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.