We are thrilled to announce that GRG's has just been awarded the Water Sports Company of the Year Award from the Luxury Travel Company!!!
We would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who chooses to travel with us and of course to our wonderful team of guides and workers who make everything possible. We hope we can continue to offer a high level of service for many years to come out on the Himalayan Rivers of Nepal!
Since the earthquake in April, we have noticed an increase in the amount of volunteers working hard here in Nepal.
We also think, that although you came here to work, you also deserve a little bit of fun, we so are introducing VOLUNTEER WEEKEND ESCAPES.
Are you working Monday - Friday with only the weekends to get out the city and enjoy? Don't have enough time to tavel? Then these could be the best short trips for you!
From our tented riverside camp on the Trisuli river we are offering some great two days escapes (and hey, if you want to get a head start on the weekend, come and join us on Friday evening for an extra night at our 1 million star campsite!)
Trips depart from our office in Thamel every Saturday at 6.30am and will return to Kathmandu approximately 7pm Sunday. If you are based in Pokhara, let us know and arrangements can be made.
This is a great way to blow off some steam, have some fun, see a bit of the country and make some new friends. We have a lot of experience taking volunteer groups down the river, you can see pictures from previous trips here and here.
Come to Nepal this Fall. Raft,
Bike, Trek, Relax, Explore and SPEND your money directly with the people who
need it to rebuild their lives. Help Nepal by giving them their jobs back.
Tourism is the way to rebuild this incredible country.
In the aftermath of the earthquake that shook Nepal on the
25th April 2015 many people are asking me, ‘how can we help Nepal’.
My answer changes pretty much daily. To begin with the advice I was giving was
to send your money – anything you ship over will take to long to get here and
we needed immediate access to food, shelters, blankets, the list goes on. Then
my answer was KEEP sending money (and this one still stands). Nepal is going to
need a huge amount of money once the rebuild starts and my continuous answer is
to help spread the word and keep Nepal in the media as much as you can.
If you ask me today what you can do to help, my answer is
COME AND VISIT. I don’t mean now, I don’t even mean tomorrow, but come the
fall, once the monsoon is over and the land has settled, Nepal will NEED your
tourism now more than ever.
Anyone who has visited Nepal before will tell you how
Nepali’s are the most generous and friendly people they have ever met, how the
mountains are awe inspiring and how somehow, Nepal gets under everyones skin
and once you have been here one time, you will be back before you know it. It is
truly a very special country with so much to do and so much on offer.
Over 1 million foreigners travel to Nepal every year and
without their valuable income, Nepal will find it hard to get back on it’s
feet. Nepal Tourism accounts for hundreds of thousands of local jobs and a huge
percentage of the countries national income.From taxi drivers, hotel owners, bar staff, restaurants, rafting
companies, trekking guides, tea house owners, porters, mountain biking
companies, paragliders, bus companies, internal flights….the list goes on and
on and on. All these people are currently out of work and can then not support
their families, thus causing more undue hardship.
At the moment the media is (rightly so) focusing on all the
destruction to the country, however, it is only certain areas, and most of the
tourist destinations in the country are totally unaffected. I do not want to
detract from the devastation that has happened, because it is bad, it is
serious and it should not be taken lightly. But it is only in certain areas and
most of these villages survive on money sent back by relatives working the
cities, and if they have no work, the villages have no money to rebuild.
Thamel, the tourist district of Kathmandu has been relatively unaffected, as has Pokhara one of the main destinations on every ones hit lists
when they travel to Nepal. Whilst the Langtang region has been harmed, many
other trekking regions are unaffected and theses guides need employment.
Annapurna, Mustang, Makalu, Kanchenjunga are all fine. For those interested in
wildlife, Chitwan National Park and Bardia National Park are open and
unaffected.
And from our personal point of view, the rivers are still
flowing and screaming out for the rafters and kayakers to come back. The only
rivers we will not commercially running at the moment are the Upper and LowerBhote Kosi and the Belephi, as although the river is fine, the areas surrounding it have been
devastated.
Mohan Krishna Sapkota, spokesperson
for Nepal’s Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation said “Our priority
is to bring more tourists and provide them quality, safety, hospitality and
other services to their satisfaction,” he says, expressing a desire to
re-establish Nepal as a “safe, unique and attractive tourist destination.”
In a country where tourism is the largest domestic
industry, what Nepal doesn't need is potential visitors to be scared off because
of over exaggerated media. The whole of Kathmandu has not been flattened, I have
seen for myself, it is only certain areas. If you love Nepal and want to see it
rise once again, please help by giving donations to reliable organisations to
assist the rebuild, but also come here on holiday yourself this Fall.
