RIVER RAFTING - SAFETY AND EQUIPMENT

Aquaterra Adventures operates river and mountain trips throughout the Indian Himalaya - from the Zanskar and Indus rivers in Ladakh to the Brahmaputra and Lohit rivers in Arunachal Pradesh. This vast span of river repertoire is made possible by a “hands on” operation and a backbone of the country’s most experienced river and mountain guides and state of the art equipment. We have organized several trips for kayakers who want all logistics sorted out, sometimes even provided raft support on longer sections.

Rafts and accessories used for river rafting are imported and are made of tear-resistant nylon based hypalon. Wearing helmets with chin straps fastened and life-jacket is mandatory which keep the person’s head above water in the not-so-common event of MOB (Man-Over-Board). Water-proof bags are kept aboard the raft for keeping cameras on the trip and on longer self-contained, multi-day expeditions, bigger water-proof bags are carried to keep all baggage on the raft completely dry. Every raft also carries rescue bags and flip lines to counter any emergency. We use self-bailing `Hyside’ rafts and accessories from Northwest River Supplies (NRS), Idaho, U.S.A for our rafting trips. Every raft trip/expedition carries a repair kit and a first-aid kit in order to make the run completely self contained. A safety briefing is given to everyone before the river run commences which outlines everything from the nature of the river and what to expect, to paddling commands and safety procedures to remember while in white-water. If possible, an easy section is rafted on the first day to orient everyone with rafting.

River guides on the trip are extensively trained and have many years of on-river experience, on each of the different rivers we operate on. They are also trained in first-aid and can handle any minor injury that might occur. On a river not rafted before, our guides make a thorough reconnaissance raft / kayak trip before running it commercially. All our regular river trips have had a number of descents by our river guides. Each raft has one river guide with 4-8 people in it, depending on the type of trip (day-trip / multi-day).

For safety reasons, we always ply minimum of two crafts on the river, and are members of the IAPRO (Indian Association of Professional Rafting Outfitters), a specialized river rafting body recognized by the different state governments, Uttaranchal’s Finest Outdoors, and the IATO (Indian Association of Tour Operators).

The main river trips we offer are on the Ganga, Alaknanda, Bhagirathi, Kali. Tons and Zanskar and Indus rivers. We also raft other rivers - the Beas, Spiti (Himachal Pradesh), Teesta (Sikkim), Brahmaputra, Subansari and Lohit (Arunachal Pradesh). Besides handling regular clientele, both overseas and domestic, we have also trained the Indian army on various rivers and handled multiday expeditions for them.

Needless to say, you are in capable hands.