White-water rafting
Top 10 White-water rafting:
- The Zambezi, Zambia
- The Marsyangdi, Nepal
- The Colorado, Grand Canyon, Arizona, United States
- The Franklin, Tasmania, Australia
- The Futaleufu, Chile
- The Tatshenshini/Alsek, Alaska, United States, to British Columbia and The Yukon, Canada
- The Çoruh, Turkey
- The Katun, Siberia, Russia
- The Pacuare, Costa Rica
- Salmon, Idaho, United States
The Zambezi, Zambia
The Great Zambezi comes crashing over a mile wide, 100metre drop at Victoria Falls and flows on to the infamous Batoka Gorge. Just inside Zambia's border, it offers some of the best grade four to five white-water rafting in the world.
Enjoy a half, full or two-day trip navigating your way through 23 rapids. The scenery is awesome, with tall black cliffs rising up either side. June to February is the best time of year to visit.
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The Marsyangdi, Nepal
Long and steep, the non-stop grade four-plus to five rapids are guaranteed to give you an adrenaline high. Marsyangdi means raging river, and rage it does from the Himalayas down into the Ganges.
White-water rafting takes place along a 29-mile stretch of the river from Ngadi to Bimalnagar. It is seriously demanding and very technical, so be prepared. The trip takes six to seven days.
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The Colorado, Grand Canyon, Arizona, United States
Get rafting down 280 miles of the Colorado River and see the Grand Canyon up close. Sleep under stars, swim under waterfalls and get your kicks paddling on 100 rapids.
To raft through the entire national park takes about two weeks but there are five day options. Highlights include short hikes to hidden grottoes, and seeing ancient Native American ruins.
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The Franklin, Tasmania, Australia
The Franklin runs through 78 miles of total wilderness in the remote south-west of Tasmania. Paddle five to 11 days on challenging rapids and camp on rock ledges and in caves. See rainforest, deep gorges and waterfalls.
Once you arrive at the Great Ravine with its 1,300-foot high walls, prepare for four immense sets of rapids: the Churn, the Coruscades, the Thunderush and the Cauldron. End the trip on a beautiful stretch of water at Glen Caulder.
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The Futaleufu, Chile
The Futaleufu, meaning "big river" in the local Mapuche dialect, crashes down the Andes from the Argentinian border to the Pacific.
The rapids here are so hardcore that only 40 miles are negotiable. The upper half boasts grade five-plus rapids for experts only. If you've got the stomach for it, the lower 22 miles offer grade five rapids with names such as Inferno Canyon.
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The Tatshenshini/Alsek, Alaska, United States, to British Columbia and The Yukon, Canada
These two arms of the same river wind through the largest protected area of wilderness in the world. The Kluane National Park in the Yukon, the Tatshenshini and Alsek Wilderness Park in British Columbia and Alaska's Glacier Bay National Park.
Paddle as you watch giant blue icebergs crack off the eight-storey Alsek Glacier. Spot wildlife such as bears, moose, wolves and golden eagles.
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The Çoruh, Turkey
Culture lovers-come-adventure enthusiasts are in for a treat on the 170-mile rafting trip down the Çoruh. The shores of the river are dotted with Byzantine and Slijuk Turk fortresses.
Start paddling near the town of Bayburt and end at Artvin near the border with Georgia. This is an opportunity to see a little-visited part of Turkey while shooting through grade three, four and five rapids.
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The Katun, Siberia, Russia
Boldly go where few have rafted before, on the Katun River in Altai Republic, southern Siberia. The area is extremely remote so the best way to ride the rapids is on an organised trip.
The five-day paddle starts where the Ilgumen River meets the Katun. Thundering down from Altai's Golden Mountains, the grade four Ilgumen rapids guarantee a bumpy ride.
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The Pacuare, Costa Rica
Located between the Caribbean coast and Costa Rica's highlands, the Pacuare is one of the most scenic rivers in the world. Paddle into steep gorges flanked with dense tropical vegetation and waterfalls. Jaguars, monkeys, parrots and sloths live in the virgin rainforest.
Trips run for one to three days from mid-May to mid-March. Visitors stay overnight at a remote thatched-roofed lodge tucked away from the shore.
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Salmon, Idaho, United States
The Middle Fork of the Salmon travels through 2.4 million acres of the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness in central Idaho. The rapids build up to grades three and four.
You can fish for trout along the way, soak in hot springs or relax on sandy beaches by the river's shore. The real adrenaline rush hits at Impassable Gorge, the second deepest on the continent.
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