Rapids name:
Instant karma, Morphine, Twinkie,
Good morning and more.
Summary
Marsyandi means "Ranging
River” in the local
dialect, a fitting description for
this kind of whitewater.
One of the best class
4 kayaking rivers in the world- continuous,
exhilarating whitewater with magnificent
mountain backdrops. Recommended for
expert kayakers and rafters. Note
that a new dam is being built at Phaliya
Sanghu - this will ruin the Marsyandi
for kayaking and rafting- so run it
whilst you can.
The River
The Marsyandi rises
on the northern slopes on the Annapurna
Himal, flows east through an arid
valley around Manang, and then swings
south to join the Trisuli River at
Mugling. Marsyandi means 'raging river'
in local dialect, and this aptly describes
it. Some of the river above Ngadi
has been kayaked- The 1980 British
Expedition started from Tilicho Lake
at 4920 m, but much of the upper river
should probably be considered as un
run able.
The scenery is magnificent, with every
bend of the river opening up fresh
vistas of some of the World's highest
mountains, but these are behind- as
someone said 'great views but you
need rear view mirrors". The
Marsyandi is a photographer's dream-
the water is usually a clear turquoise
blue; there are these huge, fantastically
sculptured boulders, some spectacular
white wet, green valley sides, and
a magnificent backdrop of the World's
highest mountains. It's worth mentioning
that although the valley has a rough
road up it, and is quite densely populated;
you don't see this when you are addling
because the river is incised about
100ft into the valley floor.
The lower Marsyandi gorges from Bimalnagar
down to Mugling are an excellent river
trip but a dam was built some ten
years ago to generate electricity
for Kathmandu and so the water flows
on this lower river are unpredictable
and now mainly limited to post monsoon.
However, we include some short notes
at the end of this description.