The Paddler ezine WW kayak collection 2013 | Page 140

ThePaddler 140

Finally, we arrived in Kathmandu
Everyone was overwhelmed by the massive
differences we encountered straight off the plane
and on our ride into town we sat with mouths
open and faces pressed against the windows,
drinking in all the sights, sounds and smells of a
new country. The next day we flew to Pokhara, at
the foot of the Annapurna range, where we met our
guides, Santosh and the team from Paddle Nepal.

The first part of the expedition was a three-day
trip on the Seti River. We had a paddle raft, a gear
raft and eight kayaks, giving everyone the
opportunity to paddle, raft and swap around
throughout the trip. The experience of spending
two nights camping on white sandy beaches by
the river, with nothing more than we had carried
with us, was a first for most of the group. The
question “where are the toilets?” This was
answered with a paddle for a spade, a tarp for
privacy and directions where to dig!

Group member Moneer Elmasseek describes the trip,

"On the first night camping by the river, I saw something I had only seen
in films. I saw the Milky-Way shadowing the mountains of the Himalayas,
we were standing on the roof of the world, so high up I felt I could
touch the moon. I saw three shooting stars, most people go their entire
life without seeing one. We were so far from home, yet it didn't matter
as I was surrounded by close friends I call family. When we got on the
river the next morning, we left our campsite in natures hands again. In
Nepal I discovered things about myself, about the world and about
people, and I will remember it for the rest of my life.”
The Seti definitely showed us what we had in
store for the rest of the trip. The scale of things in
the world’s highest mountain range was going to
take some getting used to. It was more than the
size of the rapids, which were huge compared to
the canal in Hackney. It was the sense of
adventure, of the challenges we would face as a
group and as individuals, the teamwork and
support required by being so far away from
home, the differences in the way people lived
and the achievements everyone would share
during the expedition and as the trip went on,
the team bonded through common experiences
and the need to support and be supported. The
next three days we spent in the homestead of the
three brothers who run Paddle Nepal called
Simental, on the Banks of the Trisuli River, where
the villagers survive by subsistence farming.