A rafting weekend

It was a off the cough plan by a friend of ours, a rare plan which actually saw the light of day. Eventually five of us (Shitij (Mr organizer), Rohit, RRP, Karan and myself) decided to take this up for a weekend fun. When we started early Saturday morning for the planned Kondalika trip, we were not sure what awaited us. Not many people are aware that there is rafting which happens near Mumbai For one, am always have been wary of adventure sports but was attracted to be a part of this, and it proved to be a excellent outing for us,

We left our homes at 3am in the morning on Nov 22, 2008, assembled at Dadar and from where the we all started. It is about a three hour ride. Luckily, all of us including me reached on time and we started at the scheduled time. The journey in a Qualis proved to be a bit of a challenge as it was very cramped for us all. So everyone, while trying to take a nap as it was still quiet dark, one could not take a good break for their dreams. I did managed some time off though...

We all were on the way and since it was dark, we were trying to look for some sleep than to find out where we were headed. However, the location was unknown to all of us, but the place is located around 150km on the Mumbai- Goa route (3 hours by road) and there is a diversion at around 35 km from Panvel towards Kolad.

While the Ghats has many short and swift flowing rivers. Due to uneven terrain, there are not many rivers rafting locations in Maharashtra. Kundalika River is a place though. The river is fed by waters released from Mulshi Dam and Bhira dam and provides 10 km rafting location with class 3 and class 4 rapids- there are approximately 12 rapids on the way.

Having reached around 7am in the morning, we had time to relax so we did some wandering alongwith morning tea at a local tea stall there. The earliest start time was around 0830am. Also the rafting there was dependent on the water being released from the dam. Hence, even after we had reached, we were not sure of the event as to whether it would happen or not, and if yes, how good that would be.

Whilst we were wandering at the site office- which did not gave too much confidence as it was a small time shop with a shutter which was not surprisingly closed when we arrived. It did open soon and we were told that the release of water will be around 0930am and hence we had some more time at our disposal. We wandered towards the river to have some some fun, had our photos clicked.

After this, we assembled some time later, and we were briefed by the people there and having split into the teams, heard the siren of the release of water which was pleasant to hear to. After the briefing, all of us got equipped with the safety gear and headed towards the raft for a brief onsite training before we ventured in the water. Hence both the doubts was taken well care of, and we were happy about that.

The water level was rising steadily and so was excitement with a sense of unexpected. It was my first experience on a raft. When the first rapids was nearing, we were not sure how would that turn out to be but all worked out well and it was good fun to be hit by the the rising white water rapid.

The key to the entire exercise was the fact that we had to listen to our instructor Prakash, who was quiet a character. He hailed from Nepal, and it was sometimes hard to pick his amazing English. We all were enjoying our way through and through various rapids; which were assigned some really funny names like johny walker, which also happened to be the strongest. Half way through, at the behest of Prakash, we all were to stand on the raft, while all of us did one of us slipped and as a result, I found myself in the water within no time and in the middle of the river. It was almost scary thought to begin with but then after a moment, it was okay and was brought on the raft back with the help of everyone. This is something I dreaded but when it actually happened, it was not as bad since we had our safety equipments on and also the water was quiet calm at that place.

We also went into the water and floated and swam for some distance, which was really great. Some of us knew swimming and some of us did not, I did not so was first weary but once in the water, it was an experience to remember.

The picturesque and open views added to the charm, and so did the pleasant climate. The river all the way through was about 30-40 ft wide, with bushes on the banks. The water levels was also not too deep but understand, at places it was in excess of 20 ft.

We ended on the other side after almost 2 hours in the water, which we all thought was just about right but not before a small race between the rafts which we won, and on the way also did spilt some water on the other teams who were trying to compete. They did not complaint though it was all fun and they had done the same upon us previously.

All said and done, we all ended our journey- came back had lunch and started our return journey with a pleasant thought of the day and a realization that the pains will still live for some time, but was that worth it!!!!

It was.

Hope we do something similar soon..