NEPAL

Draped along the greatest heights of the Himalaya, Nepal is where the ice-cold of the mountains meets the steamy heat of the Indian plains. It's a land of yaks and yetis, stupas and Sherpas and some of the best trekking on earth. The Himalaya's most sophisticated urban cultures took shape here, in the three great minikingdoms of the Kathmandu Valley - Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur - home to a world-class artistic and architectural heritage.

Behind the Vishnu shrine of Ichangu Narayan, northwest of Swayambhunath in the Kathmandu Valley, rises the 'Abode of Snows' (Himalaya in Sanskrit), a magnet for trekkers and mountaineers the world over. Only in Nepal can you trek for weeks without the need even for a tent. No longer does your name have to be Tenzing or Hillary to set foot in Everest Base Camp. Out of the mountains, get your adrenaline kick from world-class white-water rafting, kayaking and mountain biking, or from the spine-tingling sight of your first tiger or rhino in Chitwan National Park.

Nepal is not just a bungee-jumping, apple-pie eating Shangri-la. It's also one of the poorest countries on earth. However, many visitors, drawn to Nepal by the promise of adventure, leave equally enchanted by the friendliness and openness of the Nepali people.
From the natural rhythm you ease into on a trek to the rhythm of a tabla drum at one of Kathmandu's palace restaurants, Nepal is an amazingly diverse country that offers something for everyone. One journey through this land is rarely enough. The first thing many people do after a visit is start planning the next one.

Darjeeling

a town in the Indian state of West Bengal, is internationally famous for its tea industry and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is the headquarters of Darjeeling district, located in the Mahabharat Range or Lesser Himalaya at an average elevation of 6,710 ft (2,050 m).

Development of the town dates back to the mid-19th century, when the British set up a sanatorium and a military depot. Subsequently, extensive tea plantations were established in the region, and tea growers developed distinctive hybrids of black tea and created new fermenting techniques. The resultant distinctive Darjeeling tea is internationally recognised and ranks among the most popular of the black teas.

The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway connects the town with the plains and has one of the few steam locomotives still in service in India. Darjeeling also has several British-style public schools, which attract students from throughout India and neighbouring countries. The town, with its neighbour Kalimpong, was a center for the demand of the Gorkhaland separatist movement in the 1980s. In recent years the town's fragile ecology has been threatened by a rising demand for environmental resources, stemming from growing tourist traffic and poorly-planned urbanisation.

Pokhara

Pokhara Up-Mahanagarpalika) is a city of close to 200,000 inhabitants in central Nepal located at 28.25°N, 83.99°E, 198 km west of Kathmandu. It is the third largest city of Nepal after Kathmandu and Biratnagar. It is the Headquarters of Kaski District, Gandaki Zone and the Western Development Region. It is also one of the most popular tourist destinations of the country.Pokhara is situated in the northwestern corner of the Pokhara Valley, which is a widening of the Seti Gandaki valley.

The Seti River and its tributaries have dug impressive canyons into the valley floor, which are only visible from higher viewpoints or from the air. To the east of Pokhara is the municipality of Lekhnath, a recently established town in the valley.

In no other place do mountains rise so quickly. In this area, within 30 km, the elevation rises from 1,000 m to over 7,500 m. Due to this sharp rise in altitude the area of Pokhara has one of the highest precipitation rates of the country (over 4,000 mm/year). Even within the city there is a noticeable difference in the amount of rain between the south of the city by the lake and the north at the foot of the mountains.

The climate is sub-tropical but due to the elevation the temperatures are moderate: the summer temperatures average between 25–35 °C, in wintIn the south the city borders on Phewa Tal (lake) (4.4 km² at an elevation of about 800 m above sea level), in the north at an elevation of around 1,000 m the outskirts of the city touch the base of the Annapurna mountain range. From the southern fringes of the city 3 eight-thousanders (Dhaulagiri, Annapurna, Manaslu) and, in the middle of the Annapurna range, the Machapuchhre (Nepali language: Machhapuchhre: 'Fishtail') with close to 7,000 m can be seen. This mountain dominates the northern horizon of the city and its name derives from its twin peaks, not visible from the south. The porous underground of the Pokhara valley favours the development of caves of which three prominent ones can be found within the city: Mahendra, Bat and Gupteswor. In the south of the city, a tributary of the Seti coming from Fewa Tal disappears at Patale Chhango (Nepali for Hell's Falls, also called Devi's or David's Falls, after someone who supposedly fell into the falls) into an underground gorge, to reappear 500 metres further south.

