And then there were four . . . . . . . . . . . .

So much has happened in the past few weeks and it has been amazing. Now, everyone other than Hester, Malaika, Kelly and myself have gone home. We have a few more days in Nepal before heading out to Thailand. So here is an update of what the Nepali Girls have been up to for the last while.

After the Himalayan Whitewater Challenge the Nepali Girls spent 5 days on the Trisuli river learning heaps about rafting from Churmani and Kali (two Nepali raft guides). The girls practiced guiding the rafts and oar boat and worked hard for 5 days.

Emi Earle, competing in her first freestyle event at the Himalayan Whitewater Challange, and ripping it upBruno, Whitney, Malaika, Emi, Hester and Hayley ready to pull some big air .Susmita with her brand new Jackson Kayak, won at the Himalayan Whitewater Challange
Following this they spent 3 days doing a WRT course (Whitewater Rescue Training) where they excelled. They had one day theory and then 2 days on the Bhote Koshi river, where they where based at Sukute beach. There were 40 other male students completing this course and the women were split up into groups with the men. The girls worked so hard and spent hours and hours swimming rapids, learning knots and learning about safety on the river. 7am till 5pm in cold water - lucky they had plenty of nice gear to keep them warm.

From the WRT course the girls were back to the Trisuli River for more raft guide training.Hasilla and Sita flipping the raft
Some of the girls climbing back in

We met back up with the girls on the 16th of November at the Seti River. This was the last trip for the girls before they completed their five week training programme.

Anna White, Hayley Segal, Malaika Davies, Hester Hilbink, Anna Bruno, Malin Strand and myself along with Josh Neilson who continued filming where part of the Lower Seti trip.
Malaika, Anu, Hasila, Rama, Sophie, Sam Bhavi, Anna and Hester.

Seeing the girls again after a couple of weeks was amazing. They were looking so strong and happy. We arrived in the morning and after a catching up, we began to get ready for the river.

It was great to see all the Nepali girls working hard and packing the rafts. They were loading up, tying fancy knots and just looking like they knew what they were on about.

The girls using their new skills to tie on all the gear, including their dry bags donated by Bivouac Kamala and Susmita pumping up the raft

So we left camp and began the final trip. Hasila, Kamala and Sam Bovhi were in kayaks and we worked hard on eddy turns all day with the girls taking turns in kayaks. They were looking great on the rafts and in the kayaks. Even when they swam, they swam with confidence and knew what they needed to do. Hasila went from not being able to keep herself afloat 5 weeks ago to swimming down big rapids with so much power.

3 days on the Lower Seti, working hard on their kayaking and rafting skills and we were all so proud. These girls have come so so far in 5 weeks it's unbelievable, we are all so proud of them and what they have achieved.The last day on the river was so special, we pushed off from camp with Sita and Susmita guiding the paddle rafts and Radha guiding the oar raft. All looking so happy and confident. We made our way to the finish and after some lunch at a little rolling practice, we were on the bus for a 6 hour bus ride back to Kathmandu.

The following day the girls spent with an American women who taught them lots of First Aid skills. Then the 20th was the day the training programme came to an end. We all went to the press conference/closing ceremony which was really special for everyone.

After some really special speeches from Inka, Sita, Anita and Churmani, I was asked to say something, and I talked about how proud I was of all the Kiwi girls for there hard work, all the people who helped out with this and of course how amazed and proud we all were of the Nepali Girls for there huge efforts over the past 5 weeks.

Last year a group of Nepali Women summited Everest being the first Nepali women to ever do this. They came to the ceremony and presented the girls with their certificates, which was super cool. One of them spoke about how excited she was that more Nepali Women were developing a passion for adventure.Just after the girls received their certificates.Susmita, Sam Bhavi and Anita, so happy and proud.

The Himalayan River Girls with the Everst Summiting Girls, a very powerful group of young Nepali Women with a love for adventure

Talking to Inka we also found out that many companies wanted to employ the Women and that there were more jobs than them, so from this training programme they had job offers left, right and centre. It's great to see so much support from Nepali companies, and so good to know that when next season rolls around in February, (it's winter now) these girls will be working in the industry.

Later that evening we all had dinner together, more speeches and from the Kiwi Girls, a fish hook necklace from NZ to keep them safe on the river and representing the friendships we developed.A Hongi and a hug for Mina after she received a necklace from team Kiwi

Mailaika giving Mina a Hongi and Hug

Saying goodbye to the girls was hard, we are so happy for them, and so proud of what they achieved, they are all very special young ladies who now have endless opportunities.