In the meantime, we as a company are focusing our efforts on
rebuilding the homes of many of our staff members but we are OPEN FOR BUSINESS AS NORMAL.
If you have any questions about certain areas of Nepal
and whether they are safe to travel to or not, or you would like to enquire
about travel here next season, please email us on info@grgadventurekayaking.com
As 2014 is coming to a close, we've been looking back over our highlights from last year and thought we'd share with you our top 10 of the year 2014!
1. Although we are a Rafting and Kayaking company, every now and then we like to mix things up a bit. In May, owners Chrissy & Maila ventured to Everest Base Camp with a group of trekkers. This is a 14 day trek taking you to an altitude of over 5000m! Not bad for people who spend most their life on the rivers!
2.Another highlight for us has to be having the Hereford Expedition Group with us over the monsoon. 30 under 20's came for a total of three weeks and did a variety of volunteering, homestay, trekking, rafting and safari. It was so great to organise their program for them and it was a really interesting trip for us to run, and have given us lots of new ideas for the future (stay tuned!)
3. This year has been an incredible year for GRG and we have run all time record amount of Expeditions. In the Autumn season alone we ran 6 Sun Kosi's, 1 Karnali and 2 Tamur's! We are very proud of our team for working so hard and making this possible, and are looking forward to breaking this record next year!
4. One of the biggest events for us this year was opening our own hotel. Located next to Nursingh Chowk, we are now running Hotel Prayer Flag which has 20 rooms and plenty of space for your kayaks. We had a really successful first season and were full nearly every day with kayakers, trekkers and bikers coming and going. We've had some great parties on our rooftop and are looking forward to more to come!
6. In the Spring we were joined by a group of trainee guides from Bhutan. Kali (Maila's brother) spends about 5 months of the year working in Bhutan running rafting trips for international companies, but he has also started training up the first Bhutanese guides. They then visited Maila to get more experience and training from Nepal. It's always nice to be able to pass on skills and knowledge and wonderful to see the industry growing in Bhutan. We hope to get there ourselves as soon as we can.
7. Always a highlight for us - the Himalayan Whitewater Challenge. Many of the staff from GRG entered (Maila, Tusc, Biki, Papu, Uttar, Jeevan & Shambhu as well as a raft team). For us it signifies the end of the season and it's a great party. We are always very proud of how well the guys do in the events and it's a chance for us all to get together and enjoy the rivers.
8. We've also been working hard on our yoga expeditions this year. Mahendra is now a fully fledged member of the GRG team and has joined us on the majority of our Sun Kosi and Tamur Expeditions this year. Waking up on multiday trips and doing yoga in front of the river is one of the highlights of these trips. We would like to say a massive thank you to Mahendra for all his hard work this year and we are hoping to introduce more yoga packages in 2015.
9. Although not trip related, a highlight for us is that we have been able to collect over 20 new kayaks this season, meaning that we now have the biggest kayak hire fleet available in Kathmandu. We have many brands and models and full paddling equipment. If your coming to Nepal next season, ask us about hire.
10. And the biggest highlight of all was when GRG won the Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence 2014 for the third year running! This means the world to us and would not be possible without your support so we thank you from the bottoms of our hearts, and a thank you also has to go to our wonderful staff without who, we wouldn't get these fantastic reviews!
We hope your year was just as awesome and look forward to welcoming many of you on the rivers with us in 2015! Happy Holidays everyone.
Short of time but looking for adventure, well then look no
further as we have plenty of adventures for you!
Trisuli Rafting - Just three hours from Kathmandu
this is a great little river for people traveling to or from Kathmandu,
Chitwan and Pokhara - why sit on a bus for 8 hours when you can raft half or
it!!? Perfect for beginner rafters, families, or people looking for a big of
fun, but nothing too hardcore! We highly recommend this day trip as a different
way to travel to your next destination.
Canyoning - The sport of abseiling down waterfalls. This is
just an hour from Chitwan National
Park but can also be easily reached from Kathmandu.
Spend your day cliff jumping, abseiling and swimming in these beautiful gorges.
Bhote Kosi Rafting - Up for more of a challenge? Then we
suggest a day trip on the Upper Bhote Kosi. 2 hours north of Kathmandu,
close of the Tibetan border, this river runs continuous Grade IV/V.
Fancy joining one of our day trips? Email us now for more
information.
So you've just finished your 4 day kayak clinic on theTrisuli or once in a lifetime raft down the Sun Kosi, what's next? Here's a few
of our suggestions what you should do in Nepal
after your rafting trip.
