After the sumptuous lunch, we changed gear for the rafting. No jewelry what-so-ever, meant that I do away with all matching accessories. Floaters / shoes were a must. A short drive in the open jeep and we were at the spot. A beautiful place where river Kali was in full flow. The big rafts carried 8-10 people, while the one which we were in had 6 of us, including the guide. Once we started rowing in the water, the guide started the instructions – pretty simple. Move forward, move backward, Hold on, sit down – in which sit down was the toughest for me – rather the get up after the sit down was tough what with me and my weight!!! Then I volunteered for the water dip (I was the only one in our raft – apart from the guide ofcourse, who knew swimming.. can you beat that) – which was mandatory for everyone. Getting down in that water was a fantastic experience – we even had a swimming stretch – but what with the life jacket, helmet, floaters etc – swimming was next to impossible. A total of 8 rapids with innovative names like ‘Adi’s beard’, ‘stanleys squeeze’ (excuse me :D ), ‘garden of eden’, ‘the stitch’ ‘smugglers’ cove’ – which is so named cos of teak wood and rose wood smuggling which happens there. Me says – if police knows where the smuggling takes place, then what is the big deal in catching the smugglers :roll: . The first rapid was by far the best – and everyone’s screams of glee as we hit the water was something to remember by. As we went further, we were able to steer into the rapid with a much faster and stronger pace – got nice compliment from the guide as well … the more fun it was. And in the last rapid, we went against the current – this took the cake – it was nirvana when we hit the rapid against the current and the water kept hitting us. Just too good. Me says – take up career as white water rafting guide…
We were dead tired when we got back to our lodges, a nice hot bath, bon fire, drinks, dinner, a nice dreamless sleep – got us through the night to the pristine morning. Since I am a very early riser– thanks to EC and the EC bus which comes at inhuman timings – went to the lake. Dipped my legs in the water and sat there soaking the pleasant sounds of the birds, the peaceful flowing water, the gorgeous locale, and a nice fish massage for free :) I even spotted some rare beautiful birds, before a couple came and scared me saying that they had spotted some crocs quite near by – then I started eyeing every ripple suspiciously – for only a few minutes though – then I gave up and went to my tranquil state again.
After breakfast, we went to Sintheri Rock – an awesome place with a cavernous rock mountain, water and a water falls. The fish there were as big as me – and fishing was prohibited. And just when I announced that it would be enticing to get into the water and caves – I saw the sign ‘Swimming is fatal. Total number of people dead this season: 13. Please don’t add to that count’ – shivered and gulped. The second half of the day was reserved for trekking to the sunset point. After a not-so-grueling trek of half hour – we reached the highest point. The view was just breathtakingly beautiful. We had a birds eye view of the huge water body – where waters of 4 huge rives congregated –Nagi, Naashi, Kali and Pindari.
Next day early morning we were blocked for ‘Birding’ – gosh, we rotfl when we saw this on the ‘activity board’ – what next? Hatching? So we went with the guide for a long walk in the forest for bird watching – some exotic, some colorful, some very small (was a challenge to see them even with binoculars). Post breakfast we went for the coracle ride for crocodile watching – we saw 2 baby crocodiles – the guides claimed that they were babies – though they looked quite huge to me. But what life – come on the small isles and sun bathe with closed eyes and open mouth….
Time to get back to Bangalore – to day-in day-out routine. But overall a wonderful trip with the white water rafting being the highlight of the entire trip.
