Pakistan - Indus 2025

The infamous Indus, with a rich history linked to the Silk Road, fabled interactions of Genghis Khan and the Shahs of Persia and the more recent history of the whitewater exploration that seemingly begun with the ‘Taming the Lion’ expedition in 1990. Although there were attempted descents in the 50s and 70s in various watercraft. My personal knowledge of the river prior to going to Pakistan was snippets of the trip in 2008 and similar from Aniol’s series of trips from 2016. In more recent years its been great to see some more Kiwi boaters, Harry, Manu, Will, Archer and others I am sure, finding their way to Pakistan and experience what I will now say is the most incredible river I have had the pleasure of paddling. 

Ari and I (Jordy) had our team slip away from us in the months leading up to our trip, but fortunately in the witching hour DK (Ryan O’Connor) signed on and made us three. All kiwis too, which is always cool when it happens. That said, this would be our first piece of advice for the indus:

1. Ideal numbers would be 4-6, less and you’re isolated running rapids and more might add too much time.  That said, the American crew who lit up the Indus while we were there had 7 and their second lap was 3 days and only 5 portages. 

We planned two weeks in country, which turned out to be plenty for what we were trying to achieve on this trip. There is a lot to do if you had longer, Hunza, Astore, Shyok, Upper Indus, Gilgit and thats not even getting obscure yet. In terms on logistics, the answer is simple and the second piece of advice:

2. Contact Golden Peak Tour - Ali Khan. They will give you a loose itinerary and a reasonable estimate. You can change it on the fly if required. They provide transport, permits, organise camps or guesthouses, sort food and everything. They even have a stock of boats people can hire AND/or store the boats people leave behind so people can buy them to avoid the risk of flying (not flying) with one. 

We opted to fly to Skardu and warm up on the Upper Indus and Shyok, where the Americans did the 2 (short) day drive up from Islamabad and warmed up on the Hunza. The value of the second approach, maybe, is then you drive up the Indus to put on. So you get to see sections of the river. That said, I kind of liked the surprise of not really knowing whats coming next. 

We got kinda tangled up in bureaucracy going to the Upper Indus, it’s a little tighter there as it is the closest border to India. No issues, just burning time. We paddled a short section but it was late in the day so wanted to move on, but it sounds like there is more to enjoy above what we did. The next day we did the Shyok which was a great warm up, but both these rivers mainly left us with one thought… they both felt big and they come together to from the Indus which drops into the Rhondu Gorge. 

Staging for the Indus you will be in Skardu and I would suggest (although Ali/Golden Peak will sort) staying with Ayaz at K2 Paradise. This was the best accomodation up in Gilgit-Baltistan we had. There is decent food in Skardu and plenty of supplies… although you do arrive to camp every day with everything prepared for you while on the river. That said, the third piece of advice is

3. Take some bars/river snacks you’re used to. There are plenty of dried fruit, nuts and chocolate bars but I was stoked to have some OSMs for the river. The camp kitchen does provide a lunch to take on the river, such as Roti and boiled eggs or an omelette but we found simple bars to be best. 

From here we were pretty keen to put on the Indus as it just felt like we were waiting, so we put on a day behind the American crew. Prior to putting on we knew we higher flows, we flicked Aniol a message and his beta was simple, “Rhondu goes better with higher flows, get it”.  Being a day being the Americans turned out to be quite cool as we shared camp with them and exchanged stories from our days. It sounds odd writing this, but we did about 3-5 hours per day on the river. Erring on the 3-4 end. And so did the Americans. It was generally putting on around 10am and taking off 2pm, and this felt like enough. It’s hard to believe when paddling it, but the first 2-3 days are the easier days. But make no mistake, the Indus can always get you. Owen and Gibby found that out, after running a rapid and giving the boys a thumbs up… just to fall victim to an innocuous MASSIVE hole that swam them. I got lit up running a sneak… which turned out to be 100m of steep high-water Whitcombe like rapids. 

At camp you can generally get a message out to love ones if thats your style. Depending who you are and what you’re preference around connectivity is, this is probably a good place for our fourth piece of advice:

4. SCOM is the only telecommunications provider that works in the Rhondu and overall is superior in Gilgit-Baltistan. You dont get this provider via your ESIM, but you can go into the store in Skardu and get a physical SIM card. The process is a little convoluted, requiring passport, visa, some top up cards etc.. but your driver/team will help you with this. 

Ryan definitely was definitely firing the hardest the first couple of days, running a few that Ari and I elected to portage. But before we got to Malupa, Ari had adjusted to the sheer size of things and he was beginning to become more bold. Ari and Ryan had clean lines through Malupa and I decided it wasn’t for me that day. The next day, morning of day 4, I think, our small team size became an issue. We had taken out above Natural Progression the day prior and that was to be the breakfast rapid. I planned to run it first, followed by Ryan as safety for one another and Ari taking media. I got absolutely tossed, but came through all good, Ryan actually had a better line but in the process of getting power flipped caught his recently injured left shoulder and strained it. Once Ari paddled down we decided to have a short/lay over day in the hopes Ryan would recover and be able to paddle some. 

