Last Stop, India

I had a couple of days in Kathmandu (a fair bit of time was spent in Tom & Jerry's) before flying out with Louise and Clarky (who were working in Voss this summer in Norway) to Delhi.

We had a hassle free adventure to Rishikesh. The car Ganesh had organised to collect us from the airport in Delhi was on time, the driver had very good English (didn't freak us out with scary driving which is a bonus), and best of all we had a massive, air conditioned car!

We got to Rishikesh pretty late at night, maybe 2am so we just crashed at Arvind's house on some spare mattresses on the floor before finding a hotel the next day. We were lucky to get a cheap room in a very clean, modern hotel with hot water, a balcony and even TV!

I had only 5 days in India so I spent 3 of them on the river kayaking with the Red Chilli gang. I also got to meet up with 2 other Danish kayakers who were working in Evje, Norway this summer as well as old friends such as Flow (from Austria) and the Kiwis from the bungee jump.

It was a pretty quick visit to India but I was happy I got to see all my friends and was also very excited about flying out to spend the winter season in Whistler, Canada.

Sarayu & Kali River Expedition

On the 16th October I headed out on the Sarayu and Kali River expedition with Expeditions India in Uttarakhand. This was the first commercial descent run on the Sarayu River by Expeditions India and the second commercial descent by any rafting company. The Sarayu has been described as 'a little big river' offering some technical pool drop rapids with crystal clear waters. The best part of this river that it's relatively remote and untouched with amazing beaches for camping on. Even after the Sarayu runs into the Kali the action doesn't stop due to the big volume rapids.

View from our hotel in Kathgodam Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

We started out trip in Rishikesh with a 2 day jeep ride to Sheraghat where we would put-in on the Sarayu River. We drove for about 10 hours the first day and stayed overnight in Kathgodam followed by what should have been a 4 hour drive to Binsar which ended up being almost 10 hours due to a road accident blocking the road on the way.

A little shop where we spent 2 hours on the way to Binsar waiting for the road accident to clear
Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

An army truck which had fallen off the cliff which officials were trying to lift back up to the road with 2 cables.... Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

Watching and wondering if this one to one system was actually going to work lifting the truck back up to the road...... Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

........obviously not..... Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

We spent 2 days kayaking on the Sarayu River. The first day we paddled for about 4-5 hours through some technical class 3-3+ whitewater. At the end of the afternoon the river had converged into more of a gorge. The second day on the Sarayu was a very long 7-8 hour day of paddling with some intense action moments. There were a lot of horizon lines with some exciting class 4 rapids. At one stage we thought we were going to lose the gear cataraft when it ended up being surfed on its side against a pillow wave on a huge rock, luckily Gaupo who was guiding quickly high-sided. We ended up giving this rapid the name 'Catastrophe'. After all the intense rapids had finished we arrived to the confluence of the East Ram Ganga and the river then widened out and things became a lot easier. We continued on until we came to the Kali confluence and kept paddling down the Kali a few kilometers before setting up for our 2nd night of camp.

View of the Sarayu when driving through Sheraghat Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

At the put-in for the Sarayu River

Camp the first night on the Sarayu River Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

First day on the Sarayu River

One of the last rapids on the gorged-in section on day 2 of the Sarayu River

Second night of camping - Kali River Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

Our third day of paddling was on the Kali River. We stopped twice to scout a massive but fun wave train (and to buy rum from the Nepal side of the river) and another huge rapid running along against a wall (on the left) with a creek coming into the right side of the rapid. The volume of the river was incredible and there were lots of impressive boils and crazy eddy lines. Shortly after these rapids we pulled over and had lunch on another beautiful beach and set up for camp for the night. This beach camp had a hidden waterfall which we were able to hike up to in 5 minutes with refreshing spring water we could bathe in.

Getting ready for action on day 3 Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

Unfortunately I wasn't able to paddle on day 4 on the river due to stomach problems. I was able to tie my kayak to the back of the raft and lie down while we went down the river. Most of day 4 was fairly flat except of 'Chuca' Rapid. This was the biggest rapid on the river, a huge class 4-4+ wave train with many lines to take either in the raft or kayak. I was disappointed not to get the opportunity to kayak 'Chuca' but luckily in the raft we had a good line and kept the black side of the raft down! We camped on a beach on the right hand side of the river after 'Pillow' which is about an hour walk from Chuca Village.

Savitha with the catch for the day at our beach camp for our 5th night on the river
Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

View of the Kali River on our hike to Jim Corbett's house Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

Day 5 was a lay over day. We had a short hike (45min-1 hour) after breakfast to a house which is currently being renovated which is likely to be where Jim Corbett lived once. We hiked back to camp again for lunch then after lunch we hiked back up towards Chuca to explore the village and have some chai at the local tea shop. Chuca was very different to what I expected. It was a farming village and all the houses and crops seemed extremely well cared for. Day 5 was our last night on the river so we were surprised with a special dinner of dhal makini, mutter paneer, jeera rice and chapatis.

Chuca Village Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

Our last day of paddling on the Kali was very short (around 90min). The river had a lot of class 3 very fun wave trains and was a lot more continuous to the previous days on the Kali. We were met by our driver at the take-out in and had lunch, packed the jeep and then Bjorn and I got dropped off in Bombasa where we found a horse-rickshaw driver to take us across the border to Nepal where we will be spending the next month kayaking.

