Bungee Jumping

Two sites, and they are not interchangeable

Nepal has two established bungee operations and choosing between them is mostly a question of where you already are and how high you want to go.

Kushma, in Gandaki province, jumps from a bridge over the Kali Gandaki gorge at around 228 m — one of the highest bungee sites in the world, and the highest in Asia. The free fall lasts long enough to be genuinely disorientating. It is roughly two hours from Pokhara and there is a swing on the same bridge for people who want the height without the head-first commitment.

The Last Resort, on the Bhote Koshi near the Tibetan border, was Nepal's first and jumps around 160 m from a suspension bridge over a river gorge. Three hours from Kathmandu, and the setting — a narrow forested canyon with the river directly below — is arguably better than the bigger number at Kushma.

What the day actually involves

More waiting than jumping. You are weighed, your weight is written on your hand in marker, and that number determines which cord you are put on — this is the single most important safety step and it is why they will not take your word for it.

Then a harness fitting, a briefing, and a queue. The jump itself, including the recovery, takes a few minutes. Most people are at the site for two to three hours.

The recovery at both sites is by cord retraction back up to the bridge rather than lowering to the ground, which some people find the worst part.

Who cannot jump

Worth checking before you travel rather than at the bridge:

• Weight limits at both ends — typically around 40 kg minimum and 100–110 kg maximum
• Pregnancy
• Heart conditions, high blood pressure, recent surgery
• Epilepsy, and neurological or spinal conditions
• Recent dislocations, particularly shoulder

Sites will ask you to declare these. Do not be tempted to under-declare a shoulder problem in particular — the deceleration is what causes injuries when it goes wrong.

Combining it

Neither site is close to anything else, so both work best as a day trip built around the jump. The Bhote Koshi site sits on the same river as Nepal's steepest commercial whitewater, and canyoning runs from the same base — a two-day adrenaline package is the usual way people do it.

Season

Both operate year round in most conditions. September to May is the comfortable window; the monsoon brings high water and cloud, and while the jump still runs, the gorge view that justifies the trip often does not.