The Last Descent
by Katie Scott
photos: Fluid Light Images
The Last Descent is a film project with the goal to raise public awareness that the world’s great rivers are being dammed at an alarmingly fast pace. The team embarked upon a 6 month journey in October of 2007 to descend and document rivers possibly for the last time. The team traveled to Nepal, India, Uganda and Chile where they descended some of the biggest whitewater in the world while carrying camera equipment and everything they would need for days at a time. The team interacted and interviewed local villagers and spent time fully documenting the river canyons and the surrounding environments.
The adventure started in Nepal descending several rivers that flow from the Annapurna mountain range. Our journey through Nepal was nearly magical as we were often blown away by the wonderful people, gorgeous scenery, and fabulous whitewater. The Marsyangdi River which was the group’s favorite already has one dam built and a second dam currently under construction. The Marsyangdi River will be featured in The Last Descent as well as many other beautiful rivers and exciting adventures from Nepal.
In December Scott, Erick and I took the train and busses from Nepal to India to meet up with four more athletes including Lizzy English, Erick Conklin, Ben Stookesbury and Charlie Center. Our friend Lama from Nepal came along as a translator and two drivers that never failed to find us at the take out of a river in rural India joined the group as well.
The Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh is located in far eastern India snuggled between Burma, Bhutan, Tibet and Bangladesh. The region is home to over 10 distinct indigenous tribes of people each with their own language and religion. Geographically the state is dominated by the mighty Brahmaputra River, its large tributaries flow from Tibet through the Himalayas and into the gigantic flood plain down below. The Lohit, the Dibang, and the Siang Rivers form the mighty flood plain that is known locally as the Brahmaputra River.
At the put-in we met some people from a small local village that with Lama’s help we were able to communicate about the dams planned in this area. We asked them how they felt about the proposed dams and they were fearful and powerless. The villagers said that there had been many government engineers visiting, surveying and planning for dams to be built.
India has 168 large hydro-electric projects planned in this region which is the “future powerhouse” of one of the world’s most populous countries. India is developing at a rapid pace and has over 1 billion people which make it extremely energy hungry. The state of Arunachal Pradesh is naturally attractive to the power companies for hydro-electric power generation because of the large gradient, the huge volume of water and relatively low local population. Unfortunately for kayakers some of the most amazing whitewater in the world may soon be gone. The Marsyangdi, The White Nile, The Rio Baker are going be under water in a couple of years. The tributaries of the Brahmaputra in Arunachal will not be under water for at least 5 years. Arunachal is such an amazing destination for intermediate to expert kayakers hopefully many more boaters will get a chance to see these rivers before they are gone.
After spending nearly a month paddling the epic rivers of Arunachal, Scott and I continued our journey through India by taking the train all the way across India diagonally before flying out of Bombay. From India we went to Uganda to the White Nile where we returned to our kayaks eager to paddle and film some of the most fun rapids in the world most likely for our last time.
Due to increased releases from the dam upstream for years prior to 2005, the level of Lake Victoria (the world’s largest tropical lake), has dropped. This unnaturally low level of the lake has had a detrimental effect upon the ecology of the lake. In response to this the dam company released less water for 2 years but now it seems that again the releases have increased. The higher water makes for better whitewater and play-spots such as “Nile Special” have returned.
It was the dry season in Uganda but that didn’t stop the rain, sometimes torrential downpours that would last for hours. The dam construction has already started and the progress that they have made is staggering.
They have built a temporary coffer dam in the channel known as “the ugly sisters” which has backed up the water drowning one of the best rapids on the run “total gunga.” This dam has diverted the entire flow through the rapid known as “silverback,” this increased flow has made the waves much bigger and more difficult especially for rafts. The water level rose high enough one day that Mila Lou one of the Niles best surf waves came in for the first time in 3 years.
Evan Garcia headed down to southern Chile to document the largest river in Chile known as the Rio Baker. Construction is in its early stages so if you want to paddle some of the biggest whitewater of your life get down to Patagonia and hit up the classic Rio Baker.