Slowly everyone has left to go home, now we are four. Today we leave Kathmandu for a night in Bhaktapur and then in Nargakot before heading out to Thailand on the 27th.

NEPALI GIRLS PROFILES

Sita Thapa
Age: 22
Info: Has one son but has split from her husband. Learned to kayak with Inka last season. Has been working for Equator Expeditions for 8 months. During the training programme her kayaking skills sky rocketed and she also practiced more raft guiding, now guiding a raft she looks great.Sita surfing it up in the Himalayan White-water Challenge

Susmita
Age: 23
Info: Has one daughter has split from he husband. Learned to kayak with her husband a couple of years ago and then stopped. Spent time kayaking with Inka last season. Has also been working for Equator Expeditions. On the training programme she learned to guide a raft as well as working hard on her Kayaking skills with Malin Bergman (a swedish slalom kayaker) who taught her alot about technique.Susmita, sun-blocked up and ready to rock it!

Anita Sapkota
Age: 18
Info: Will finish school in April, has very good English and when she finishes school, would like to work in the management area of a rafting company. Chandra will help her with this in April next year.
Beautiful girls Radha and Anita ready for the river.

Sambhavi Karki
Age: 27
Info: SamBhavi had been working in a casino before the training programme. Her sister was part of the team that summited Mt Everest. When the season begins again in February she will be working for a rafting company. She hopes to keep her job at the Casino in the off-season.Sam Bhavi charging it down the Sun Koshi River

Hasila Shrestha
Age: 28
Info: Hasila also has been working in the Casino and next season will be working for a rafting company. She also hope to keep her job at the casino for the off season.Hasila, smiling as usual, with some great edging practice in the 'Method Air'

Pasang Sherpa
Age: 24
Info: Pasang has been studying at university. She has very good English and and is very clued up. She will now be working for Ultimate decents, through this job she will be able to learn a range of skills and hopes to be not only a river guide but also canyoning, trekking, and use her management skills too.Pasang showing Mila (a raft guide) how it's really done.

Rama Shrestha
Age:18
Info: Rama will complete school in April. From here she would like to get a job with a rafting company. Chandra will help her with this when she has finished school.

Rama showing off her new skills

Kamala Chepang
Age:18
Info: Kamala comes from a village by the Trisuli River. She is the first girl from her village to complete school up to the level she is at. She has returned to complete her schooling which is extremely important and during her spare time, she will be on the Trisuli River practicing her rafting and kayaking skills with a local Trisuli Raft Company. Kamala had very very little English before the training programme but 5 weeks later she made a huge improvement.

Malaika and Kamala with big smiles on the Sun Koshi.

Radha Tamang
Age: 22
Info: Radha has a natural talent for kayaking and rafting. In a kayak she looks as though she's been paddling quite a while. She went against her husbands wishes to do this training programme. When she was back in Kathmandu before the WRT course she went home and did not return. After a few days Inka managed to get hold of Radha and although she had missed the WRT course, she was able to join back in. Her husband left to go to America to study for 3 years. So now she has three years to concentrate on her rafting and kayaking. Radha re-adjusting the foot pegs in the 'Perception Phat' donated by Canoe and Kayak NZ

Mina
Age: 29
Info: The first female raft guide. Has been working in the industry a long time but has been in India. Now there are girls working in the Nepal Industry she would like to stay and work in Nepal to. So she will be working in India during the off season and Nepal in the season here.
A standard Mina photo, loud and full of energy.

Anu
Info: Joined us for the Lower Seti trip, works at Royal Beach by the Trisuli River for a rafting company. Not yet working on the river for them, but it wom't be long as her skills are really improving. On the lower Seti trip she worked on her kayaking technique and her raft guiding skills, she was looking very good in her kayak and will be some tough competition at the Himalayan White Water Challenge next year.

Anu on the Lower Seti

More Updates

While the girls have been rafting up a storm and even completed a Whitewater Rescue Training course on the Bhote Koshi River, we have been hiking our way to Annapurna base-camp. It was a beautiful trip and once we got there, we were surrounded 360 degrees by huge mountains.
The Nepali Girls are really coming along and we will be joining them in 2 days time for the final 4 days of the training programme on the lower Seti River.

