Teesta River Expedition

"Kanchendzonga! Perched on a hillock the four of us sat in dumbstruck silence gazing at the majestic mountain, the third highest in the world. A clear cloudless morning with no haze afforded a panoramic view of the entire range. A plume on the summit indicated clear weather.

A gentle breeze swept the stark, treeless expanse as the silence of the morning was broken by the clashing of cymbals at Enchey monastery, 1000 feet below us in Gangtok. Somewhere between the Kanchendzonga range and our present location lay the turbulent and as yet uncharted upper sections of the Teesta river ………

Soon we rounded a bend on the river to hear the roar of the first rapid. With furrowed brows, pounding hearts and adrenalin induced dry mouths, we gazed at a big stopper ( recycling wave ) in the middle of the rapid….Paddling hard we hit the first section of the rapid. The raft buckled and bent as it reluctantly went over the crest of the wave splashing all inside with a generous doze of icy-spray. Delirious with delight, we pulled up immediately to survey the next tricky rapid…."

(Expedition log - Ajeet Bajaj, Indo-Canadian Teesta River Exploratory Expedition, December 1986)