Published by National Geographic, UK

The Brahmaputra carves a course through the green-gold landscape of hilly Assam in India’s far north east – a world of lush tea plantations, ancient temples and exotic wildlife. It offers an enticing blend of culture, scenery and adventure. Perfect, in theory, for river cruising. But this is no ordinary river.

The Brahmaputra – its name translated from Sanskrit as ‘son of Brahma’, the creator of the universe – is a moody beast. Swollen every year by monsoon rains and Himalayan meltwater, it reaches an unimaginable 18 miles wide in the wet season, June to October, creating a vast, monochrome landscape threaded with sandbanks around which dangerous currents swirl.