“It truly was an amazing adventure into some of the most beautiful places on earth” says Scott Ligare, one of the members of the team “but after such a long journey it is good to be back home in California.” The team is back together in California filming and kayaking the words most exciting creeks. In the short time being back in the states they have already kayaked East Kaweah, Silverfork, Big Kimshew, South Branch and many other California classics. Get ready to see all the great adventures in The Last Descent film coming in the Spring of 2009.
by Katie Scott
photos: Fluid Light Images
The Last Descent is a film project with the goal to raise public awareness that the world’s great rivers are being dammed at an alarmingly fast pace. The team embarked upon a 6 month journey in October of 2007 to descend and document rivers possibly for the last time. The team traveled to Nepal, India, Uganda and Chile where they descended some of the biggest whitewater in the world while carrying camera equipment and everything they would need for days at a time. The team interacted and interviewed local villagers and spent time fully documenting the river canyons and the surrounding environments.
The adventure started in Nepal descending several rivers that flow from the Annapurna mountain range. Our journey through Nepal was nearly magical as we were often blown away by the wonderful people, gorgeous scenery, and fabulous whitewater. The Marsyangdi River which was the group’s favorite already has one dam built and a second dam currently under construction. The Marsyangdi River will be featured in The Last Descent as well as many other beautiful rivers and exciting adventures from Nepal.
In December Scott, Erick and I took the train and busses from Nepal to India to meet up with four more athletes including Lizzy English, Erick Conklin, Ben Stookesbury and Charlie Center. Our friend Lama from Nepal came along as a translator and two drivers that never failed to find us at the take out of a river in rural India joined the group as well.
The Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh is located in far eastern India snuggled between Burma, Bhutan, Tibet and Bangladesh. The region is home to over 10 distinct indigenous tribes of people each with their own language and religion. Geographically the state is dominated by the mighty Brahmaputra River, its large tributaries flow from Tibet through the Himalayas and into the gigantic flood plain down below. The Lohit, the Dibang, and the Siang Rivers form the mighty flood plain that is known locally as the Brahmaputra River.
At the put-in we met some people from a small local village that with Lama’s help we were able to communicate about the dams planned in this area. We asked them how they felt about the proposed dams and they were fearful and powerless. The villagers said that there had been many government engineers visiting, surveying and planning for dams to be built.
India has 168 large hydro-electric projects planned in this region which is the “future powerhouse” of one of the world’s most populous countries. India is developing at a rapid pace and has over 1 billion people which make it extremely energy hungry. The state of Arunachal Pradesh is naturally attractive to the power companies for hydro-electric power generation because of the large gradient, the huge volume of water and relatively low local population. Unfortunately for kayakers some of the most amazing whitewater in the world may soon be gone. The Marsyangdi, The White Nile, The Rio Baker are going be under water in a couple of years. The tributaries of the Brahmaputra in Arunachal will not be under water for at least 5 years. Arunachal is such an amazing destination for intermediate to expert kayakers hopefully many more boaters will get a chance to see these rivers before they are gone.
After spending nearly a month paddling the epic rivers of Arunachal, Scott and I continued our journey through India by taking the train all the way across India diagonally before flying out of Bombay. From India we went to Uganda to the White Nile where we returned to our kayaks eager to paddle and film some of the most fun rapids in the world most likely for our last time.
Due to increased releases from the dam upstream for years prior to 2005, the level of Lake Victoria (the world’s largest tropical lake), has dropped. This unnaturally low level of the lake has had a detrimental effect upon the ecology of the lake. In response to this the dam company released less water for 2 years but now it seems that again the releases have increased. The higher water makes for better whitewater and play-spots such as “Nile Special” have returned.
It was the dry season in Uganda but that didn’t stop the rain, sometimes torrential downpours that would last for hours. The dam construction has already started and the progress that they have made is staggering.
They have built a temporary coffer dam in the channel known as “the ugly sisters” which has backed up the water drowning one of the best rapids on the run “total gunga.” This dam has diverted the entire flow through the rapid known as “silverback,” this increased flow has made the waves much bigger and more difficult especially for rafts. The water level rose high enough one day that Mila Lou one of the Niles best surf waves came in for the first time in 3 years.
Evan Garcia headed down to southern Chile to document the largest river in Chile known as the Rio Baker. Construction is in its early stages so if you want to paddle some of the biggest whitewater of your life get down to Patagonia and hit up the classic Rio Baker.
“It truly was an amazing adventure into some of the most beautiful places on earth” says Scott Ligare, one of the members of the team “but after such a long journey it is good to be back home in California.” The team is back together in California filming and kayaking the words most exciting creeks. In the short time being back in the states they have already kayaked East Kaweah, Silverfork, Big Kimshew, South Branch and many other California classics. Get ready to see all the great adventures in The Last Descent film coming in the Spring of 2009.
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