Josh Neilson and Anna Bruno have both been updating their blogs with photos and stories so check out http://whitewater-koa.blogspot.com/ for josh's blog or http://www.ugandosomething.blogspot.com/ for Anna Bruno's Blog, they are both great photographers and have some amazing photos on their blogs.

Soph

Huge thanks to Whitewater Nepal

Georgia Bhandari who is co-owner of Whitewater Nepal was our wonderful trip leader on the Sun Koshi river. She did an amazing job coordinating 38 people on the river and even went out of her way to run up to a village and catch some chickens about day 7 of the trip, so we had some freash meat. It sure was interesting seeing the raft turn up at camp an hour later than us just on dark with 5 live chickens that were soon to be a delicous chicken curry.

A massivethanks to Georgia and Whitewater Nepal for the use of two Bliss-stick kayaks during the Sun-Koshi trip, which meant less kayaks we had to hire.

Cheers, Sophie

Loading up at the Holy Lodge and heading to the bus
Loading up the bus for Sukute BeachAt Sukute Beach next to the Sun Kosi On the water working on skills before heading downstream
Hasilla after her first day on the river
One of the many bridges we paddled under on the Sun Kosi
Lunch stop day 3
Team USANZ (kiwi's and americans) in our hotel Hakapur the biggest rapid in the river, this is just the end of it
Some of the Nepali Girls on the raft with Sita guiding under the watchful eye of Anna Bruno
On our way to the Trisuli, only 18 hours to go
Babu, a local paragliding in to the festival in his kayak.

I'm off on a tramp now but more photos in a week or so and lots more updates.

Thanks Sophie

Lots of Updates

Well where do i start.................................................. since our last update time has just flown by.

Our plan was to leave for Sukute beach on the 13th of November but there was a road block as a villager had been hit by a motor bike and the village involved wanted compensation from the government. So we were delayed a day which was okay as it was great to have another day working on paddling skills and rolling in the Kathmandu police swimming pool.

Malaika showing the girls how Buoyancy Aids work.

Radha loving it. Unfortunately she gets super dizzy after rolling over a couple of times, so she couldn't work on her rolling as it made her chuck up. But above the water she was super happy.The girls working on their rafting up skills

The girls worked super hard all day and we pushed them to the max, so with red eyes and looking like drenched rats we called it quits and went for a nice feed of Dahl Baht with the Nepali Girls and Inka. All the girls came back and stayed at the Holy Lodge with us for the night as they had already left their homes for the trip and weren't super keen to return. We also meet Susmita and Sita that evening, who were also joining the training programme (2 girls Inka worked with last time she was here).

All of us at the Kathmandu Police Pool

Early the next morning we were up packing gear, putting it on Rickshaws (3 wheeler bikes with big carriages) and making our way to the bus that was taking us to Sukute Beach.

Hester, Hayley and Anna sorting gear for the trip.

We made it almost all the way and then about 15km out from our destination we hit the road block, so we grabbed everything we could carry and started walked. 4-5km later we were on the other side of the road block and a truck had come to take us the last few km to Sukute Beach.

We were super eager to get an afternoon of paddling in with the girls so after meeting Mona (the Nepali Woman who worked with Inka to make this happen) we had a quick lunch, set up camp on the beach, dug a toilet hole and then decided to go back and walk through the road block again to get kayaks so we could get on the water.

Pasang begged a few of the locals to please let us through and told them the project story but they wouldn't budge so off we walked. We got to the bus and heard they were going to unblock the road so after an hour and a half the bus was moving and it raced through the road block to Sukute Beach with half of us on the roof. The boats were coming loose and we were on top of them and the bus was gunning it so it was pretty exciting and super scary at the same time.

Emi, Malaika and Hessie waiting on the roof for the road to be unblocked.

It was almost dark by the time we got back so no paddling for the day but we had a great evening by the fire and some amazing Nepali food cooked by the girls.

Next day we were on the water with the girls working on paddling straight, then moving on to sweep strokes then edging and carving, and then eddy turns. The girls were looking great. Some also spent a bit of time in the pool working on rolling. We also had two 15 year old local girls Comola and Susilla join us. They have been doing some kayaking with Mona and we helped them with rolling for the day.

We had another great evening around the fire and the Nepali Girls really came out of their shells showing us how to dance Nepali Style. It was a great evening of bonding and heaps of giggles.

