American, Japanese and Chinese rafters join forces on a first descent of the Mekong in Tibet, April 2004. River elevation 10,000’,
snow elevation 12,000’. PHOTO TRAVIS WINN
MEKONG RIVER TIBET to VIETNAM
IRON AGE FARMERS, Marco Polo and Maoist revo- lutionaries all had to accept the unbridled power that kept Southeast Asia’s Mekong River un-run for mil- lennia. It wasn’t until the eve of the 21st century the Mekong’s unfettered tradition was to be challenged by well-equipped expeditionaries and the demands of a changing civilization. En route through its seething 4,600-kilometre,
source-to-sea run, the Mekong pounds down 3,000- metre-deep gorges, across six national borders and between some of the world’s most biologically diverse temperate forest. It is a source of food, water, transpor- tation, energy and frequent fear of flooding for some 60 million Southeast Asians living along its banks. Western interest in paddling the Mekong began as
early as the 1600s but the first serious expedition, led by French explorer and diplomat Ernest Doudart de Lagrée, wasn’t attempted until 1866. After two years of barefoot portaging (apparently portaging wooden do- ries is a bit rough on 19th century footwear), struggles with violent rapids and a tenacious case of amoebic dysentery, Lagrée discovered what the Chinese al- ready suspected, the river was unnavigable. For 130 years the Frenchman’s assessment stood. In the mid-1990s, interest in the Mekong’s whitewater
rekindled. Teams from China, Australia, Japan and the U.S. began probing the nether gorges of its Hi- malayan high-country. After seven years of wading through Chinese bu-
reaucracy, American rafter Peter Winn secured per- mits and logged a handful of first descents before Australian kayaker Michael O’Shea connected the dots to complete the first source-to-sea expedition in 2004. After seven months of enduring chilly Tibetan temperatures and swarms of multi-national mosqui- toes, O’Shea conquered the whitewater responsible for centuries of defeats. Conquered, perhaps sadly, seems to be the Me-
kong’s destiny. In reaction to a multiplying population and a ballooning economy, China has entered a dam- building era unseen since U.S. engineers trowelled off the concrete of the Grand-Coulee and Hoover dams in the 1930s and ’40s. Already three dams have been completed on the Mekong with plans for as many as 100 more. Fortunately, in 2006 American Travis Winn, son
of Peter Winn, and a handful of rafters caught one last ride—a famous final descent if you will—down a river that may not be run for another millennium. —Kyle Dickman
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RAPID
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