With thousands of kilometres of rivers and waterways spanning the length and breadth of Thailand, wherever you are, there's a river to run. However one need not be a whitewater kayaker to enjoy the experience. Low hills and gradients ensure that most rivers are manageable by even novice paddlers.

Rafting agencies are springing up to paddle visitors deep into rainforests undisturbed by humans and unreachable by road. Venture into national parks inhabited by monkeys, deer, and hundreds of beautiful birds endowed with brilliant plumage and enchanting songs. Many multi-day trips include stays in jungle camps where the silence of the tropical night is punctuated with songs from nocturnal birds and a half-dozen frog varieties. For now, most commercial operations concentrate on the northern rivers.

Between July and October, monsoon rains swell even the most benign waterways into raging torrents, and that's when heavy water adventurers can experience the thrills of Class 3 and 4 water (Class 5 is the most difficult).

The latter part of the monsoon season (October-November) and the cool winter months (December-February) are best. With the onset of the hot season, river levels drop below runnable conditions.

Non-paddlers who want to explore remote areas, ride on a bamboo raft. The easiest option is to visit the fascinating show by elephants trained to work in teak forests, at the Chiang Dao Elephant Camp located at KM 57 of Highway 107 north of Chiang Mai, a half-day package offered by most Chiang Mai travel agencies. Afterwards, you can take an optional one-hour ride on a bamboo raft, enjoying the scenery while being paddled down the Ping River by your guide. A three-day bamboo raft down the Mae Kok River begins in Tha Ton (easily reached by bus from Chiang Mai). It traverses a broad valley and ends in the northern town of Chiang Rai. Slightly more ambitious are the multi-day trips lasting two to four days. These are usually offered in conjunction with a trek, mountain biking outing, an elephant ride and a stay in a hilltribe village. The favoured river near Chiang Mai is the Mae Taeng. You can either ride or wield a pole and help the helmsman push off from rocks. Unfortunately, some operators still abandon their rafts at the end of a trip. Cutting the trees and leaving them to rot at the end of a run impacts heavily on the environmental so try to find a company which re-uses the rafts. Most Chiang Mai agencies offer trips. Also popular are raft trips down the Mae Klong River south of Umphang (a favourite with Thais), a journey that takes you through an animal preserve and along tall overhanging cliffs from which waterfalls cascade through jungle ferns. A trip usually includes a visit to Thailand's largest waterfall, the spectacular Thilosu, 60 metres tall and 100 metres wide. There are also a number of combination trips on rivers and trails near Mae Sarieng along the western border with Burma. Arrange these trips with Faz Travel Mae Sarieng.

Combination trips close to Bangkok include a three-day River Kwai Soft Adventure Tour featuring a ride on the Death Railway, an optional one-hour elephant safari through the jungle, stopping at a Mon tribal Village, overnight at a floating hotel on the River Kwai, made famous by the movie "The Bridge on the River Kwai", a one-hour canoe trip to visit Lava Cave, mountain-biking through a national park and small villages, and a boat ride to Hell Fire Pass memorial.

Thai Adventure Rafting in Pai (on picturesque Highway 1095 from Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son) offers a variety of short trips. The most popular is a two-day run down the beautiful Pai River. Paddlers are driven from Pai or Mae Hong Son to the bridge crossing the Nam Khong River. After a day of paddling the Nam Khong-which includes a stop at a small hot springs-you overnight in a jungle camp.

The following day, you continue down the Nam Khong and enter the Pai which takes you to Mae Hong Son. The season runs from July 1 to January 31.

Contact Travel in Chiang Mai offers a number of trips on the Mae Taeng. They vary between a simple float on a raft or a sit-on-top, but can also include journeys through rougher water in kayaks.

Contact Travel and Wild Planet offer a one-day kayak/mountain biking trip on the calm waters of the Ping River in the reservoir of the Mae Ngat Dam (part of the Sri Lanna National Park) north of Chiang Mai.

Popular-and closer to Bangkok-are trips on the Sai Yai River which flows out of Khao Yai, Thailand's second largest national park. Contact Fuji for a two-day rafting excursion that takes you through the exciting Hin Phoeng Rapids.

Fuji and other travel agencies in Bangkok particularly the backpacker's district, Khao San Road, offer short rafting trips through the Pong Nam Ron Rapids in Chanthaburi in southeastern Thailand, down the Petchburi River and into Kang Krachan National Park (near Hua Hin), through the Nam Khaek and Ched Kwai rapids near the northern city of Phitsanuloke, and through the Ko Roi rapids at Kampaeng Phet in north-central Thailand.

The most challenging rivers are the Wa (northeast of Nan), the upper Mae Taeng, the Sai Yai exiting Khao Yai National Park and, during the monsoon, the Petchburi River.

Contact and Wild Planet offer two-day runs down the upper Mae Taeng which includes a very rough Class 4 rapid and an overnight stay in the jungle.

The Nam Wa river that flows into the Nan River is perhaps Thailand's most challenging, big water river. Hard shell kayaks are available for those capable of paddling Class 3 and 4 rivers.

A Bangkok-based joint venture with Feelfree International, offers a range of hard shell (plastic) kayaks and sit-on-tops (for up to three paddlers) designed by a New Zealand company which oversees production in Bangkok. They also sell boots, paddles, life vests, and other equipment.
Tel: (66 2) 641-1814
(66 2) 641-0479

Travelgear sells 11 models of Ocean Kayak sit-on-top and kayaks and two-man inflatables.

About The Author
Steve Van Beek

Steve Van Beek's special intimacy with water comes in large part because for 11 of his 30 years in Thailand, he lived in a wooden Thai house set on stilts in the Chao Phraya River. He has also paddled a small boat down all of the Chao Phraya's four tributaries; his "The Chao Phya, River in Transition" which was published by Oxford University Press is considered the definitive work on the river and water culture in Thailand. His most recent book, "Slithering South" is an anecdotal chronicle of his first journey. The author of 21 books and 42 documentary films on a variety of Asian cultural topics, he is a Fellow of the Explorers Club in New York, elected in recognition of his solo river expeditions in China and Tibet.