Paddling in Meghalaya
Paddling in Meghalaya | Author: Andi Brunner, S2S Pro Team
This year I went to Meghalaya in India for the Megha Kayak Fest . The logistics there are simple, the festival site at "Whitewater Village" is about 3 hours by car from Guwahati Airport.
The festival lasts a total of 3 days. The race track is right next to the camp, so it's logistically super easy, especially because you can also get food and drink in the camp.
At the festival there will be a time trial and a boatercross. The atmosphere was good and everything was pleasant, relaxed and well organized.
Meghalaya Road Trip
After the festival, we went on a 10-day road trip to paddle 6 different rivers. The car rides in Meghalaya are relatively long and quite bumpy, but you have drivers there and therefore you don't have to expose yourself to the Indian traffic stress – except that you are constantly exposed to a horn frequency that my heart would not be able to keep up with even during my sprint training.
Umtruh
Our first river was the Umtruh, a totally beautiful river that you can do in one day. The Umtruh is one of the classics because it is logistically and whitewater simple. At the beginning and end you paddle a lot of flat water, but in between there is a really cool continuous read-and-run with a few larger spots that have to be visited.
Krih Bla
Afterwards we went on to the Krih Bla. We did it in one day, even though it was
usually lasts two days. We were quickly on our way and still needed 7 hours. It has a lot of nice steps and drop and pool character.
Umiam
The next river was our first ascent on the Umiam. Considering it was a First Descent, it was pretty relaxed. Hardly carrying, a way to the entrance, the road at the exit. Really cool track, definitely a new classic. You only have to be careful with the water level, if there is too much, one of the gorges will probably quickly become impassable or mega stout, because of the boxed-in drops.
Kopili & Lower Kynshi
Afterwards we went to Kopili , another one-day classic with drop and pool style. Blue Water and Big Water Rapids. Then to the Lower Kynshi, one of the hardest tracks we've driven. You don't want to have too much water there because of the gorge. You have quite a lot of flat water to paddle in, then about 6 km of quite heavy white water and then flat water again at the end. We divided the route into two days.
Rymbai
Finally, we paddled the Rymbai , which only runs when it rains. The Rymbai has a lot of bedrock slides and is reminiscent of the Store Ula in Norway.
Flora and fauna
The rivers in Meghalaya are usually very far away from everything. But the landscape is really awesome! Large gorges in the middle of the Indian jungle. The animals are just a bit creepy. Spiders, snakes, leeches, and apparently there are also tigers and elephants there – but we didn't see any. The water is warm and so is the air, so pleasant for the multidays. At the beginning of our trip there was still a monsoon and it was brutally shipped. Towards the end it was drier and not so hot and humid anymore, about 25 degrees with blue sky and warm water, pretty cool
Flow information
The streams in Meghalaya are all still very unexplored, because there were not too many groups exploring there yet. The guide book "Meghalaya Rivers" by Joe and Dan Rea-Dickens is definitely very important. It is extremely helpful to plan everything in advance and helps a lot on site to find the entrances and exits.