Here's a breakdown of whats been happening for the last couple of weeks, if your not into reading then some lovely photos are following and I'll try and get some more up once we are back from our walk.

16th, the day of our departure down the Sun Kosi.

We were up early on the river with the girls having our last eddy turn session before the rest of the crew turned up.

At 12:00 two buses arrived packed full of the crew and it was all go from there. We meet the crew of girls and also had some great reunions with friends we hadn't seen for a while and then got to it. Our aim was to be on the river at 2:00 which didn't leave us long to have lunch, pack and load the rafts.

A quick team chat and some yummy lunch, then it was boat sorting time. I ended up in a pyrhana prozone which was an interesting boat, but actually got quite attached to it by the end of the trip.

All packed and ready to go we had a few speeches and blessings, and a super special moment between Inka and Mona, the two Women who are behind this whole project. Then 38 people departed Sukute Beach for 10 days on the Sun Kosi River.

The first couple of days the Nepali Girls stayed in the raft learning about how water works and getting comfortable with the river. On the afternoon of the second day we got to camp at four and had a great little kayak session with the Nepali girls.

Then on day three Radha and Sam Bovhi got in kayaks for their first whitewater kayaking experience. They did so well and even paddled a couple of grade three rapids, Radha went into a hole and calmly surfed out of it looking nothing like a beginner. After lunch we swapped over and Rama and Anita got into kayaks for the afternoon. The following day Pasang, Hasilla and Camola got in kayaks and had a great day. Camola stayed in the kayak all day and did do well, she was exhausted when we rocked up to camp at 5:30 but was absolutely loving it.

The next few days the girls were back in the raft as the river got a bit too challenging for them, but they had heaps of fun rafting. We got to paddle some super exciting rapids including the famous Hakapur which definitely got the adrenalin going.

Emi Earle and Kelly Blayney were in kayaks most of these days too. They sure didn't look like beginners as they charged down the massive wave trains, dodging the huge holes and powering across the big eddy lines. We were extremely proud of these two girls who were looking super solid.

After a few days of bigger rapids such as dead mans eddy, rhino rock and the jungle corridoor, the Nepali Girls were back in the kayaks. All seven of them were on the water and the ratios were great. One Nepali girl with two instructors. It was a big day on the river for all the girls and they did extremely well.

The following day all the girls were back in the raft and Sita was keen to guide, so with Anna Bruno helping her out, she guided the girls for the morning. We got to camp after only a couple of hours and got to chill out in the sun for our second to last day on the river.

The 25th was our last day on the river and all the Nepali Girls were in Kayaks except Sita, who again guided the raft. The Girls did so well in the kayaks and we had a nice big wave train to finish off with.

So arriving at the finish we had only an 18 hour bus ride to go ............................................

The bus drove us through the night to the Trisuli River, where the festival was held. We arrived early in the morning, set up camp then had a day to chill out and recover from the long night on the bus.

The 27th we decided to take the girls down the Trisuli run where the competition would be held. We had heard from lots of people it was grade two run with a couple harder rapids. Malin and Lena set off with Sita and Susmita to practice the slalom course as these two had been kayaking longer than the other 7 Nepali Girls. Once on the river we discovered it was definitely not an easy grade two so the Nepali Girls got off the river and a few off us carried on paddling down, pleased the Nepali Girls weren't with us as it would have been a long long day of walking around lots of rapids.

Because the Trisuli was harder than expected, only Sita and Susmita could enter the kayaking part of the competition. But Anita, Hasilla, Rama, Radha, Camola, Sam-Bovhi and Pasang entered in the raft race with Mina (a Nepali Women who has been working in India) guiding them.

It was a fantastic event and for the first time ever Nepali Women competed. There were three Nepali Women (Sita, Susmita and Anu) and 17 International Women, the most to ever compete in the Himalayan Whitewater Challenge. Sita walked away with a paddle, drytop and helmet and Susmita ended up winning a paddle, a drytop, a helmet and .............................. a brand new kayak.

So after a fantastic weekend of kayaking and fun we said goodbye to the Nepali Girls for a few weeks and got on the bus to Kathmandu.

Right now they are on the Trisuli River with Churmani and Manish who are working them hard with their rafting skills. We will see them in a couple of weeks and some of us will join them for the last week of their rafting and kayaking on the Lower Seti River.