Bheri River

The Lower Karnali can be run in five to seven days and still proves a major river journey that has got to fall in the category of being one of the best in the world. Depending on the level of the river, day four could still be in the jungle corridor. Once the gorge is exited the Seti river enters from the right, (this is the western Nepal Seti, not to be confused with the river close to Pokhara) and the river grade drops to class 2. Another day or two brings you to the Bheri river, entering from the left which has a good camping beach if you want to reach the take-out at lunchtime the following day.

At the take-out, Chisopani, is an impressive bridge spanning the river and plenty of shops selling food, soft drinks and cold beer. The return bus journey to Kathmandu is about twenty hours. Alternative returns would be via the Bardia national park which is located nearby, or bus to Nepalganj (2 hours) and fly to Kathmandu from there.

Seti River

Rafting in Seti River, You can have a fairly short trip in the Seti River and offers beautiful mountain views and also unique river passing through two beautiful and contrasting scenic areas of Manaslu and Annapurna regions. This River has relatively small volume but blue and warm water and we recommend this as an ideal short trip for first time rafters or as "Warm-up" for intermediate kayakers. Seti is Best River for learning kayak in Nepal as she has very best character for this. The water temperature is incredibly warm, making it a popular choice for winter trips and also for kayak clinics for the course of beginners, diploma and advanced as well.

After your exhilarating white water trip you have options either to drive or fly back to Kathmandu or to visit the Royal Chitwan National Park or again you can go for the trekking trip in the popular area of Annapurna region for few days. Most of the year, the Seti is famous for its dazzling scenery is a gentle river, attracting families, bird watchers, nature lovers and dreamers. However, during the monsoon, its swollen rapids prove an exciting test for experienced rafters and kayakers. The luxuriant vegetation visible along the river is a remnant of the vast forested area, which once covered the middle hills of Nepal.

This area is inhabited by Magar who are renowned for generations of service with the Gurkha forces. Saranghat is a colorful middle hill village where you will have first night's camp on a spacious beach below the village. After you complete the rafting adventure trip, you get a choice between coming back to Kathmandu or continuing journey to visit the Royal Chitwan National Park or to Pokhara .

The Kali Gandaki River

The Kali Gandaki raises in Mustang an enclave of Nepal Poking into Tibet on the other side of the Himalayas here; it is a flat and braided river, flowing in an arid open valley. As it tumbles down between the majestic Dhaulagiri and the Annapurna ranges, it creates one of the world's deepest gorges. The explorer Michael Peissel ran this stretch of the river in a small hovercraft in 1973 and at least two other groups have rafted and kayaked in this section. All day you have to continuous keeping paddlers busy against all technical rapids on the Kali Gandaki River.

Both experienced and novice rafters love this. Nowhere else is it possible to find such diversity on a 3 day raft trip. Nice drops, sparkling chutes and turbulent rapids provide class III to IV+ runs during the fall and spring seasons. After your exhilarating white water trip you have options either to drive or fly back to Kathmandu or to visit the Royal Chitwan National Park or again you can go for the trekking trip in the popular area of Annapurna region for few days.
Trip itineraryPre-departure meeting in

Trishuli River

Rafting on the Trishuli River is an excellent opportunity to observe the diversity of demography, landscapes, and cultural heritage and the flora and fauna. You can experience the thrills of white-water on the course of three days trip. This can be degraded as per your interest and time. The Trishuli River is the most easily accessible from Kathmandu, Pokhara and Royal Chitwan National Park by far a trip on this river can be made for a varied duration, depending upon the availability of time and interest. Scenic valleys and impressive gorges, exhilarating rapids and easier sections as well as the right amount of time all make it the perfect trip for first-time or experienced rafters. During the monsoon, Trishuli River promises a more challenging ride, with powerful rapids and whirlpools. When the river is running high and wild, there are hardly any rafters around, and rafting on the Trishuli River is without a doubt the most exciting thing you can do in Nepal during monsoon and quite possibly one of the best two days big water rafting trips offered anywhere. There are numerous exciting rapids as the name of Snail's nose, Teendevi, Malekhu rapid, Monkey rapid, Upset, Surprise, Monsoon, Cotton Pony, Ladies Delight, S-Bend, Highway, Monsoon and Pinball Rapid. This makes your fun more challenging during high flows with a good mixture of continuous rapids and pleasant calm water.

