MISSION EAST TO WEST Stories from the Vanishing Wild Rivers of Nepal.
Stuck on a highway along the Kaligandaki River in 2017, an intense sadness washed over me as I watched an excavator chip away at the mountain, sending debris down, destroying the rapids below. I felt my past and my future slipping away, and a sense of urgency built. I decided that I wanted to see what remained of the rivers and the mountains of my country before it was all destroyed by human need and greed.
As a young struggling kayaker, my only relationship with rivers was through paddling. My dream was to tick rivers off a list - to be the man who had paddled them all. But a cross-country river expedition seemed out of reach and felt more impossible with each passing year. My favorite rivers, the Bhotekoshi and Marsyangdi, were being destroyed by hydropower dams. Then sand extraction and pollution began to take a toll on many others. With this rate of damming and destruction, each time I left a river's shore, I thought it possible I'd never see it again. In 2015, conducting rescue and relief in post-earthquake Nepal, I spent time in the mountains and villages, connecting with locals on a deeper level. Here, rivers weren't only a whitewater playground, but a beautiful force that sustained life. It changed everything for me, and my dream of exploring Nepal through its rivers took on a new dimension.
Right on the bank of Kalandaki in 2017, I decided to make it happen at any cost. When I returned home, I reached out to three young kayakers: Hari, Tarjan, and Roshan, whose thirst for adventure seemed to match my own. Over the next few months, we would challenge ourselves not only as kayakers but also as a team of explorers. The logistics of our expedition were elaborate. We would start in Nepal's capital city, Kathmandu, on the Bagmati, the holiest and the filthiest river in Nepal, and mission all over the country to the longest, most pristine, and the only free-flowing river in Nepal - the Karnali. We would traverse the width of Nepal frequently, exploring sources in the Himalayas and confluences in the humid south.
Additionally, I wanted to explore the cultures the rivers sustained and see what remained of the Nepal from my childhood. I was hesitant
