Paddling in Honduras

Honduras is the most mountainous country in Central America. Combine the altitude with high amounts of rainfall and you have found the sickest whitewater south of Putah Creek. Easy shuttles, low costs, and a lack of tourists definitely makes Honduras "the bomb." Moreover, we found Honduras to be relatively safe, even in the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch. Our crew consisted of myself, Zachary Collier and contributing author Super Kev "The Beef." Maintaining the balance was Ann "the shredder" Tornabene and the infamous Kayaker Lora. We were lucky to meet up with our hairboater Tennessee friend Les Nicholas and his lovely wife Amy.

The best place for running rivers is La Ceiba, which also happens to be the party capital of Honduras as well as the best place to access the beautiful Bay Islands. When we mentioned to locals in other parts of the country that we were bound for La Ceiba most would get a smile on their face and utter "Ahhh, La Ceiba." La Ceiba is best accessed by plane. We intended to take a bus, but several websites cautioned us of busses being hijacked and tourists being robbed. The one hour flight from Tegucigalpa cost $80 for a round trip. Kevin and Lora flew from Belize City and spent $225 for their round trip ticket.

We were lucky enough to run eight different sections of river in our short amount of time. This was made possible because of the easy accessibility of the rivers and their proximity to La Ceiba. We were lucky enough to bump into the owner of La Moskita Ecoadventures, Jorge, who lent us kayaks and assisted us with shuttles. He currently rents a supersport, an overflow, and a piroutte s. He charged us about twenty U.S. dollars for shuttle on the Lower Cangrejal and twenty dollars for a kayak rental. Jorge wanted to run some upper sections of the Cangrejal that he had not run since the hurricane, so he invited us to join him for these wicked runs. In addition to La Moskita Ecoadventures there are two other significant whitewater oriented companies, Rios Honduras and Omega River Adventures ( the Germans). We had onjly indirect contact with Rios Honduras, but that was probably for the better. The owner of "Rios" wanted little to do with us unless we wanted to spend a lot of money with him. On a positive note "Rios" allegedly has several newer boats if you have the "lemps." The Germans are an interesting lot. The own many Prijon Hurricanes (surprising) and one Dagger Blast in addition to some rafts and a shredder. They work out of a Cartel style cabana which is conveniently located near the put in for the Lower Congrejal.

When we later toured the country we rented a four door Toyota pick up truck. This cost about $65 dollar per day and was a little tight for six people and all our equipment. Les's lovely wife Amy was nice enough to drive shuttle while we paddled. We were advised not to leave a car unattended so it was super trick to have Amy along.

These runs can be done seperately, but they are usually done together as a tough eight mile class IV+ run. This was my favorite run. Put in was about an hour and a half drive from La Ceiba. There are many good rapids on this run as it winds through the rainforest of Pico Bonita National Park. Rio Cangrejal (Middle) This is the most difficult section of the river sporting class IV pool drop water with a few V's and one possible portage. Keep a careful eye on your shuttle vehicle when in this area, our driver left the vehicle unattended for a short while and the nearby village children stole lunch items, 300 limperas ($20), and a gold chain. The latter two items belonged to a Honduran guide.

Rio Congrejal (Lower)

This is the South Fork of the American for Honduras. This section of river runs from the rainforest to the outskirts of La Ceiba to the Ocean and is easy class IV. Access and shuttle are easy, and if you are feeling energetic you can paddle clear to the ocean and down the coast to your beachside hotel. This section is a "Must do" for scenery and fun play spots

Rio Papaloteca

This is a class III-IV river with 3 class V's. One of the best things about this river was the hoards of locals that watched us run the river from the bank. It is possible, and highly recommended, to put in on one of the class IV side creeks and avoid the 200 yard class V named chutes and ladders. Chutes and ladders drops about 150 feet in its 200 yards and we found it to be mostly unrunnable (I vertically pinned trying to run the final waterfall.) An alternate 4wd take out can be found right above the last class V (which was a mandatory portage because of a logjam.) This take-out will save the portage and a long flatwater paddle out. It took us about 45 minutes to get to the put in from La Ceiba.

Rio Mame

There are three distinct sections of the Mame, and we planned to run the upper which is class IV-V and requires a five hour hike in. We arrived to low water and decided to run the middle section which starts off with a bang and ends with a long section of moving flatwater. The middle section required a 45 minute hike down to a village with friendly locals that thought we were aliens(which I guess we were). We asked them about the river and they said it was too dangerous and they told us not to go. We were not about to hike back out. We put in with the entire village on the banks praying for us. The scenery was great and the rapids at the top of the run were outstanding. This run was about a three hour drive from La Ceiba and well worth it.

Rio Cuero

We did this run as a breather day and found it quite enjoyable. It's quite close to La Ceiba, but the dirt road to put was about and hour and a half drive. Put in was at a friendly village and the run was enjoyable class II-III. It is rumored that upriver is a wonderful class IV section, but access is difficult.

Sambo Creek

This run was definitely one of the most beautiful and fun any of us had ever done. Unfortunately it was only 20 minutes long and we had to haul our boats through dense rainforest along the creek to get to put in. This was not a pleasant hike, but the run made it worthwhile. If this run was longer and had better access it would be one of the best in the world. The creek is found by driving south from La Ceiba and looking at every creek you cross until one of them reminds you of Kevin's mom. Stop, ask permission to hike up and with some luck you'll find a marginally runnable waterfall. Put in right below. Our friend Les took the creek all the way to the ocean and we soon followed. Of course there is no access so you have to hike your boat back to the road.

We really enjoyed our trip and we really enjoy talking about it. If you have any questions email Zachary Collier at zach@kevsmom.com or Kevin Ely at elykevin@hotmail.com. Most of our river information came from a book entitled Honduras: The Undiscovered Country by Andrew Hibbard. It can be obtained by sending 15 bucks to: Andrew Hibbard 1191 Sunnycrest Avenue Ventura, CA 93003. We found the guide to be invaluable while we were there. Another great source of information was Jorge Salaverri at La Moskita Ecoaventuras. I can't say enough about how helpful he was to us. He is an honest, knowledgeable person with a true love for rivers and the rainforests. His email address is moskita@leceiba.com. If you spend money in Honduras, spend it with him. He has the equipment and the knowledge to take you to any of the rivers in the country.