WHITEWATER RAFTING

It’s Level 5, the toughest there is for whitewater rafting, and there are several more hours of it, rapids swirling through breathtaking country all at the same steep pitch. If it’s excitement you’re looking for, you’ve come to the right place. That can be either the wild Kang Hin Peung river through the open jungle of Khao Yai National Park, the turbulent river Kwai in Kanchanaburi’s rainforest or, most challenging of all, the steep upper reaches of the Mae Nam Phetch or Phetchaburi river in Kaeng Krachan National Park in Phetchaburi province. Whether you choose inflatable dinghies at Khao Yai or on the Mae Nam Phetch, or a bamboo raft on the Kwai river, you need to be here between July and October when the rivers have been swollen by rain. That is when much of the hinterland of the national parks becomes impassable. That is when, moving in by four-wheel drive and on foot, you will find one of the greatest thrill of your life. Make sure your tour guides train you first. They should tell you what to expect, explain the safety equipment and run briefly through the procedures. Then you step aboard your raft and you’re off on the turbulent rushing river. You probably get more of a kick with an inflatable, but bamboo rafts offer the additional challenge of handling a set of bucking poles that have been lashed together and are themselves awash with the river. This is the way it used to be done. Armed with only your paddle, you’ll need all your energy just to stay on board! Level 5 means a river in spate with a wild, rapid current and difficult rapid. Many of these are steep. But there are quite moments too when you can pull ashore for a meal or a rest or just to soak in the majestic tranquility of the deep forest. At those times, you’ll feel that cities, clocks or cars never existed.