White Water Rafting : Alive to Tell the Tale!
It was with a heady mix of anticipation, excitement, and nervousness - with the adrenalin flowing perhaps much faster than the river they were to tangle with, that the brave handful of WWR (White Water Rafters ) finally stood at the water's edge on that memorable Sunday morning, complete with canoes and raft. The group had set out from Lonavala earlier that morning, and by noon, had wended their way to the upper reaches of the Ulhas, the locale for the adventure that was to come...
The
river looked very calm as we set to work inflating the 2-man canoes and the
4-man raft. "The water is a little low, I hope it pours cats and dogs",
said our ace WWR, guide and dude, "then it'll be easier on the canoes."
And on that heartwarming and encouraging note, we set off.
Decked out in the mandatory life jackets and helmets, the group gingerly trod water and learnt how to topple, bottom first, into the canoe so that it didn't flip over. The next lesson was more crucial - learning to steer the vessel so that it went more or less where you wanted it to go! After a few basic lessons in a broad, calm stretch of water from our volunteer guides - and several topplings into the water - our Dude decided it was time to head for the rapids!
And off we went, a line of canoes and one raft, dry clothes and cameras in waterproof canoe bags, for the 4-hour ride that was to make rafters of us! We bumbled along merrily till we came to the first inocuous looking flecks of white in the water, where the river narrowed - and then - wham ! Suddenly we were no longer in control. The canoe was tossed around madly for a few blood-curdling seconds while we held on for dear life - and then suddenly, it was all calm once more and we were in the flats.
When the next rapid loomed ahead, we were more prepared. "Paddle hard! Paddle right! Back paddle left!" the instructions flew thick and fast. And then we were in it, tossing, spinning, paddling frenziedly... A canoe tipped over, and into the gushing water fell the unfortunate duo...Bump! Bump! Bump! over the rocks they went... "Don't let go of your canoe - whatever happens! Hold on to your paddle!" shouted our Dude as we desperately tried to hold on to ourselves! I don't really mind if you get hurt - but don't damage my canoe!" yelled the heartless one. Luckily our experienced volunteers rushed to the rescue, and soon we were back in the canoe heading for the next rapid...
By
now almost eveyone had been tipped, and the fear of the water had vanished.
Each canoe had also developed a distinct style of its own - the Major and
his Missus had perfected the art of entering a rapid nose-first, and exiting
rear-first! While this was rather embarrassing, it was also fun as it offered
a grandstand view of the antics of the next canoe as it floundered in the
rapids! Then came the 4-man raft, with Energiser and Duracell manning the
front, Younis and Alok the rear, all of them paddling away briskly, totally
out of sync! Another sight was Juzer and Mohammed, serenely going round in
circles in the broad flats... watching all this with a broad smile, of course,
was our Dude, who moved effortlessly upstream and downstream with his privileged
partner...
By around 4.30 pm, we had reached the broadest part of the river, where the water was very low, and after some tricky navigation around the rocks, a lot of baling out water and walking the canoes, it was finally time to pull up to shore. It was a tired, hungry, drenched, battered but thrilled bunch of Wildertrailers who flopped down - with one overriding feeling of achievement - we'd done it!
Rafting apart, the WWR trip also included a lovely night out in some caves near Khandala, and a lot of climbing in the scenic hills of the area. Other highlights of the trip: our host's fantastic cooking, a wolf-like Alsation that kept us company on all treks, rain, rain and more rain, and of course, Lonavala chikki...
When's the next water trip? - I want more details.
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