An exhilarating white
water challenge, away from main trekking
routes yet easily accessible from
kathamandu. Not to be undertaken lightly
and only recommended for expert kayakers.
New roads now make this feasible as
a 2 or 3-day trip from Kathmandu.
The River
The Tama Kosi is no
mere side stream of the Sun Kosi-
it's a powerful, major, river with
a volume twice
that of its near neigh bout he Bhote
Kosi. The river rises in Tibet and
it drains a lot of high Himalayan
Peaks and glaciers. The Tama Kosi
flows for some 75 km before meeting
the road at Busti, the usual starting
point. The river is probably feasible
from some 40 km upstream, below the
village of Lambagar at an altitude
of 1200 meters. People who have trekked
up the river say that it looks class
2 or 3 for the first 20 km or so above
Busti Bridge.
Tama Kosi translates literally as
'River of Copper', but it is also
known as the River of Sorrow'. During
the reign of King Ranabahadur a smallpox
epidemic led him to expel he common
people from Kathamandu to the shore
of this river there remains in the
local Newari language a lament called
Sitalamaju which describes their arduous
journey and their sorrow as their
children died from the smallpox.
Rafting
It has also been a rive
of sorrow for the few raft groups
who have attempted ITM an American
team in October 1985 is said to have
had a major epic involving injury,
of raft and equipment, and the curtailing
of their sun Kosi trip. A French team
stamped a raft descent in late October
1990 and talked about 'Labors of Hercules"
carrying the rafts for long distances,
and 'Mental exhaustion'.
Driving down the new road and putting
on at the Khimti confluence would
make an easier and more feasible trip,
but we can't see the point though-
why read another 5 hours on a bus
to put in here when you could be spending
this time on the Sun Kosi, rafting
down from Dolalghat.