Unfortunately a nights rest did not quite give Ryan the confidence in his shoulder he needed to put on the river, so Ari and I had a day with just the two of us. This really changed the dynamic of things, may more isolated, running stuff 1-2, no media (except Ryan roadside with the team) and the thought in the back of our minds that any event now might actually end the trip for everyone. That all said, we had a good day and made up a lot of ground we had lost by taking a layover day. It was impressive to see Will Paytons drop, Ari thought about running the second part but it was blood high and quickly feed into the stuff downstream. 

Another night at camp with ample Pakistani Chai (tea) and DK was actually feeling a lot better. He had better range of motion of his left arm and so figured he would put on and see how it went. It became a slightly more conservative approach but that only goes so far on the Indus. Ari was carrying the team as we entered the last day. Jordy had previously had a deep swim having failed to get left of a big pour over and Ryan was still protecting his shoulder some. The drone had broken, Ari had resigned to not carrying his camera and we were keen to punch it out and get it finished. We portaged the impressive Next Generation and then paddled down the left side of “Lost in the Indus’, as instructed by the Americans. Again, the sneak was long and massive and Jordy was selected as the 1 of 3 for quite a full on beat down and swim. That was quickly tided up by DK. From here we safely got down to the confluence which heralded the takeout. This place is unique in that it is where the Himalaya, Hindu Kush and Karakoram all come together. For somewhere so monumental, it was kind of odd to just sit with the three of us to reflect on the previous days. 

All in all The Rhondu Gorge section of this Indus is like nothing else we have experienced. The shear size of things, the number of rapids and how well most stuff goes is unfathomable. Essentially everything is optional and Aniol was right, maybe, in that it’s better at higher water. 

Traditionally when we finish a big river trip we would partake in some form of celebratory drink, but with Pakistan being Islamic there are very few offerings available for this. Which is out final piece of advice:

5. Foreigner can take in a measured amount of alcohol for personal comsuption. 1-2 bottles would be acceptable. We actually enjoyed the lack of after river beers while in Pakistan, but definitely felt the void once completing the Indus. Also, we were invited to a prominent persons house at the end of our trip and it would of been nice to provide them with some liquor to share, as they delved into their own personal stocks while hosting us. 

For those who have made it all the way to the bottom of this post, there is a reward. In lieu of not having celebratory bubbles like the Saryjaz or beers like the stikine or imported liquour like after your first Myrkdalen… we had to make do with what we had. And the was a sodden pack of R6s that DK had in his dry bag. So here is it, the first and only cigarette Ari and I will ever smoke. A moment for many reasons the 3 of us will never forget. 

Devil Postpile - Arguably the best High Sierra run.

During a smash and grab Cali trip in 2025, Ari and Jordy managed to tick off the lesser known Devils Postpile of the Middle San Joaquin. The lads ended up doing it as a gruesome two-some at what locals thought was at the higher end of the flow range for the run. Adding a little more complexity, the road down to rainbow falls was shut so they had to hike in via mammoth pass. 

Putting on at 190, the flow held/went up and it was early season so there was a lot of flow coming in from the side creeks. This was a PERFECT flow. 

Overall the run is world class, endless epic whitewater that for the most part was optional. That said, very little portaging other than some obvious ones. Here are same gems of beta that might be useful for teams going in, but for a much more detailed rundown look at Darin McQuiods write up or speak to the infamous Six-Seven Kevin if you can track him down. 

1. We suggest not putting on at rainbow falls, keep walking down the trail past lower rainbow falls and then follow Darins portage guide. We put in at 37.582061,-119.094163 by walking down a crack/gully. This is where we would suit up. If you do put on, you end up doing the portage below low rainbow in your dry gear, and sweat it all out and the lower rainbow falls isn’t really worth it. 

Lower rainbow falls

We camped at this drop, kinda early but we were tired

2. The whitewater crux is on day 2, what we called the Serpent Gorge (Ari seen two rattle snakes scouting high of river right, so we paddled opposed to portage). It’s just after boof-o-matic gorge. There is 2-3 drops back to back, the first is a watery boof into a corridor on the left, which has a nasty pocket eddy that a swim could be terminal. Stay more centre/right in the corridor if possible. This drops into a small pool/eddy before a 3rd drop which is very sticky and likely to beat/swim people. We portaged the third drop easily on the right. 

Slides for days 

Boof-o-matic

That drop, unsure of its name. 

