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First Descent of the Daraundi Khola
Amazing photos taken by Nico Schaerer
The Daraundi Khola lays 140 kms North East of kathmandu and is a tributary of the well-known Marsyandi River. The river spills from the Gorkha Himal and Ghhulung glacier in the Manaslu region, cutting its path through a deep gorge of tropical jungle.
The first descent of the Daraundi Khola had been in the eye and mind of Nepalese Bliss-stick paddler Ram Bhandri for many years. Ram who spawns from the Trisuli's banks just a few valleys South West of the Daraundi, has over 13 years of experience in expedition kayaking in the Himalayas.
Ram together with other Bliss-Stick paddlers Georgia Le Plastrier and Aaron Hemmerle, as well as Shiva Outdoors creator and paddler Andy Sommer joined as a kayak team to explore this unknown river. The kayakers were further supported by the land based crew, Swiss photographer Nico Schaerer (www.balancephotography.com) and four sturdy porters.
The expedition was a huge success, a great whitewater-kayaking river has been found. Beginning on the 8th of September from Kathmandu the team headed towards the historic warrior town of Gorkha, from here the team set off on what eventuated as a great 6 day mission.
The Daraundi Khola provided a beautiful three-day trek from Gorkha up river to its head, as well as three days of adrenalin pumping boating. The section of river we reached was at the confluence of the Shambhu Khola with the Daraundi Khola.
From this point of confluence the river smashed its way down the valley with ultra continuous grade 5 kayaking for 16km. The river then steadied only mildly with continuous grade 4 and the occasional grade 5 for a further 10km.
The final 22km of river that was then kayaked to the takeout point of the Daraundi Bridge was a picturesque grade 2 and 3 paddle. There is however an icing on the cake with the whitewater of the Daraundi Khola. That is, as we started our descent, we paddled a sweet 2km section of low volume steep creeking dropping into the Daraundi from is tributary creek the Rang run Khola.
An adventure for all, as the expedition played on the team’s nerves and emotions, just one pin, one broken paddle, and one knarly swim.
The Daraundi Khola an AWESOME river, a great kayaker’s trip conveniently located half way between Kathmandu and Pokhara on the main highway and boater’s route.
In retrospect a few changes could have been made to the itinerary; perhaps the expedition was set a little early in the season to paddle this river. Or perhaps the monsoon was a little late. But in can be assured that this river will provide action from mid-September till the end of October. It was also agreed that the section of river from Rang run to Arkhul could be broken with an extra night spent in Baluwa Bazzar, especially when at lower levels the top gorge will be paddled adding an extra 5+km of grade 5 whitewater. Above this gorge is still somewhat unknown, however the team believes that the gradient increases rapidly with waterfalls and solid grade 6.
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