One of our favourite old photographs.

A traditional dugout canoe beside one of Nim’s early freestyle kayaks — two generations of Nepal’s river culture side by side.

In the early years of Paddle Nepal, Nim continued building the company trip by trip, mostly from Pokhara. After each season, whatever profits were made were carefully reinvested back into the business — more boats, better gear, safer systems, and stronger foundations.

Following the registration of Paddle Nepal in December 2006, the company’s very first office was opened in central Thamel — a small shared administration office just below the legendary Tom & Jerry Pub, long known as a gathering place for mountaineers, trekkers, river guides, and expedition after-parties. Even today, the walls remain covered with old jerseys, race bibs, flags, photographs, and memories from Nepal’s adventure community.

The office was shared with Nim’s longtime friend Rabi Adhikari of Namaste Adventure.

Then in early 2007, Paddle Nepal opened a humble shared office space in Lakeside Pokhara together with
another longtime friend, Dev Gurung of Easter Light Treks. After a year of long days, hard work, and gradual growth,

Nim finally opened Paddle Nepal’s first independent office in central Lakeside later in 2007 — proudly displaying a growing fleet of kayaks alongside many of the early trip photographs that Kelly had taken while joining trips whenever she could around her own work schedule.

From the very beginning, safety was treated as a top priority.

At a time when much of the local industry relied heavily on locally made and often uncertified equipment, Nim was determined to build Paddle Nepal differently. Through a long friendship with Peak UK (now Peak PS) and Pete Astles — who had previously supported Nim as part of the Peak UK team — Paddle Nepal was able to access professional internationally certified whitewater safety equipment at a generous discount.

PFDs, helmets, spray decks, rescue gear — as much as possible was carefully imported piece by piece from the UK.

And honestly… for Nepal at the time, the setup looked pretty impressive too. 😄

Meanwhile, the Himalayan Whitewater Challenge continued year after year — with Nim often still finding himself on the podium, while gradually also stepping into the role of technical coordinator for the event. Over time, the focus slowly began shifting from simply competing… to helping support and grow Nepal’s wider whitewater community as well.

Little by little, it was all starting to come together.

But at the time, there was no way to know just how far the journey would eventually go.

📷 Photo by Kelly bhauju — taken back in the days when I was still working for another company and Nim and I were not yet married. I often joined trips with a camera from the support raft, never imagining that those early photographs and stories would one day become part of Paddle Nepal’s journey too.

(To be continued…)

This reflection is part of Paddle Nepal’s 20-year journey on Nepal’s rivers.