Chuca Village late afternoon Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

3 Day Ganga Expedition

Over the weekend Bjorn and I joined on a 3 day/2night rafting trip with our kayaks on the Ganga River with Red Chilli Adventure. We started the trip in Devprayag and finished in Ramjhola. The first day of the trip we waited for over 3 hours in the scorching sun for the clients to arrive (they were delayed as they had been on a 3 day trek prior to the rafting trip). This didn't matter though as we only had about a 40min paddle down relatively calm water to our first camping spot for the night.

Bjorn and Rob at the Deprayag put-in Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

Waiting for the clients to arrive Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

You can see the white wooden stakes in the background. These are measuring sticks for the river level. This year during the monsoon the river came above where I am sitting on the log (over 23m!!!).

So much rubbish has accumulated along the banks of the river from the monsoon. It is pretty normal to see plastic bags and other rubbish up in trees along the river Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

Our first night we helped the clients settle in and Harinder our cook made us a feast of tomato soup with croutons, vegetable momos, and even tomato, mushroom and cheese pizza! All of this was cooked with only a gas stove. Rob, Bjorn, Kumar and I all slept under the stars using the raft as shelter while the other guides slept in the kitchen tent while the clients had their own personal tents.

Day 2 we again woke up to hot chai and another feast made by Harinder consisting of omelette, toast and chips. After packing down camp we had a pretty easy day on the river. We only had to kayak about 20km in pretty flat water with some sizable boils and whirlpools to keep our interest. Along the way we were able to buy 2 fish from the local fisherman and Harish our safety kayaker stopped in one of the villages to buy some more food for the evening. After a couple of hours we reached our beach campsite for the second night.

Kumar rowing all of our gear down the Ganga Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

Bjorn helping unload all the gear from the cataraft Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

Bjorn and Rob searching for frogs in the ''swimming pools'' on our beach camp Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

We had a pretty relaxing afternoon at the camp so Rob, Bjorn and I rowed the cataraft over to the opposite side of the river in search for a waterfall which Arvind had told us about. After heading back to camp we helped prepare the evening meal which again was another amazing feast this time comprising of Indian food - dhal, fish curry, aloo ghobi, chapati, rice and rice pudding for desert.

A donkey on it's way on the opposite side of the river we found whilst searching for green chillies, ginger and a waterfall Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

View of our campsite for the second night of the expedition Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

Preparing the vegetables for dinner

Arvind about to demonstrate to the clients how to make dhal Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

Day 3 was all the action. We kayaked down from camp about 3km and met up with Anvesh, Flo, and Gapoo (also kayaking) and another client who was joining on with the trip. The first rapid 'The Wall' is well-known for a huge hole on the left which will 95% of the time flip a raft. As we moved further downstream we went through rapids such as 'Three Blind Mice', 'Return to Sender', 'Rollercoaster', 'Golf Course' and 'Hilton'. The Ganga is a pretty friendly big volume river, with huge wave trains and pool-drop rapids. It is the river which I learnt to kayak on and even though it's my third time back to Rishikesh I never get sick of it.

Golf Course rapid on the Ganga River

Now we are hoping to make it onto the Sarayu and Kali River Expedition which is leaving in a couple of days time, before heading into Nepal.

The Holy Ganga, Rishikesh and the land of Old Monk....

View outside my room early morning in Rishikesh Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

At the end of October I returned to Australia after spending almost 2 months in Rishikesh, India. What was meant to be 2 months of raft guiding actually turned into 2 months of video boating for Red Chilli Adventure! Fortunately this opportunity was offered to me so I was able to do what I love - kayak everyday, make videos and earn a little bit of money to put towards rent and food!

Loading the jeep for rafting at the Red Chilli store Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

Marine Drive put-in on the Ganga Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

Relaxing after the major rapids of the day on the Holy Ganga River Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

Packing up and getting ready to re-load the jeep Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

This was my second visit to India (my first being in Jan - March 2008). I saw many old kayaking friends there (Flo from Austria, Eamon from the UK, Vipin, Anvesh, Arvind all from Red Chilli Adventure and many more!) and made new ones such as Polly & Paul from the UK. The thing I love about this place is everyone is so enthusiastic about life, being on the river and the outdoors. People not only care about their bodies but also their minds which is why I guess Rishikesh is one of the main hubs for Yoga in the world. 

One of the many monkeys which inhabited my balcony! Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

Luxman Jhola bridge - one of the main tourist sights in Rishikesh Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

View from the Red Chilli office of the beautiful Ganga River at sunset Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

Yet another monkey with what looks like a stolen apple from an unsuspecting tourist Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

This man sells really nice snack mix at the rafting take-out Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

View of the Ganga outside Den-ascent Expeditions Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

There were a few disappointments in India such as not being able to kayak the mighty Siang River but these disapointments were replaced with being able to paddle with good friends on the Ganga everyday, experience India's main festival Diwali (basically everyone just throws around a bunch of fireworks and a lot of sweets are eaten), take part in a yoga class, and be invited to many birthday parties and dinners hosted by my local friends. 

Paul holding the mother of all fireworks! Photo Jacqui Whitehead

Busy streets during Diwali Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

It was also fantastic to see a few trainees from my first visit to India (who had that stage never even been in a kayak or guided a raft) be trip leading or safety kayaking down the Ganga River. I can't wait to see how they have progressed next time I go back.

Another view of the Ganga and Luxman Jhola bridge Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

Celebrating my last trip on the river in India with Balam Photo: Bheem Sing

I will be posting a video with the highlights from India on my blog soon but I really need to thank my dear friends Arvind, Vipin & Anvesh and all the boys at Red Chilli Adventure - you guys truly made me feel part of the family!