Karnali River

The Karnali River offers one of the most exhilarating and remote rafting experiences in Nepal, combining world-class rapids with breathtaking Himalayan scenery and wildlife encounters. As Nepal's longest and largest river, originating near Tibet's sacred Mount Kailash, the Karnali carves through deep gorges and pristine jungles before culminating near Bardia National Park. This 10-day expedition is considered by many professionals as the finest multi-day rafting destination in Nepal, Karnali River “10-day Wild-west Classic”

The Karnali is Nepal’s longest and largest river and with its tributaries, it drains most of the Far west of Nepal – the ‘wild west’. The area that it flows through is wild and relatively un populated with some of the most pristine jungle scenery in Nepal, and abundant wildlife.

The rapids are also pretty wild, with the river building to its climax in these lower canyons. The valley narrows into a series of canyons, the river speeds up’ and there are big rapid, one leading into another, almost continuously down to the Seti river. The river winds through some magnificent un-spoilt scenery, eventually emerging onto the plains flowing through the Royal Baridia National Park to join the Ganges.

The Karnali rises in the northern slopes of the Himalayas in Tibet, in the glaciers of Mapchachungo, at an elevation of about 3,962 metres (12,999 ft) above sea level. The river flows south through one of the most remote and least explored areas of Nepal as the Karnali River. The 202-kilometre (126 mi) Seti River drains the western part of the catchment and joins the Karnali River

The Karnali is more constrained by its canyon walls giving bigger more continuous and serious rapids. This constrained nature of the river means that any increase in volume has a more pronounced effect on the difficulty of the rapid and this makes it a river that is best run at low and medium flows – in higher water the Karnali is a serious commitment.