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<\/a>Simikot is the administrative headquarters of Humla District of Karnali Zone in NW Nepal<\/p><\/div>\n
The Humla is described as \u201cone of the finest whitewater kayaking trip of its length in the world\u201d and as such, is an ambition of many paddlers . \u00a0With 400km of incredible paddling, in an extremely remote area of Nepal, it was hard to say no when George Fell asked if I wanted to join him and Stu Martindale on their trip.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Descending 1000m from Simikot to the river with local porters<\/p><\/div>\n
We drop out of the air onto the modest runway at Simicot, wait for our boats, then the next day hire porters to help carry our boats 1000m down to the river.\u00a0 This is my first visit to the Himalayas, and the scale is mind blowing.\u00a0 Huge peaks tower above us with vast expanses of terraced land leading down to the rich blue bubbling Humla Karnali.<\/p>\n
<\/a>An excited Jonny Hawkins, George Fell and Stu Martindale at the put on<\/p><\/div>\n
We are here in April, low water season, but the power and continuous nature of the river is still apparent.\u00a0 For the first couple of days we paddle short, exciting sections, between portaging long\u00a0 gorges chocked with colossal boulders.\u00a0 After all the boat carrying on the first two day I begin to doubt the hype of the river, but luckily this is short lived.\u00a0 By day 3 the paddling really kicks off.\u00a0 Long sections of fantastic whitewater flow beneath sawing eagles and stunning snow-capped mountains.\u00a0 Nepali children hoot and whistle from the bank as we soak up the incredible surroundings<\/p>\n
<\/a>Sampling the delights high up on the Humla<\/p><\/div>\n
It soon becomes clear that mistakes on this river would be very costly and swim would be very bad news. This committing form of trip is new to me and I learn lots from George and Stu, portaging when necessary and picking lines down powerful whitewater.<\/p>\n
Every camp and portage had excited Nepali kids to keep us ‘entertained’<\/p><\/div>\n Jonny enjoying some of the fantastic whitewater as the river increases in volume. \u00a0Photo – Stu Martindale<\/p><\/div>\n As we approach the final and most challenging gorge of the trip we decide to camp early and inspect the section from the dirt track high above.\u00a0 Exhausted, we climb the valley side and stumble upon the village of Sani Gad.\u00a0 The inhabitants welcome us with huge smiles and offer a room which, after 5 days<\/span> nights in bivi-bags, we accept immediately.\u00a0 We chat and play with the locals and spend time exploring the fascinating village.\u00a0 It feels like we have been teleported back to the medieval age.\u00a0 Goats, chickens and cows roam around the piles of hay on the terraced wheat fields.\u00a0 Houses are skilfully constructed with stone and finished with thatched roofs and wooden struts for windows.\u00a0 Wood smoke bellows from every house.<\/p>\n The excited and slightly perplexed villagers at Sani Gad<\/p><\/div>\n After some amazing sweet, spicy lemon tea, the village chief invites us to dinner.\u00a0 We enter his dimly lit house and perch on his bed whilst his daughter and wife tend to the food over a wood stove.\u00a0 We enjoy rice, lentils, spicy spinach and a helping of fresh goat meat and cautiously delve into the curds.<\/p>\n The pretty well developed town of Sani Gad in the Humla valley<\/p><\/div>\n The following day we walk around the long rapid below Sani Gad before getting into the hard gorge, and getting back into the pleasing routine of quality rapid after quality rapid.\u00a0 At the end of the day we have finished all the hard rapids of the Humla Kanarli<\/p>\n We reach the end of the 180km Humla Karnali the following day and paddle on – into the Lower Karnarli section.\u00a0 Driven by dreams of beer and steak we pick the pace up, clocking two 100km days filled with sections of amazing big volume class 4, and fantastic scenery, to smile our way down.<\/p>\n Jonny immersed in more big water happiness. \u00a0Photo – Stu Martindale<\/p><\/div>\n Bivying under the fantastic stars, by a warm fire each night, gives us chance to reflect on what has been an incredible few days of paddling.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>