Sun Koshi River

The Sun Koshi means “River of gold “- perhaps named after the gold that is sometimes panned from the river gravels, or alternatively it refers to the orange colour of the water in the monsoon when it is thick with alluvial silt. The Sun Koshi flows from the Himalaya to eastwards in Nepal through the great valley between the Mahabharat range Mountains. It forms the watershed for most of eastern Nepal and gathering strength from tributaries draining the highest mountains in the world it emerges onto the northern plains of India where it joins the Ganges.

Rafting trips start right here from Dolalghat. Since the Banepa-Bardibas highway is now in operation, it is possible to arraRafting trips start right here from Dolalghat. Since the Banepa-Bardibas highway is now in operation, it is possible to arrange a trip from Dumjabesi. One of the nice things about the Sun Koshi is that, with the exception of a few big rapids like Harkapur the general standard of the river gets progressively harder as you descend it so there is time to loosen up and practice your skills on easy water before you reach the more interesting bigger and more challenging rapids lower down the river. You will be pleasantly surprised and flattered by how much your skills improve by the end of the trip!

For the vast majority of the river there are no roads or towns, just the occasional picturesque village and friendly shouts of “Namaste” from the bank this is un-spoilt, rural Nepal at its best. All along the river are beautiful large white sandy beaches for camping, and the lower section of the river is heavily forested with troops of monkeys and an abundance of birdlife.
Note: A new Highway is being built alongside the top 40km of the Sun Koshi.
Click for Destination Map

Marshyangdi River

The marsyandi river rises on the northern slopes of the Annapurna Himal, flows east through an arid valley around manang and then swing south to joint 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 4920m – but much of the upper river should probably be considered as unrunnable.
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 sculptured boulders, some spectacular white water, 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 padding because the river is incised about 100ft into the valley floor.

Africa Travel Resource

Africa Travel Resource is one of the leading companies specialising in the creation of innovative tailormade safaris.Our customers are typically the kind of travellers who really want to avoid the usual trails and engage with places in a deeper and more intimate fashion.Our website contains reviews, ratings and imagery for virtually all of the lodges in our featured countries, whilst here in our office we have very well travelled experts and an extremely advanced system to enable us to custom build trips quickly and efficiently.Use the map and menu system to the left to browse country by country, lodge by lodge or jump straight to our list of the best lodges in Africa.

Botswana
Safari in Botswana is generally very high quality and very high price, with a very pure and comfortable safari experience being created by flying around usually two to five safari lodges, mainly if not all located in the fabulous private concession areas of Okavango and Linyanti.The small proportion of decent game areas which are outside the private concessions are so overrun with self-drive and overland traffic that decent mid-price safari in Botswana is all but impossible. Our usual advice is that if you want to spend less than top dollar then either visit the good camps in low season or look to Zambia or Tanzania instead.

Safari in Botswana is generally very high quality and very high price, with a very pure and comfortable safari experience being created by flying around usually two to five safari lodges, mainly if not all located in the fabulous private concession areas of Okavango and Linyanti.The small proportion of decent game areas which are outside the private concessions are so overrun with self-drive and overland traffic that decent mid-price safari in Botswana is all but impossible. Our usual advice is that if you want to spend less than top dollar then either visit the good camps in low season or look to Zambia or Tanzania instead.

Nepal's River

bhote kosi River

Here's a great river trip for a short expedition with access to the river's put-in point just 3 hours outside Kathmandu. The Bhote Kosi is known as the River from Tibet and you can start a trip after a peak over the border into Tibet. The Kathmandu/Lhasa Highway (AKA Friendship Highway, Arniko Highway) runs along beside the river. You can ran a day trip or do a two day expedition and run parts of the river twice. It's a great beginner river for rafters and fun for kayakers at all levels.

The local village of Bahrabise offers a chance to mingle with locals and tour a Nepali paper factory. You can also trek to an old fort that housed 5,000 soldiers in by-gone days of Tibet

Nepal border skirmishes. Now, you'll find a unexpected surprise at river start as the Borderland Resort and Adventure Activity center has opened and offers rafting, canyoning, trekking, biking and fantastic food at the main put-in point of the Bhote Kosi. Be warned, most people that journey there for a one or two day trip wished they had book more days for adventure and R&R at the center

Gunung Mulu National Park

Gunung Mulu National Park is famous for its limestone karst formations. Features include enormous caves, vast cave networks, rock pinnacles, cliffs and gorges.

