Padas River Rafting

The Padas runs out of the Sabah interior through a gorge below Tenom, and the rafting section is the state's serious white water - graded around three to four depending on flow, with named rapids including Headhunter, Cobra and Washing Machine, run over roughly nine kilometres. What makes it unusual is the access: there is no road into the gorge, so rafters take the railcar from Beaufort along the line cut into the gorge wall, get off at Pangi, run the river, and are picked up by train again at Rayoh. Operators run it as a day package from Kota Kinabalu including transport, train, guides and lunch. The river is brown with silt, which is normal here rather than a sign of anything, and the volume rises sharply after rain upstream.

What you actually see

• Grade three to four rapids - named drops over about nine kilometres.
• Train-only access - the railcar in and out along the gorge wall.
• A gorge with no road - forest and rock walls on both sides the whole way.
• Big volume water - the Padas rising hard after rain in the interior.

When to go

All year; the biggest water in the wet months. A day.

Honest expectations

This is real white water and swimmers get thrown - reasonable fitness and confidence in water are needed. Trips are cancelled when the river is too high. Train times fix the whole day.

Nearby

Beaufort is the railway junction; Tenom is at the top of the line.