Anup Gurung is a passionate Nepali kayaker and the founder and president of Nepal Kayak Club. Together with the Club he has been organizing training and events to promote the Nepali whitewater scene and has been promoting awareness about rivers threatened by hydropower such as the Bhotekoshi, Marsyangdi and Modi Khola. Now, with team Mission East to West, he has set out to explore and kayak all the major rivers of Nepal from East to West to raise awareness about the general state of rivers in Nepal and the threats of hydropower and dam construction.
Mission completed! Kayaked Nepal East to West.
The team around Anup has not only explored the amazing white-water of Nepal, but also the landscape and the communities and cultures thriving by and depending on these rivers. A lot of the places they plan to visit that are still unreachable by road but accessible by the river. Their goal was to go to places still untouched by human greed, as well as to the ones already destroyed by it.
Upcoming work for Nepali rivers
By exploring these stories and documenting them through film and photos, Anup and the Mission Team hope to raise awareness about the plight of Nepali rivers. They set out to share more about the hydropower projects in Nepal and how they have affected local people and ecosystems. By sharing information about the current state of rivers in Nepal, as well as about the people dependent on it, they hope to raise awareness that a river is not only valuable for its capacity to generate electricity but has many other values and importance in people’s lives.
The Free Rivers Fund will now support Anup and team with all their upcoming media work, post production and events. Looking forward to it!