WHITEWATER-KOA: Nepali Girls Expedition Part 2

Camp 1 morning 2 - Photo Josh Neilson

With the trip now well underway and making our way steadily down the river the Nepali girls were out in force at camp 2 practicing their eddy truns and some more rolling. Anita, who i hadnt even seen learning to roll told us to watch as she submersed and came back uop with a big smile on her face. While doing this in the moving water would be a different story, the girls were making swift progress.

Sambhovi Making her way down the Whitewater - Photo Anna Bruno

Day 3 on the river a few Nepali girls were in kayaks paired off with the Kiwis and Sweeds. Some of the Girls had picked up kayaking pretty quick and some slower than others. Due to this they had a raft there to swap round on and kayak when the rapids suited them.
At lunch the girls swapped round and others go to paddle their first rapids of the Sun Koshi.

Camp 2 Nighttime rest and relax - Photo Josh Neilson

Where we were at this point there were no roads, not power, and definatly no kayak instructors in the river side vilages. Over time the local people have addapted ways of collecting food from the river in various ways. Fishing with a pole was slow and a long net would be hard to get into the current. With large rubber tires the kids had manufactured their own river craft designed to get the net out but soon they had discovered running the rapids would be fun too.
As I neared a rapid mid way through the day 3 boys raced me toward the entrance. As I made my way down in a big bit of plastic designed for these conditions these kids charged by me in their tries and sticks. A very cool experience and at the bottom we swapped paddles, He almost got away with me chasing him with a bit of wood for a paddle.

2 Local boys towing out their net for fish- Photo Josh Neilson

Two different goals, both very interested in the other - Photo Josh Neilson

Day 4 - The first of the sickness. Early on morning 4 Laura and Emi went down as the first patients of the trip. It goes without saying when you travel in places like Nepal that while you can be as careful as possible around food but some sort of sickness is not far behind you. These two were the first but definatly not the last on the trip.
By now we are about 70kms from our start point and deeper into the Sun Kosi. Tomorrow we hit the biggest rapids of the trip. A small village called Hakapua will mark the entrance to the Hakapua rapids.
Check back in a day or 2 for that story
Cheers
Josh