Sep 15, 2008

Brahmaputra River Puts India On The International White Water Map

The Brahmaputra enters India in the far eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh after traveling hundreds of miles across Tibet as the Tsangpo from its birthplace near the holy lake of Mansarovar. It is one of the world's largest, on a scale with the Indus, Mississippi, and the Nile.


One of the great rivers of Asia, the Brahmaputra commences its 3,000-km journey to the Bay of Bengal from the slopes of Kailash in western Tibet. As Tibet's great river, the Tsangpo, transverses east across the high-altitude Tibetan plateau north of the Great Himalayan Range, carving out myriad channels and sandbanks on its way. As it tumbles from the Himalayan heights towards the plains of the subcontinent it twists back on itself, cutting a deep and still unnavigated gorge, until finally turning south it emerges in Arunachal Pradesh as the Dihong. Just beyond Pasighat, it meets the Dibang and Lohit where it finally becomes the Brahmaputra.

It runs through dense forests and tribal settlements. Rafting trips starts in a place called Tuting, so remote that we have to reach there via helicopter ride! A seldom-run river, the Brahmputra offers beautiful scenery, excellent big white water and great wild life in a less-visited corner of the sub-continent. After having big fun and adventure, you finish our rafting at Passighat. The Brahamputra has its source at holy Mount Kailash Mansarover in Tibet, traverses the entire Tibetan plateau, and then makes its great bend into India, cutting into the Himalaya the deepest gorge in the world, a canyon which has as yet eluded all attempts at exploration.


The various adventurous sports held in the Bharmaputra river has helped the India's poor high-end adventure reputation to be changed. The experienced crew of rafters and kayakers have put together a rafting expedition down the mighty Brahmaputra. Aimed at putting India on the international white water map, 180-km stretch of the Brahmaputra will mark the first non-military expedition on the river and the first commercial foray in the politically sensitive region.


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