Holy Waters - The Upper Kali Gandakhi

Despite the fuel crisis here in Nepal myself and all the other kayakers here have been making the most of the 2015 season. Those that can afford to have been sucking up the additional cost and venturing in to the expeditions runs of the Humla Karnarli and Thule Bheri, much to my envy. The team of Spanish paddlers who i had teamed up with earlier on in the season for the Madi and Modi Kohla runs (belayed blog to come on that) even hiked in to Simikot with their gear to get an early season run on the Humla and scout out the upper gorges, as well as some tribs, due to the cost of flights. Keep an eye out for Mino and Mikels impending blog posts about what sounds like an incredible adventure!
 Water levels here in Nepal have been dropping off perhaps a bit earlier than in a normal year, having had a relatively dry monsoon and many of the "regular" sections are now un-runnable, or too low to be of interest. It has spurred us, however, to look further upstream to some of the lesser run sections.
 Bastien, Mariano, Freddy and David had taken advantage of this drop in levels to head to the Upper Kali Ghandakhi and after reporting it was good to go, me, Joe and Ciaran made a hasty dash back west to get it done!
The Kali's valley system is definitely one of the most stunning places i've ventured to in my time in Nepal, and the higher up you go, the better it gets!

 We struck it lucky on our journey to Beni from Pokhara, being approached by multiple drivers at the bus station all offering fair prices, something totally out of the norm from our other travel experiences of this year! After agreeing to ride on the roof of the next public bus to come along as it was the cheapest option by a long shot, we prepared ourselves for another bumpy uncomfortable journey to Beni. However, as we were loading our kayaks, a delivery of mattresses was hauled on to the roof beside us.
"Are these going to Beni?" We asked.
"Yes" Was the Answer.
"Awesome!" Our response.
The mattresses provided us with a comfortable ride, so much so Joe even managed to fall asleep! (Not something i recommend whilst riding on the roof of a bus anywhere in the world!)
 The Next day we had a very contrasting experience and after a terrifying (standard) bus journey from Beni early in the morning, we arrived at the small village of Tatopani, which translates as "Hot Water". Probably unsurprisingly after that hint, hot springs emerge from the ground here and a strong smell of sulphur field our nostrils as we geared up surrounded by an incredible mountain vista.

 On recommendation from the other team we planned to do this short section over two days, savouring the water and giving us plenty of time to scout and portage if needs be. In hindsight we could've easily paddled this section in one day, but it was nice to take out with time on our hands when we arrived at our take out, the beautiful village of Tiplyang, and spent the evening playing cards and drinking cold beers at a really nice guest house, located at the northern end of the town.

 The white water was genuinely world class, with a real mix of style of paddling. Sections of bigger volume rapids were interspersed with steep drops, all mixed up with alpine like easier gradient rapids to let you catch your breath. I've seen photos of the river in higher water, and no doubt it would be a lot harder, but the level we paddled still gave us fantastic rapids, most of which around grade 4 (plus or minus) and several sections of grade 5. One of which we all decided to portage, due to the super high consequences of siphons and undercuts.

 We made three mandatory portages as well as the aforementioned rapid, which were un runnable at this level due to narrow passages and siphons, although may be passable in higher water. The first of these was within the first Kilometre of putting on, and certainly kept us on our toes with a taste of whats to come, with some must make ferry glides, and eddies to hit before major drops, portages and rapids.
Taking out back at Beni was a certain anti-climax, the river here becoming no more than a rubbish dump for locals. Clambering out near the bus park where we found our transport to Tatopani was definitely un appealing, but rewarding, as we found a relatively fairly priced jeep back to our base in Pokhara without much hassle.

 Thinking back this river has given me one of the  most enjoyable experiences of my time in Nepal, both with the quality of whitewater, and the scenery. But with dams planned on most major water ways of the country and many already constructed, i have to question again, how much longer can the whitewater aspect of the tourism industry survive?