‘Walk like a
penguin and jump like a bird’, that is how you should make a bungee jump –
teaches the bungee guide. But as you get out of the suspension bridge to the
jumping platform, chances are that that you don’t even realise when the idea of
jumping like a bird evaporates from you mind. Awe creeps in from the feet and
shoots up your mind. You feel the thrill of your adrenaline rushing up and down
your spine. The guide carefully takes you to the edge of the platform, holding
you from the harness set on your body. With half of your feet out of the
platform, the guide counts – One, Two, Three … bungee! And, you jump.
The climax of your
bungee adventure lasts for the 3 seconds as you fall from the bridge. A movie
camera from the bridge and Go-Pro camera on your wrist capture your every move.
If you are seeking a day's break from your daily business or profession, bungee
can be a perfect choice. Many young people take a bungee jump to show their
courage and share the thrilling moments with their peers and families.
Every year, ten
thousand thrill seekers and adventure-sports lovers go bungee jumping in the
gorge of the thundering Bhotekoshi River, says Bhuwan Sharma, General Manager
of The Last Resort, the bungee operator.
People choose adventure
sports for stress-release, team building and fun or remedy to tensioin in their
professional, personal and social life. The fear and ecstasy that you feel a
couple of moments before the jump and the relief you experience after the fall
is beyond your expectation.
New Zealander late
David Allardice and Nepali Bishnu Neupane had established the resort in 1999 in
Panglang of Bhotekoshi Rural Municipality of Sindhupalchowk district. They
built a suspension bridge to start bungee and rafting. The bridge connects Pyangthali
and Panglang villages. Later on, the resort added other adventure sport
facilities like canyoning, rock climbing, Jacobs ladder and abseiling.
The Last Resort
also offers swing and tandem swing services. With a harness in your body, you
can jump from the suspension bridge to the gorge of Bhotekoshi river and enjoy
the swing. Tandem swing allows two person at a time, a perfect thing with your
beloved, and preserve the memory for lifetime. Love is said to grow with people
experiencing awe together. Why not dare your fiancée to jump from the bridge
with you, good luck!
You can buy the video
and photographs of your jump from the camera crew at the resort. Bungee jump
for Nepali costs Rs. 6,300 – including two-way travel from Kathmandu and lunch.
Video comes at Rs. 2,500 along with a t-shirt. Foreigners have to pay 105 US
Dollars for the bungee package.
Play with water
Canyoning in Panglang
river is another attraction. This activity includes climbing down eight water
falls – 157 meters total distance - with the help of a rope and harnessing your
body, playing with white water falling from 45 metres, the height which
otherwise could have scared you even at its sight. You get to experience the hidden
beauty of a mountain stream – cold water, flowers and other plants, animals and
butterflies. The guides never let you realise that you are performing the feat for
the first time. Safety of the canyoneer is our first priority, water falls are
quite high and a small mistake might cause an accident, said Ram Shrestha, a
canyoning crew.
Bungy and
canyoning are open four days a week – Sunday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday
from December to February and June to August. For the rest of the year, it is
open for all days except Monday. Tight, close shoes and comfortable clothes are
must for every activity. If you are going for the canyoning, do have extra pairs
of shoes and undergarments to change the drenched body wears.
Rafting looks to
be for the people who love group adventure. Do it with shorts, t-shirt, strap
sandals, cap, sun screen and a towel.
The water of
Panglang was not in use except a small irrigation system until the Last Resort
started the adventurous hidden Canyoning. Using the locally available resources,
it is now attracting thousands of tourists. It buys the vegetables produced by
the nearby villagers. Likewise, of its total 56 employees, 44 are the locals.
If you have time,
you can also enjoy a 20 metre high rock climbing which at a 15 minutes' walk
from the resort. Jacobs ladder is in the resort-premises.
The Last Resort
has amazing stories to tell. One is of Peter Horsefeld who jumped from the
bridge 16 times in a day and walked up from the river even as he was suffering
from diarrhea, shared Sharma. Bishesh, Sharma's son, jumped at barely 10 years
of age, and is probably the youngest to jump from the Bhotekoshi bridge.
Similarly, a 72 years old Argentinian citizen did a bungee in 2009.
Quake terror
Sindhupalchowk was
one of the districts severely hit by the devastating Gorkha Earthquake in 2015.
Private houses, government buildings, schools and health facilities and road
infrastructure were completely damaged. The Arniko Highway, a road connecting
Kathmandu to Tatopani, the northern border-point with China, was damaged at
multiple locations and landslides had obstructed it at as many places.
The resort business
lost domestic and foreign visitors, including a substantial number of overland
Chinese tourists staying at the resort on their way to Kathmandu or back to
China. Multiple landslides left pockmarks on the surrounding hills. We thought
we had no chance of running the adventure sports here, Sharma said.
With luck, Sharma
and his team brought professional geologists to the site soon enough. National
Society for Earthquake Technology (NSET) and Durham University, United Kingdom
did geological inspection and provided guidelines to reopen the business. Still
about 13 ropanis of land is at risk and is still not used by the resort. “Our business
recovered but its nature has changed. We used to receive European and Chinese
tourists, now Nepali and Indian adventure seekers have increased notably,”
shared Sharma. The resort receives about 12 thousand tourists a year.
The Last Resort
has the capacity of 44 persons but can accommodate up to 70 individuals in with
additional tents setup. Daily, about 40 people can make bungee jump, 20 go cannoning
and 20 try tandem and swing. It offers 20 per cent discounts to the people of
surrounding villages in every activity happening there.
Adventure sports in Nepal
Bungee jumping,
paragliding, kayaking, cannoning, rock climbing, mountain biking, rafting,
ultra-light flying, hiking, hot-air ballooning trekking, canoeing, zip-lining
and jungle safari are the major adventure-sports available in Nepal. The
mountain rivers offer amazing white-water rafting and canoeing experience. Bhotekoshi,
Kaligandaki and Tamor are specially famous for it.
With the advent of rafting
in Sunkoshi, the recipe for adventure is growing. The tourists of Pokhara are
offered hot-air ballooning and zip-lining. High Ground Adventure offers you
bungee and zip-lining adventures in Pokhara while another zip-lining is being
built on the Chandragiri hill.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily's Friday Supplement on 23 November 2018.
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