My White Water Journey
Updated: Apr 15, 2024
"A tribute to my Dad, Man Bahadur Gurung and river industry knows him as a Shanu Gurung, who's been the reason and inspiration for my whitewater journey. Without him, this life path wouldn't have happened. He is my father, my hero and my ideal."
I fell in love with water - the gurgling brooks, flowing streams and powerful rapids as a young child.
My father being a raft guide used to take me rafting since childhood. My very first memory of having rafted was at the age of 6, when my Dad tied me securely to his back and we ran a grade 2 rapid. I remember the feeling of pure magic, freedom and awe that I experienced then and that's stayed with me ever since. I've always been on the athletic side growing up. By the time I turned 16 during summer vacation then was when I went rafting with my village mates almost daily that I began to realise maybe rafting was a profession I too would seriously like to pursue as my Dad had done. I loved meeting the new people that came as clients for these trips each day, conversing with them, knowing about different lifestyles and their cultures. I also realised then if I wanted to become a professional guide in this industry I'd have to learn how to be a good kayaker as well. Every evening while spending time with my childhood friend Abhishek i'd tell him about my future dreams and aspirations. He is someone who knew my soul and always supported me no matter what.
I started working in the water sport industry in 2015. I started out as a helper to a raft guide. It was an extremely tough and demanding job. But I persisted and that eventually led me to joining GRG Adventure Kayaking, one of the most reputed outdoor adventure companies in Nepal. It was at their campsite that I started learning how to kayak. Kayaking I learnt was such a misleading sport on the surface - it looked so easy when someone who was good at it did it, but when you yourself got down to learning it, you realised it wasn't as simple as it seemed. Being underwater when your kayak toppled and knowing how to get back upright was a hard set of skills to initially learn. At this time I was an all round help - from washing dishes, helping as a porter, gardener, training as a cook. It took a few years for me to adjust to this demanding environment and adapt myself to this atmosphere. But for the price paid in terms of hard work I was richly rewarded with lot of experience regarding work and life lessons.
In 2018, I was eventually promoted to a professional guide at the organisation. The GRG team of Maila, Tom, Chrissy and Matt were a constant source of support and encouragement in my entire journey.
My only mantra in life has been - "Think like a genius, work like a giant, is the best way to live as a river guide"
The most satisfying thing about being a raft guide is the ability to work in nature. I am the happiest when I can motivate, teach and engage each guest on the raft to work as team and trust each other. Letting them know that in the power of teamwork we can surpass every and any challenge thrown by the river in front of us.
While rafting is more about teamwork, kayaking is more individualistic. It's satisfying to paddle in remote areas where the water is calm, the sound of the rustling of leaves in the wind, the chirping of birds all bring such peace to the mind and soul. While at the same time you also face sections of challenging rapids with potential dangers and hazards that keep you focused, alert and high on adrenaline is what makes kayaking such a thrilling sport.
While a raft guide mainly aims at taking his guests on big waves and engaging them with big waves and splashes and all the fun that comes along with that thrill seeking, a safety kayaker on the other hand plays a different role than the raft guide. Their focus is solely on the safety aspect of the client. As a kayak guide and instructor i'm always happy when I see new people learning how to kayak and watch our community get bigger.
The Rafting and kayaking guide lifestyle is similar. You can pursue this job only upto a certain age until you can maintain your strength and stamina. Once you start losing that with the progress of age you have to start preparing yourself to transition to a secondary job or career that's less demanding on the body and energy wise. Outdoor Adventure sport jobs come with uncertainty and high consequences in terms of injury or in the worst case scenarios sudden unforseen death. That's why the adage, "Take your fun seriously" is so commonly used by people in the outdoor industry.
Rafting is seasonal work and it keeps rotating weather wise to different places and countries for a guide. I've worked in Nepal and I've met so many Americans, Europeans and people from different countries and different nationalities and have learnt about the different famous rivers that kayakers love to paddle in. My elder brother lives in America close to a river that's calm and beautiful. I've been told that there's lots of bears there. It makes me excited to visit that place someday and come across a bear in real life!
I have many countries and rivers that I've noted in my wish list to someday visit and paddle in. There's the high class thrilling rapids of Sjoa in Norway, The Grand Canyons at the Colorado river in the USA. Rivers that every guide dreams of running in their rafting and kayaking career. I keep my fingers crossed and a prayer in my heart to one day paddle on these beautiful waters.
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