling on the Sun Kosi River then we stopped half way down to see a temple. We then arrived at our take out point and crossed paths with a few other trips that had been on a multiday Sun Kosi trip.
We had a pretty good feed of dhal bhat before the bus ride back to Kathmandu. That was another story in itself (lets just say it involved a chicken in a bag which was kept on the floor of the bus……).
Our last lunch stop on the Tamur, with one day left down the Sun Kosi
Last Major Rapid on the Tamur
Garth resting after our last day on the Tamur River
Jesper and Cory stoked to have finished the section of whitewater on the Tamur River
Karoline deciding if she wants to support the local economy
The Tamur River was an epic but a good epic because now we all have a lot of exciting and funny stories to tell. I have been waiting for the day for some rafting carnage so one day I can tell these stories around the campfire by the river somewhere.
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