Rafting season opens on the Naryn

TALAS — Rafting outfitters from Talas ran the first trips of the season through the Uch-Terek Rapids on the Naryn this week, as meltwater from the mountains raised the river above the head of the Toktogul Reservoir.

Over about six kilometers the river drops through a boulder-strewn gorge in a series of rapids of grades III and IV. The trips run in July and August, when the flow is high. By autumn, when the reservoir is full, the lowest rapids are drowned.

"In July the river is strong and honest," said a guide with Ak-Suu Expeditions, one of the outfitters. "In September the reservoir comes up to meet it and the last rapids disappear under the lake." Each raft carries a guide and six passengers in helmets and life jackets, and groups camp on the bank between runs.

The rapids lie in the Toktogul–Naryn zone of the Autonomous Tribal Regions, and the outfitters arrange travel permits for their clients through the clan councils. Most clients this year are foreigners working in Talas, the outfitters said, with a growing number of young Iradis.