White Water Rafting @ Kundalika
Today was it - the first time I ever overcame the fear of white water rafting !
A fabulous wet experience by any standard, and that too in this part of India (Maharashtra) - I had always thought that to get any white water rafting, one had to go to Rishikesh.
Unfortunately, no photo-taking was possible, so I am directing readers to the website of the organizers - “Wild River Adventures” . You can view the photo gallery on the site to visualise some of the experiences I went through today !
Reaching Kolad on the Mumbai - Goa Highway takes approximately 3 hours. There are small sign boards on to your right as you get into the Kolad village, and one can easily miss these - I asked why the signboards were not big and clear with necessary directions, and was told that big-sized signboards are hacked away for their material content ! So small ones are used, and there are atleast 3 companies with signboards pointing to the left direction.
So we turned left, and quickly crossed the railway crossing. It was a winding road leading all the way to Pune. We missed the turn to the Camp and drove for quite some distance before we located a small signboard on Wild River Adventures (WRA), which took us to their booking office. Finally got back to the Camp for the night rest……
This is a serene place with quiet surroundings that I really liked. The only thing I was worried about was the mosquito bombing threat, luckily in the rooms there were no mosquitoes, even though the organizers had provided mosquito nets inside the camping tents. The rooms were really large but simple, for a comfortable stay.
We headed for the river around 8:30 AM - it was approximately 7 to 8 Kms away. WRA guys are experts in white water rafting, rappelling, kyaking, et al. They explained the rafting procedures, especially the safety aspects, and advised us to follow orders. Then we wore our life jackets and helmets, grabbed the paddles, and headed to the rafts parked near the river bed.
Our trainer loaded all of us inside the raft - 9 of us - and asked us to paddle forward. After about 20 metres, he asked all of us to jump into the river ! I hesitated, but he gave no choice, and assured me that I would be absolutely safe. However, the fear of sinking was always there, and I was not alone ! The water appeared to be deep. Anyway, we all jumped in and after the initial screams we were all right, just floating on the water ! Climbing back up into the raft is tough, even when someone is pulling you up - one has to be quick and keep the legs away from the raft - pull the rope down and push the weight up. We all managed to get back ofcourse !
This exercise removes the water fear, though not completely. But it atleast familiarises one with the river and the surroundings. After some more paddling, we headed to the flowing river with the water gushing forth - the gates of the Mulshi Dam were opened around 30 minutes before we hit the river, so it was in full force. Going from the relatively still section of the water to the gushing river spooked some folks ofcourse ! We joined the river and almost immediately saw the rapids ! Were we astounded ?!
It was an amazing experience to go through even the smallest of the rapids. We must have gone through atleast 10 rapids of varying levels today. I exchanged my place to be at the nose of the boat to experience an even higher level of thrill, and it was worth every drop of water ! Great experience, hardly any safety issues. One has to follow orders of the trainer strictly and observe basic precautions to maintain the place on the raft ! At the calm areas of the river between the rapids one is encouraged to jump into the river and enjoy the peace of floating horizontally in a yogic pose. I did that for almost 20 minutes, and it was unbelievably calming and refreshing, to say the least, apart from the fact that you are in the middle of a flowing river 100 feet wide.
Now I am encouraged to seek even more thrill - may be I would wait till the monsoon time when 6 instead of 3 gates of the dam are opened up, and the water level is likely to be atleast 10 feet higher than what it was today. Or, may be one has to take the Rishikesh Challenge !
Strongly recommended for all except the most faint-hearted.
Have a great weekend,
Cheers
Vijay Srinivasan
5th April 2008
Mumbai
