Kali Gandaki - Kali's river

The Kali - Gandaki is bound to bring smiles to many faces of travellers and trekkers in Nepal.  It is the most accessible river from the trekking base of Pokhara and is often run by groups who have been exploring in the magical region of Annapurna.

The five day trip has been shortened by the dam built close to the confluence of the Andhi Khola. The maximum time spent on river is now 3 days. The last two days were less interesting but certain sad losses result.....a visit to Ridi village, Ranighat (an old abandoned palace that's like something from an Indiana Jone's movie set) and 'Walk in the Dark', a great class 4 that was a good finale to the trip.

Kali's river rises in Mustang, (the bit of Nepal that sticks out into Tibet to the North). Before it reaches the put-in it passes between the mighty Dhauligiri in the west and the Annapurna massif in the east. It doesn't sound impressive but this gorge is more than 4 miles deep. Lower down at the put-in the river goes south and a great adventure begins........

Breakdown of the journey

Travel to the river

Firstly, you would have to be based in Pokhara. Travel from Kathmandu to Pokhara involves a 6-8 hours bus ride, 5-6 hour private taxi ride or a 35 minute plane journey. Each of the above have their own advantages ranging from cost to comfort. The journey from Pokhara to the put-in is amazing. The road initially follows the Seti river and rises up a winding road to the village of Naudanda where a magnificent view greets you from the north - The entire Annapurna massif. The road rises more before dropping into the Modi khola river valley which it then follows for several kilometres. At Kusma the road turns north west and begins the descent to the river. Along this section you can see some of the first afternoon's rapids way down in the valley below.......

On the river

After the unpacking it's usually around luchtime. Following lunch we get onto the river - no warm up's here - At high levels you're looking at 10 minutes to the first big ones called 'little brother' and 'big brother'.
It's a steady run from here with some more good rapids, most of which need no scouting.

The first camp is river right just after the Modi khola enters from the left and above the next morning's wake-up call, 'good morning' rapid, class 4. A steady day of class 3 and 4 takes you to the second camp site.

From here you may well be about 30 - 50 minutes above the village and rapid of Seti Beni (4+) and the day develops well with some good class 4's and amazing holes. Sadly the trip finishes now on day 3 at the confluence of the Andhi Khola. A 5-6 hour bus journey takes you back to Pokhara.

River Map - Click here

The damming of the river at the Andhi Khola provides Nepal with much needed revenue from it's growing hydro-electric projects. Most would agree that the day after the Dam was fairly flat. What followed though was a visit to Ridi village, a pleasant experience and the mysterious old palace at Ranighat. This place is like something from the set of a horror movie and I'd challenge anyone to visit it in the middle of the night and not be a little afraid.

Further downstream local villagers would visit the camps to demonstrate local dancing and culture and an amazing last day of good class 4 and 4+ rapids finished the trip off very well. A good Dhal Bhat house and beer shop at Ramdi was the icing on the cake.

The dam was still being built in 1999 when I visited and so we finished at the Andhi Khola. On completion of the dam it may be possible to explore the next section of river to Ramdi which I would recommend to anybody.

The Lower Kali gandaki is run from Ramdi and takes 3-4 days. It's hardest rapid is class 3 and it's said to have some amazing wildlife and scenery.

Day by Day breakdown.......

Day 1        Bus Kathmandu to Pokhara. Day 2        Pokhara to put-in, lunch and onto river, 2-3 hours of class 4 to camp just below Modi Khola. Day 3         Day of class 3 / 4 to just above Seti Beni village. Day 4         Seti Beni rapid & village, more class 3 / 4, take-out at confluence of Andhi Khola (dam) and bus to Pokhara arriving late pm. Day 5         R & R Pokhara Day 6         Bus / plane to Kathmandu Day 7        next destination. Once the dam is complete and the position is more clear, it may be possible to run the next section to Ramdi. This I would recommend if you got the chance. The section from Ramdi downstream has lower level rapids and ends in the Royal Chitwan national park.

Recent memories from the Kali Gandaki - my first Nepali river (1994). Thursday 30th September 1999 - my diary reads.......... "This'll take some sorting out.  The egg box came floating past my heart sank. If the the egg box is here, then the gear boat's flipped. Why hasn't it come floating past? I got out of the canoe that had safely led me down the rapid, (needing to do only one roll) and clambered onto the bank. Having scrambled onto a large boulder I saw it - my worst nightmare - the gear raft, mid-stream and pinned against a huge rock on the second rapid of the Kali-gandaki river, Nepal. 'Big brother' had done it's worst. The gear raft of course carrys everything - the beer!, food, stoves, tents, egg box. Without it we are nothing, just a bunch of guys stuck on a river with a very long walk ahead if we don't free the boat. When I saw it come free I breathed a sigh of relief - but the real nightmare had only just properly started. No one with the gear boat, gear boat upside down, gear boat weighs a ton. A few Km later I'm still chasing it in my tiny Canoe. Even if I get to it there's little I can do alone to get it the right way up. Can this situation possibly get worse? Oh yes -  Major rapid ahead - in about ten minutes this raft is going to be dragged through "Good Morning" a 4+ graded rapid and when it does it won't be good morning; It'll be bad, bad afternoon and good-bye gearboat." With some quality teamwork we got there in time and managed to get the raft the right way up. We crashed out, exhausted at the first beach camp of this five day trip in the Himalayas. It all sounds a bit hairy I know, but the clients on this trip knew that being early season they'd be getting a true whitewater rafting adventure. All the clients were complete beginners and despite a few more minor hic-ups down stream the river journey finished without further incident. Commercial rafting of many rivers starts in late September. Use 'Back' on your browser to return to text If there is no Navigation Bar on the Left of this page it is likely that you have entered from an old search-engine address. Click Here to open the updated Raft-Nepal site in a new window.