Gunung Mulu National Park has the largest known natural chamber or room - Sarawak chamber, found in Gua Nasib Bagus. It is 2,300 feet (700 m) long, 1,300 feet (396 m) wide and at least 230 feet (70 m) high. It has been said that the chamber is so big that a Boeing 747 jumbojet can fly directly into the mouth of the cave and hundreds of metres' down into the ground. The guides at Gunnung Mulu also say that Deer Cave [another large cave] is big enough to fit St. Peter's Basilica inside.

Other notable caves in this area are Benarat Cavern, Wind Cave, and Clearwater Cave;which contains parts one of the worlds largest underground river systems.
Mulu's limestones belong to the Melinau Formation and their age is between 17 and 40 million years (Late Eocene to Early Miocene).

Stratigraphically below the limestones, and forming the highest peaks in the south east sector of the Park including Gunung Mulu, lies the Mulu Formation (shales and sandstones). The age of these rocks is between 40 and 90 million years (Late Cretaceous to Late Eocene).

Paricutin Volcano

Parícutin (or Volcán de Parícutin, also accented Paricutín) is a cinder cone volcano in the Mexican state of Michoacán, close to a lava-covered village of the same name. It appears on many versions of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. Paricutín is part of the Michoacán-Guanajuato Volcanic The volcano began as a fissure in a cornfield owned by a P'urhépecha farmer, Dionisio Pulido on February 20, 1943. Pulido, his wife, and their son all witnessed the initial eruption of ash and stones first-hand as they plowed the field. The volcano grew quickly, reaching five stories tall in just a week, and it could be seen from afar in a month. Much of the volcano's growth occurred during its first year, while it was still in the explosive pyroclastic phase. Nearby villages Paricutín (after which the volcano was named) and San Juan Parangaricutiro were both buried in lava and ash; the residents relocated to vacant land nearby.
At the end of this phase, after roughly one year, the volcano had grown 336 meters (1,102.36 ft) tall. For the next eight years the volcano would continue erupting, although this was dominated by relatively quiet eruptions of lava that would scorch the surrounding 25 km² (9.65 mi²) of land.

The volcano's activity would slowly decline during this period until the last six months of the eruption, during which violent and explosive activity was frequent. In 1952 the eruption ended and Parícutin went quiet, attaining a final height of 424 meters (1,391.08 ft) above the cornfield from which it was born. The volcano has been quiet since. Like most cinder cones, Parícutin is a monogenetic volcano, which means that it will never erupt again. Any new eruptions in a monogenetic volcanic field erupt in a new randomField, which covers much of west central Mexico location.

Victoria Falls

The Victoria Falls or Mosi-oa-Tunya (the Mist that Thunders) is a waterfall located in southern Africa on the Zambezi River between the countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe. The falls are some of the largest in the worldThe Victoria Falls are considered by some to be among the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. David Livingstone, the Scottish missionary and explorer, is believed to have been the first European recorded to view the Victoria Falls.(see pre-colonial history, below), and this is the name in use in Zimbabwe. The older, indigenous name of Mosi-oa-Tunya is the name in official use in Zambia.

The World Heritage List recognises both names.While it is neither the highest nor the widest waterfall in the world, it is claimed to be the largest. This claim is based on a width of 1,708 metres (5,600 ft)and height of 108 meters (360 ft), forming the largest sheet of falling water in the world. The falls' maximum flow rate compares well with that of other major waterfalls .

Mount Everest

Mount Everest - also called Qomolangma Peak , Mount Sagarmāthā , Chajamlungma (Limbu), Zhumulangma Peak or Mount Chomolungma - is the highest mountain on Earth, and the highest point on the Earth's continental crust, as measured by the height above sea level of its summit, 8,848 metres (29,029 ft). The mountain, which is part of the Himalaya range in Asia, is located on the border between Sagarmatha Zone, Nepal, and Tibet, China.
In 1856, the Great Trigonometric Survey of India established the first published height of Everest, then known as Peak XV, at 29,002 ft (8,840 m). In 1865, Everest was given its official English name by the Royal Geographical Society upon recommendation of Andrew Waugh, the British Surveyor General of India at the time. Chomolungma had been in common use by Tibetans for centuries, but Waugh was unable to propose an established local name because Nepal and Tibet were closed to foreigners.

