Rafting in Kali Gandaki River

• Class III-IV Continuous Whitewater: Big Brother, Little Brother and the Bridge of No Return in three days of near-constant rapids.

• A Gorge with No Road: The river leaves the highway at the put-in and does not meet it again for three days.

• Beach Camping: Two nights on white sand beaches, with the crew cooking on the riverbank and no other party in sight.

• A Sacred River: The Kali Gandaki carries the shaligram ammonites and passes cremation ghats and shrines at every confluence.

• Dhaulagiri and Annapurna Water: You are paddling the drainage between two 8,000 m peaks, in the deepest gorge on earth.

The put-in is below Beni at Maldhunga, and the river gets going immediately. The first day runs a long series of class III rapids as the gorge closes in, with the named class IV drops — Big Brother, Little Brother and the Bridge of No Return — spread across days one and two. It is a continuous river rather than a pool-and-drop one, so there is far less flat water than on the Trishuli.

Water levels change the character completely. October and November run high and fast after the monsoon, with big waves and pushy hydraulics; by March and April the level has dropped and the river becomes more technical, with rock dodging and tighter lines. Both are excellent. Your guide will scout and, if necessary, portage anything the group is not ready for.

Every trip runs with Nepal Rafting Association certified river guides and a safety kayaker on the harder water. Rafts are self-bailing, and the standard kit is a helmet, a coastguard-approved life jacket, a paddle and a wetsuit or splash jacket where the water is cold. A comprehensive river first aid kit and a throw bag travel on every boat.

Before the first rapid your guide runs a full safety briefing on dry land: paddle commands, what to do if you fall out of the raft, how to swim a rapid feet-first, and how to help someone back in. Nobody gets on the water until that is done and understood. Guides carry the authority to portage any rapid they do not like the look of, and on a rising river they will use it.

Two nights are spent on sand beaches the crew picks in the afternoon. Camp is two-person tents with sleeping mats, a mess area and a toilet tent dug well back from the water. There is no lodge option on this river; the gorge has no road and no settlements of any size, which is the whole point.

All meals from the first day's lunch to the last day's breakfast are cooked on the riverbank by the crew, and river food in Nepal is generally much better than people expect — porridge and eggs for breakfast, a spread of salads and hot dishes for lunch, and a proper cooked dinner with a fire afterwards if the beach allows one. Drinking water is filtered and treated from the river; bring a bottle rather than buying plastic.

Provided: raft, paddle, helmet, life jacket, wetsuit or splash top where needed, dry bags for your kit, all camping equipment including two-person tents and sleeping mats, and every meal from the first lunch to the last breakfast, cooked on the riverbank by the crew.

Bring: quick-drying clothes you do not mind soaking, a swimming costume, river sandals or old trainers that will stay on your feet, a warm fleece and long trousers for camp, a towel, a sun hat with a cord, high-SPF sunscreen and lip balm, a head torch, and a change of dry clothes sealed in a bag. Sunglasses need a retainer or they will end up in the river. Leave anything valuable in the Kathmandu or Pokhara hotel safe.

• Rafting in Nepal: Every River Compared — Snowmelt rivers dropping off the Himalaya make Nepal one of the best whitewater destinations on earth.

• Rafting the Marsyangdi: The Complete Guide — The hardest river we run and the one experienced rafters come to Nepal for — four days of steep, technical, continuous class IV and IV+ below Manaslu.

• Seti River Rafting in Pokhara: The Complete Guide — The gentlest of Nepal's commercially rafted rivers — warm, clear, class II–III through a jungle gorge north of Pokhara, with long calm stretches where you can swim beside the raft.

• Rafting the Bhote Koshi: The Complete Guide — The steepest river commercially rafted in Nepal — 26 km over two days at fifteen metres per kilometre.

• Trishuli River Rafting, 2 Days: The Complete Guide — Fifty kilometres of river over two days, and a night camped on a sand beach in the middle of it.