3.  It sounds like people have been getting out at the bridge on river right and portaging the first part of the crucible gorge/section. It’s confusing where to go, the trail kinda heads upstream… do not follow this. Kinda climb up the rocks in line with the bridge and eventually you will find some rock cairns, these lead you over a ridge, down through some trees and we put on here. 37.482097,-119.211705.

4. Further down there are several portages, per Darins blog one looks easier to start on the left but there are some ledges/potholes on the right that give you access to walking along a low angle granite wall. This side is MUCH easier, you will see when portaging. Starting here 37.481508,-119.217075

5. The crucible inner, just below balloon dome camp, its good to go. You can scout the first two on the right, and with high water was could paddle down the right opposed to the middle for the first one. Broken arrow is straight forward. The third drop you boof middle and then drive back to the right for another boof above the “must run”. You can easily get out and scout this in a crack on the left, we set a line from a tree and wrapped down to the ledge below the drop safely. This is a good option for one person to do to set safety or for people to portage if required. The river came up 6 inches overnight while we were camped at balloon dome, and this didnt cause any issue. 

Balloon dome camp, just above to “Crux of the cruicble

Other than this beta, you can work out the rest. Maybe have Darins URL/page downloaded on your phone if you’re keen to have an idea of whats coming up, we did it and it kinda helped us mentally map out the upcoming day. 

Tanzania: Kiwira and a failed mission, or was it?

 In late March and April in 2025, Ari and Jordan teamed up with their Africa concubine Dewet Michau for another look into South Africa. There were many ideas thrown around for where to go but we ultimately settled for an area in Western Tanzania, north of Lake Malawi. Logistics were pretty simple, Ari and Jordy would fly into Mbeya and Dewet would meet them there with a pre-organised vehicle and driver. From there we planned to further explore a section of river Dewet had paddled a in a previous trip and then head to destination X [keeping is secret as we don’t want people cutting out lunch] for a 4-5 day first descent. We loosely kept to this plan, although the intended first descent was flooded and impassable and it turns out the upper reaches of the Kiwira would take over a week to safely breakdown. 

Our vehicle situation was fairly typical for our trips, we turned up and our driver and his companion (unsure why there was a companion) had essentially filled the back of the vehicle with their belongings so there was very little room for our stuff. All that said, we got to the river and managed to paddle the section Dewet had previous paddled but with a lot more water this time. It was world class waterfalls. 

The following few days we added on a section above the previously run sections and then extended down to the lower takeout, with ari running a 60+ foot first D. The character was wall to wall jungle river, which made it hard to scout but there was so many quality drops. 

While in this area our time was GREATLY improved having been welcomed into the home of Rob and Petra, a couple of avocado farmers who Dewet connected with via mutual friends. It was their generosity that really made the intial time in the Kiwira work for us. 

We had to break out of the Kiwira, the river had more to give but we really needed to go to check out our project. We shook off the extra person and reduced the amount of stuff in the vehicle as much as possible and hit the road. 

… but when we got there the river was FLOODING. Bank to bank, and not what we needed for a multi-day jungle first descent. So we had to audible and we got lucky enough to find a first descent in a dryer region. Was a single overnight but had good water and some good drops throughout. 

After this we were in a bit of an impasse, the region we have planned to explore was way to high to paddle and there was so much uncertainty about going further afield to try and find paddling. Our driver did not like the idea of going to the Congo so we decided to head back to Kiwira and explore the upper reaches. This would turn out to be a great decision and was spent a further week breaking down multiple bridge to bridge sections of the river. 

We really focused on drone and the nature of the river made it harder to get pictures of the drops, but the several sections were fantastic. Hard to work out, but all linked together nicely. There was a section of runnable/unrunnable giants in the middle, that will likely need a slightly different flows and a crew who’s prefrontal cortex has yet to completely develop. 

We’re heading back in late 2025 to try and get our initial intended mission complete and we will have a look at the lower Kiwira, from where we finished to above where the schistosomiasis/bilharzia begins. And for Christmas with Rob and Petra! 

Mexico - short and sharp in Tlapacoyan

In November/December 2023, Ari, TT (Chris Atkinson), Dubby, Wookie (Chris Loughran) and Jordy did a smash and grab to the famed Tlapacoyan. Ari had been for a similar trip with Evan Moore in 2017 so we kind of had the lay of the land. That said, we needlessly hired 2 nice vehicles and ultimately used Aventure Rec for all of our shuttled etc. We suggest getting them to do an airport transfer, it might save you getting shaken down by the Police like we did. During the trip we all got sick, a sequential 12 hours each. Although TTs illness kinda lingered. We were confined to the Alseseca due to flows, but had an epic time on the road-side section..

Several big banana alps, Tomata 1 and then the seven sisters.

We rang the bell plenty, those who know will know, had the privalage of getting some beta and assistance from the “Gaviner”, Gav Barker, and overall had a decent trip. Unfortunately left plenty to go back for but that’s okay, we will get onto the yoga and strength the spines for another trip.