So after leaving Pakistan in August I’ve spend the last two months in Ladakh and Uttarakhand, the two most common destinations for summer time kayakers on a trip to India. I was absolutely amazed to find out how much I disagreed with what information I’d come across before going, and how much more there is out here. So here is my account of the classic Indian areas for kayaking:
Ladakh:
The Tsarap Chu/Zanskar.
This was an interesting one, after meeting up with another group of AUCC boaters on an Indian paddling trip we headed straight to the ‘Grand Canyon of Asia.’ For a 6-8 day multiday with a nickname like that our expectations were high. It was pretty, and very remote for the first 3 days, but what the guides didn’t tell us is that there is a vast amount of flat water. I’m not sure how to explain what I made of the river without annoying the large numbers of people who’s minds were blown by the gorges, so I’ll leave it at that; a nice remote river with some fun rapids and nice scenery.
Another pretty but flat section of the Tsarap Chu
The Indus:
A good river, but we caught it at low-ish levels, no complaints, but unfortunately it wasn’t the beast we’d been expecting (especially after seeing the Indus looking like an absolute monster in Pakistan a few weeks before).
One of the bigger rapids on the lower Indus, at higher flows this is meant to have 20 foot waves in it!
The Shyok:
Blew my mind!!! After wasting too much time in Leh and slight dissapointment on the classic rivers of Ladakh it was amazing to be able to do this run. Whilst the Dras river, a popular hard run near the Pakistan border, has now been put out of bounds due to permit restrictions the Shyok has just been opened up to foriegn tourists. The LADs at Splash rafting in Leh told us about this gem, and according to them and a few others we were lucky enough to secure the second descent of it! It was like being back in Pakistan, huge, silty-brown, fast flowing and scary- a must visit for any group going to Ladakh.
The Shyok
Uttarakhand
After spending a while in Ladakh we headed over to Uttarakhand, where research we’d done hinted that there were a couple of good rivers, namely the Alaknandar and Ganges. Timing for this was perfect as the monsoon was near its end, so whilst the big rivers we’d heard of were completely insane all the small creeks were going. We met up with Shalabh Gahlaut, the bible of Indian river running, who’s now based himself on the banks of the Alaknandar and spent the next month going off on trips that he’d had penciled in but not had the chance to do due to water levels or having the right group. We got some sweet runs done, from tight low volume slidey stuff to bigger boulder garden pool drop runs. We even managed to find a 10ish meter waterfall that was going, and in higher levels would be the put on to an epic section. Going into Ladakh with high expectations made it a bit of a let down, but heading to Uttarakhand with no idea what we’d be doing was so epic, made even better by the fact that there was so much going, and so much left. I would absolutely go back and recomend it over Ladakh any day. Here are some of the shiney photos we took when we managed to stop ourselves during the awesome read and run sections, as well as the 10m drop of the Nayyar.
A tight creek 10 mins from Shalabh’s house
Shalabh eddy hopping the east Nayyar
The put on for the west Nayyar
Paddling under a 7,000m peak after a first descent of the Kail river
To top it all off levels started to drop on the Alaknandar by the time we were leaving and managed to have a nice change, leaving our creek boats at home and taking some of Shalabh’s old school play boats to the big waves on offer. After realising the playboating potential out here we quickly got on the phone to Pyranha who’ve now sorted Shalabh out with a brand new Jed. We had to leave in a hurry to catch the rains over in the east of India, but Shalabh has agreed to write up a little bit on the play waves of the Alaknandar and send over some photos of how he’s getting on. I cannot wait to see how he gets on with a modern boat!
So yeah, thats my take on north India. We’ve now headed east and are the first group of kayakers to set foot into the state of Meghalaya, the wettest place on earth. Research looks good and we’re starting boating tomorrow. I’m excited!!!!