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Alaknanda River Rafting Tours

Alaknanda River is the India second main tributary of the Ganga River besides the Bhagirathi River. It comes form the big mountains of Garhwal Himalayas and has plentiful mighty tributaries including the Nandakini, Pindar and Mandakini. A self contained journey is a great introduction to trip river rafting. Apart from some stunning landscape it provides you the excitement of running one of the most technical and challenging white water in the Indian Himalaya’s that has grade 4 – 5 thrill rapids with loads of adventure to propose.

Our river rafting trip begins at Chamoli. The rafting trip between the Chamoli and Rudraprayag, is a classic river run, negotiate over 75 to 80 grade 3 to 4+ rapids, including the grade 5 ‘Hillary Fall’ named after Sir Edmund Hillary’s upstream jet boat expedition know as “Ocean to Sky”, many decades before.

Alaknanda River Rafting Trip Itinerary

Day 01: Alaknanda River Rafting Trip

Reach destination early morning at Haridwar. Drive to Rishikesh City and check into a hotel. After breakfast we drive to the opening point of the river rafting trip. Today we raft about 20 km to Rishikesh and get well-known with paddling and safety methods, negotiating the most excellent rapids on the Ganga, such as Rollercoaster, Golf course, Three Blind Mice, Body Surfing and a few small rapids for about 3 hr and get ready ourselves to take on the most challenging trips Alaknanda River has to propose. We come to an end our trip short of Rishikesh and drive to the hotel. In the evening you can walk into the city to attend the twilight prayer ceremony by the river.

Day02: Alaknanda River Rafting Trip

After breakfast in the morning, we go for 6 to7 hrs to Kaldubagar, through the famous pilgrim towns of Rudarprayag and Devprayag. Stay overnight in a hotel or river camp. After settling in, there is a briefing on the river rafting expedition and the upcoming days. We pack stuff in dry bags and get prepared for the next morning.

Day 03: Alaknanda River Rafting Trip

Early start takes us to Chamoli. This is the most thrilling and challenging stretch of the trip. At the Putin we help in getting the rafts ready. A detailed safety briefing follows with directions on paddling, rapids to be encountered etc. The river expedition starts with a lot of grade 4/4+ rapids. Depending on the level of water, we negotiate or walk around the ‘Hillary Fall’ rapid at Nandprayag. We call it a day at Kaldubagar after a lengthy thrilling day on the river.

Day 04:  Alaknanda River Rafting Trip

Today we raft till Gauchar. Be prepared for one more exciting day on the river with plenty of grade 3/4 rapids. We raft pass the confluence of Pindar at Karanprayag. The Pindar River brings in more volume, adding punch to rapids to track. We camp on a big sandy beach, settle in to star gaze around the bonfire and get a good night’s sleep.

Day 05: Alaknanda River Rafting Trip

After breakfast we get on the river and raft till Rudarpryag. Today the section is more “pool and drop” as compared to begin with plenty of grade 3/4 rapids. We accomplish the ‘Kakar Fall’ grade 5 rapid. After a thorough check of the rapid we negotiate or line up the rafts to enter the spectacular narrow box canyon. The canyon is narrow enough, about 15 meters, for a deer to leap across – that’s where the rapid gets its name. Finish the journey after running the ‘Holy Hole’ grade 4 rapid. Drive back to Rishikesh. Transfer to Haridwar to board the evening train.