The highest mountain in the world attracts climbers of all levels, from well experienced mountaineers to novice climbers willing to pay substantial sums to professional mountain guides to complete a successful climb. The mountain, while not posing substantial technical climbing difficulty on the standard route (other eight-thousanders such as K2 or Nanga Parbat are much more difficult), still has many inherent dangers such as altitude sickness, weather and wind. By the end of the 2008 climbing season, there had been 4,102 ascents to the summit by about 2,700 individuals. Climbers are a significant source of tourist revenue for Nepal, whose government also requires all prospective climbers to obtain an expensive permit, costing up to US $ 25,000 per person. Everest has claimed 210 lives, including eight who perished during a 1996 storm high on the mountain. Conditions are so difficult in the death zone that most corpses have been left where they fell. Some of them are visible from standard climbing routes.

Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon (Spanish: Gran Cañón) is a steep-sided gorge carved by the Colorado River in the United States in the state of Arizona. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park, one of the first national parks in the United States. President Theodore Roosevelt was a major proponent of preservation of the Grand Canyon area, and visited it on numerous occasions to hunt and enjoy the scenery.


A map of the Grand Canyon and surrounding areas, circa 1908.
The Grand Canyon is 277 miles (446 km) long, ranges in width from 4 to 18 miles (6.4 to 29 km) and attains a depth of over a mile (1.83 km) (6000 feet).[1] Nearly two billion years of the Earth's geological history have been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado Plateau was uplifted.While the specific geologic processes and timing that formed the Grand Canyon are the subject of debate by geologists, recent evidence suggests the Colorado River established its course through the canyon at least 17 million years ago. Since that time, the Colorado River continued to erode and form the canyon to the point we see it as today.

Before European immigration, the area was inhabited by Native Americans who built settlements within the canyon and its many caves. The Pueblo people considered the Grand Canyon ("Ongtupqa" in Hopi language) a holy site and made pilgrimages to it.[6] The first European known to have viewed the Grand Canyon was García López de Cárdenas from Spain, who arrived in 1540.

Angel Falls

Angel Falls or Kerepakupai merú (which means "waterfall of the deepest place", in Pemon language, or: Parakupa-vena, which means "the fall from the highest point"; Spanish: Salto Ángel) is the world's highest waterfall, with a height of 979 m (3,212 ft) and a plunge of 807 m (2,647 ft). The waterfall drops over the edge of the Auyantepui mountain in the Canaima National Park (Spanish: Parque Nacional Canaima), a UNESCO World Heritage site in the Gran Sabana region of Bolívar State, Venezuela.

The height of the fall is so great that before getting anywhere near the ground, the water is evaporated by the strong wind and turned into water vapor. The base of the falls feeds into the Kerep River (alternatively known as the Río Gauya), which flows into the Churun River, a tributary of the Carrao River.

The height figure 3,212 feet (979 m) mostly consists of the main plunge but also includes about 0.25 miles (400 m) of shallowly sloped cascades and rapids below the drop and a 100-foot (30 m) high plunge downstream of the talus rapids. While the main plunge is undoubtedly the highest single drop in the world, some feel that including the lower cascades somewhat stretches the criteria for the measurement of waterfalls, although there are no universally recognized standards of waterfall measurement.

Niagara Falls

The Niagara Falls are voluminous waterfalls on the Niagara River, straddling the international border between the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of New York. The falls are 17 miles (27 km) north-northwest of Buffalo, New York and 75 miles (120 km) south-southeast of Toronto, Ontario, between the twin cities of Niagara Falls, Ontario, and Niagara Falls, New York.

Niagara Falls is composed of two major sections separated by Goat Island: Horseshoe Falls, the majority of which lies on the Canadian side of the border, and American Falls on the American side. The smaller Bridal Veil Falls are also located on the American side, separated from the main falls by Luna Island.

Niagara Falls were formed when glaciers receded at the end of the Wisconsin glaciation (the last ice age), and water from the newly formed Great Lakes carved a path through the Niagara Escarpment en route to the Atlantic Ocean. While not exceptionally high, the Niagara Falls are very wide. More than 6 million cubic feet (168,000 m³) of water falls over the crest line every minute in high flow, and almost 4 million cubic feet (110,000 m³) on average. It is the most powerful waterfall in North America.

The Niagara Falls are renowned both for their beauty and as a valuable source of hydroelectric power. Managing the balance between recreational, commercial, and industrial uses has been a challenge for the stewards of the falls since the 1800s.