Arunachal Pradesh Emerging as Rafting Destination

ITANAGAR: Arunachal Pradesh is emerging as the river-rafting destination of the country, thus making it one of the hotspots for river activities. In recent years, the State has witnessed a number of rafting activities with participation of rafters from across the country.

Rafting is certainly well on its way to becoming the most popular adventure sport in the country, and Arunachal Pradesh a Shangri La for river-runners.

With less numbers of dams which leads to free flowing river water makes the State the best place for river rafting activities in the country. Some of the popular destinations in the State are Seppa-Bhalukpung route (Kameng River), Taliha to North of Daporijo (Subansiri River), the entire stretch of Siang River course, Lohit River and the Dibang which would be the Anini to Assam Border.

The rivers in the state offer each grade of water flow from, Grade I, Grade II, Grade III, and Grade IV.

These 'grades' of difficulty are arrived at according to the presence of rapids, which evolve due to sudden plunges in the river's height, and also because of rocks, small or large that may be lurking in the waters.

Rafting is a high-adrenaline sport of navigating a river in an inflatable raft, involving several levels of difficulty, depending on how choppy the river is. Now, the sport is not only confined among the males but scores of females are also taking interest in it as well as participating in various championships.

Rafting is a challenging but tremendously fun activity.

Arunachal Pradesh witnessed a sudden boom in river rafting activities with the initiative of the State department of tourism. Rafters from across the country as well as the world have experienced different grades of water flow in the State.

The reason behind the attraction of rafters in the state is due to the less numbers of dams which allows the free flow of Himalayan waters. With a huge volume of river water, the State attracts rafters. Besides, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh has all the aspects for rafting activities.

In the case of some other states, due to dams, the rivers are totally flat which attracts less numbers of enthusiastic rafters. Nevertheless, youths from States like Sikkim and Uttarakhand are promoting adventure tourism in the region. This is not only boosting the tourism sector, but also generating employment for enterprising youths.

Similarly, in the context of adventure tourism, Arunachal can commercialize rafting, which has huge potential of employment.

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