Most of the Kiwi crew are now heading out for 8 days to the Annapurna Basecamp.

Thanks for reading - There will be updates on the rafting in a couple of weeks and hopefully some more photos in just over a week.

Cheers, Soph

Swedish girls raking it in

We have had some fantasitc news from the Swedish girls. Malin works as an Architect for FISKARHEDENVILLAN, one of Swedens largest house companies. And FISKARHEDENVILLAN have donated $1300 USD. For more info check out www.fiskarhedenvilla.se. Lina another Swedish girl, has also had a donation of about $1040 USD from the company she works for called XLENT
"XLENT Strategy is a Nordic strategy consulting firm helping companies achieve market impact through pragmatic strategy development and excellence in realization. More info can be found at w
www.xlent.se/strategy."


So fantastic news and a huge huge help for the Himalayan river girls.

WE MADE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So i'm sitting in our room in kathmandu, hooked up to wireless, with a full belly of Dahlbart. Go back 24 hours and we'd just arrived, with everything we had planned on bringing. Auckland airport was exciting and we managed to get all our gear on the plane including our kayaks packed full of stuff that were super heavy weighing in around "10kgs" each. All the gear turned up at Kathmandu airport which was amazing as we had seven kayaks packed full of gear plus another 12 pieces of luggage, so couldn't believe it was all there.

It's great to catch up with Inka again and to introduce her to the rest of the Kiwi crew. She has done such and amazing job here, most of the girls couldn't even swim a week or two ago, now they are looking really confident in the water and in the kayaks.

Today we have been at the pool with 7 of the Nepali girls working on basic paddling and rolling, it was great to meet them all.They are a great bunch of girls and it's so exciting to see how far they have come already and how far they will go in the next few months.

We got back from the pool and Emi had just arrived at the backpackers, she had come overland from India so it was so awesome to catch up with her, and we all went out for a fantastic feed of dhalbart and some local wine.

Tomorrow we are off to Sukute beach so will be out of contact for a week or 3, the river sounds awesome, and i can't wait to meet the rest of the crew.

Also we heard some really exciting news, Inka has been awarded the Golden Paddle which is an award in Sweden for the Whitewater event of the year. This has been awarded to her for setting up the 'Himalayan River Girls', so that is really cool news, and just shows all the effort, time and energy Inka has put into making this happen. It's amazing to see her here in full swing, she doesn't stop, just working so hard and had been for the last 6 months.

Cheers Soph

AND WE"RE OFF

We'll its been a busy last few days packing and repacking and then packing some more and hoping for the best when we got to the airport check in- it was touch and go for a bit but Singapore airlines was fantastic and not too many items of gear were sacrificed. The amount of gear we have received and purchased is phenomenal.
At the moment Hayley and I are in Singapore eagerly awaiting to meet the rest of the crew who flew from Auckland early this morning with not just two heavy boats laden with gear but five, so hope all went well at their end.
On behalf of the Kiwi team we would like to say a huge thank you to all our sponsors, whether it was new or second hand gear, money, discounts, baggage allowance and even advice.This project would not have possible without the help and support of you all.
Onwards to Kathmandu!
Keep reading the blog as we will update as much as we can.
Hester

Thanks Paddlerzone

We popped into Paddlerzone and Dana kindly donated four tie downs and a bunch of nose plugs. It is great to have the tie downs to help cart the boats to and from the rivers. We are sure the girls will come across some rapids where the nose plugs will come in handy and for all times spent under the water perfecting their rolls.

Thanks Paddlerzone for your contribution and support.

Macpac keeping us warm

Macpac have made a sweet donation to the project, donating two tents which will be left to the Himalayan River Girls. Huge thanks to Macpac for their help with the project, to check out the Macpac website follow the link http://www.macpac.co.nz/

NAME CHANGE and SWEDES working hard

We heard from Inka the other day that the name Nepali Girls Kayak Club has been changed to the Himalayan River Girls. This has a nicer ring to it and also includes the girls who dont kayak but do raft. So Himalayan River Girls it is

We also heard from the Swedish girls who have been working hard to rasie more funds for the trip. They have been at a flee market in Uppsala, Sweden and managed to make some good money from it. Check out the links for more cool pics

http://www.upk.se/?p=61

http://picasaweb.google.se/UppsalaPaddlarklubb/200810LoppisVaksalatorg#


I can make out the words Nepal, thats about it.