2024 LCC River Karnali Trip – Nepal
Day 11 – to take out at Chisapaani Paddling day 8
Despite being the latest we had gotten up (at 7 am), we were now so slick that we were all on the water ready to paddle by 8.25 am.
We only had a short way to go but then we would need to load the bus and start the long drive back to Pokhara (and get Sue and Colin to Nepalgunj in time for their flight back to Kathmandu).
It wasn’t long before we reached the rapid Govi had told us about the night before, a bouncy rapid leading to a large wave/stopper.
As we skipped over the edge of the wave, we turned back to check on Colin just in time to see him hit the wave and capsize. He swam and Martin went to help but then realised that the water was pushing into a rock face that was bound to cause more carnage. Martin abandoned Colin to get himself clear of the rock and Norris got to Colin instead. Colin clung on to Norris’ boat as the turbulent water capsized Norris. As Norris rolled back up, Colin was still clinging on. Norris went over again and again tried to roll up but Colin was still hanging on. Between the turbulent water and Colin clinging on, Norris had four attempts at rolling before I was able to shout to Colin to let go and grab my boat instead, enabling Norris to finally get his balance right side up. We reunited Colin with his kayak and had a good laugh about his determination to hang on.
Within just an hour and 20 minutes of getting on the water, we had covered almost 11km and had reached our get out at Chisapaani. We were not delighted to see the steep steps we were going to have to carry all the kayaks, rafts and kit up to get to the bus but through a huge effort of everyone, we had the kayaks and gear up and left the guides with the rafts while we found our stuff in a ‘hotel’ and were able to change and sort our kit.
This ‘hotel’ was quite an eye-opener. With an open front opening on the kitchen and tables and chairs, at the back of the ‘restaurant’ area were a couple of sinks, a shower and a couple of ‘toilets’. Upstairs we were shown to a room furnished with a mattress topped with bedding that looked as though it had never been washed and all of our bags off the bus.
While the bus was loaded, we had a lunch of dal bhat, and then we were on the road. We dropped off the Canadians at Bardiya National Park and then Colin and Sue somewhere on a roadside headed for Nepalgunj airport. Our journey then started in earnest.