1 - Go on Safari
Take some time out and chill out in Chitwan National Park. Join one of our
safari tours and go on an elephant back and walking safari in the jungle. Keep
your eyes peeled for the famous one horned Rhino, Deer, Hog, Monkeys and more. We
recommend the 2 night 3 day package to get the most out of your jungle
experience.
2 - Do a Bungee Jump!
Nepal
boasts the second highest bungee jump and the HIGHEST canyon swing in the
world. If your an adrenaline junkie why not head up to the bridge to take the
jump?!
3 - Chill out in
Pokhara
Pokhara is nothing like Kathmandu. It
is peaceful, surrounded by the Annapurna mountains and a
great place to spend a few days. Take a boat out on the lake, have a massage or
try one of the many cocktail bars. You will feel like you are in a real holiday
destination in Pokhara.
4 - Go on a trek in
the Himalaya
Most people come to Nepal
specifically for trekking and you can understand why. We have some of the most
beautiful mountains in the world in Nepal.
Whether you have 1 day or a month spare there are plenty of trekking options
for you. Ask us for suggestions.
5 - Go paragliding
Due to the lake in Pokhara, Nepal
is actually one of the safest destinations for paragliding. Soar with the
eagles with a mountain backdrop, can you think of a better way to spend a
morning?
6 - Visit the
birthplace of Buddha
Legend has it that Buddha was born in Lumbini close to the
Indian border. If you have the time this is a remarkable place to visit. Take
an afternoon walk/cycle around the many temples in the area. One of the most
peaceful spots in Nepal
7 - Biking in the Himalaya
As well as rafting and trekking, there is also some amazing
mountain, downhill, single track, we've got it all! From a day trip out of the Kathmandu
Valley to a week long expedition in
the mountains, there's something for every level.
8 - Visit a few of
the many Hindu and Buddhist temples.
In Kathmandu especially, there are
many religious temples for you to discover. Pashupatinath, Boddhnath, Bhaktapur
Durbar Square and the Monkey
Temple are some of the few to give
you an insight to the bright and colourful culture of Nepal.
Abseiling down waterfalls! Jumping, climbing, scrambling and
shimming down some of the most beautiful waterfalls in the world. Need I saw
more. It's worth the trip just to see the 100m water wall at the top of our
canyoning site! Probably our second most favourite thing to do next to
kayaking!
Well...come on now, we are water people! There are over 6000
rivers in Nepal
and although we don't run all of them commercially, there are many rafting and
kayaking trips that you can join. If you loved your first trip why not join us
for another. Get in touch now to book your next rafting/kayaking adventure!
If you fancy doing any of these activities, then please visit our website for further details www.grgadventurekayaking.com or contact our office in Kathmandu info@grgadventurekayaking.com and we'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.
The SunKosi is one of our favourite rivers here at GRG. It is a 7-9 day (depending on the time of year) whitewater rafting and kayaking expedition.
The trip starts just three hours from the center of Kathmandu, near the Tibetan border and takes
you all the way to the flat plains, to the confluence of the Ganges. It has been rated one of the top
ten river journeys in the world by National Geographic and we couldn't agree
more.
At GRG, it
is one of our personal favourite and we run on average six trips to this
incredible river a year, more than any other rafting operator in Nepal. Five are headed out this fall
alone.
This trip
has something to offer for every level of paddler, even if you've never been on
a river before! For the complete beginners, you can raft it between Oct-Dec,
April- June. For those who are daring enough we can even teach you to kayak as
we paddle down.
For more
experienced paddlers, the best time is at HIGH water, Sept-Oct of May-June. We
will always have safety kayakers along with our trips and gear raft support to
keep you safe.
The Sun
Kosi boasts some of the best rapids in the world. Hakapur, Jungle Corridor,
Jaws, Rollacoaster, Black Hole and Rhino Rock to name a few! You can see below
footage of a kayaker running the infamous Hakapur rapid.
But it's
not just the whitewater that makes this trip so special. Where else can you
escape the world, be without internet, phones and technology for that long. It
gives you the opportunity to leave everything behind and just enjoy the river. Surrounded
by small local villages and jungles, we camp on the most pristine white sandy
beaches (You'll think you're in a postcard!). We'll show you the best cliff
jumps, waterfalls for showers, take you to hidden caves and local temples as
well as visiting rural villages to try out some local cuisine (you'll be trying
to re-create 'Sukute' (dried, fried Buffalo) when you return to your home
country).
Here's the final edit for the World Class Academy's fall semester in Nepal with us. Over the three months the students have a section to work on and then put it all together in a video at the end and this is what they came up with - not too bad! We've certainly enjoyed watching it, we hope you do to !
In the three months, they paddled the Trisuli, Upper Seti, Karnali, Marsyandi, Bhote Kosi and Belephi!
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