River rafting at Dandeli Dec 23- 26 2005

Just back from the shabarimala trip, vicky had already planned an another one. Though it was my 4th trip in a series, I couldn't resist as the place was dandeli and event - white water rafting. Vicky had initially said only to few people as he had taken permission from the forest department only for 3 tents (8 people). Vicky had told only to those who had come last time with us to dalhousie As soon as I this I spread the word to the rest of the gang. Some how I got 4 more guys to come along with us. Vicky was upset with this as he had the permission
only for 3 tents and of them one was for the 2 girls, so only two tents were left with us and 8 of us had to fit into it. Got the tickets booked for ten. Then the drama started. Vivek droped
out, sujit dropped out, bhanu and vinay dropped out. Then Aakash, shruthi and renu gave the jhatka. Vicky, Adi and I were the only three who were still on with the plan. Luckily 3 of my colleagues joined us on the day we were to leave and ofcourse chetu baby is always there for me.
Participants: Vicky, Vikas, Adi, Chetu, YSH, Sudhi, Kiran places visited: Dandeli - jungle safari, rafting, sunrise point, kavala caves, syntheri rocks, Super Dam(visited from a far distance)
We all met up at majestic at 8:45. As usual our co- passengers were not that ahemmm ahemmm. We had 10 seats- the last ten, only seven of us were there. Had to sell of the other 3
tickets. Vikas and Ysh sat together and spent time as if they were januma janumada jodigalu. All of us fell asleep after some time. Reached Dandeli at around 7:30 am. Dandeli is famous for black
panthers, but we could spot a lot of wild boars as soon as we got out of the bus. Walked to the Jungle lodges as we had to book for rafting. A batch was ready to leave and they asked
us like can you join this batch. We ppl had just reached there and we had to still comlpete our "dainika karyas". So opted for the evening batch. From there left for the nature camp were
we had our stay booked. The place was real beauty - there were 8-10 camps laid out surrounded by thick forest. There was a lady who would prepare you the dishes if you give her the
order and ofcourse the time. We had our breakfast which was very descent. Though the qty was more for seven of us we could still gulp it off easily. Then spent some time roaming
around near by. Vikas was teaching us about photography; the shutter speed, the exposure, the focal lenght, .... photo andare saaku sikkapatte gyaan kodtaanappa vikas ;). Ofcourse its
bcos of Vikas, that I'm able to experiment with the camera, otherwise it was always the default auto mode that I used to take pics. Adi, kiran and me spent lot of time with camera trying
out diferent modes/options/exposures, especially with the "bol mara" which Vikas is very fond of. It was 1:00 and the lunch was ready. What delicious the food tastes when you are hungry
and the food is just prepared and served. Had our food, left for jungle lodges. Adi was taking his children to school - wondering ??? thats how it looked when vikas, adi and vicky were
walking together. We reached the main road and had to wait for some time before we could get a jeep for JL. What an amazing ride it was, we were all hanging out of the jeep, Kiran was
sitting on the Top and propaganding for the local elections. From JL, they had arranged a jeep. We reached the point. Got ourselves into the rafting gears - basically removed our shirts and put on the life jackets and helmets. The camp leader who was from Australia started of with some safety tips. to our surprise he could speak kannada. Got into the raft and started off. Adreline started pumping out. To add
on to it we had guy called from kumar(JL) who was our navigator who used to yell like anything and was very zealous. He framed the phrase "jigi jigi baiibe" looking at Kiran. We got up
and sat down shouting jigi jogi baiibe and continued this for the rest of the track.
We were heading towards the first rapid called as "Adi's beard" and the raft suddenly picked up the speed and we were all sitting at the peripheral were asked to move into the raft as we
hit the Adi's beard. What an experience it was, the raft was still in control. If it was for us the raft would have swirled or toppled. There were altogether 7 rafts in the evening batch. After each rapid, we had to wait for others to join us. Infact it was also a splendid treat watching others taclke the rapid. Unfortunalety
we were not allowed to carry our cameras as there were no water proof bags and what if we fell into the water?
We hit the rapids one by one and after repeated pestering, kumar gave over the control to us and asked to manaevour the raft for a samll stretch. What do you think? we can't do it? We
did it with ease. Enroute we could spot peacocks and some birds- vicky/vikas could give the names. The last rapid was termed as
It was here that jigi jigi kiran was asked to sit at the tip of the raft and we moved against the rapids. When we hit the rapid the raft starts wobbling and the water rushes into the raft. We asked kumar to take us once again against the rapid and our jigi jigi baiibe's head was totally sumberged in the water.
Hit the shore, took snaps and the jeep was ready. We didn't even get time to dry ourselves or even dress up completely. Most of us were wearing towels. Got down at the market area. Directly went into a pub with our strange attires. it was an evening to remember especially, the ysh's pose - not even kiran when is on high can give such an expression.

We reached the nature camp, and a surprise was awaiting us. I just went into to the so called open ktichen where I found sushma, ofcourse not cooking there, she had just finished her dinner. Vicky came in and joined us. We were really happy to see the baby elephant. She had come with her hubby through YHAI. Then as usual the girls have some or the other problem. She had to share the room with 7 people. Thanks to vicky we had 3 rooms for seven of us. We thot chal we'll give away one room to sushma and her friend(if it was not for sushma's friend, we wudn't have thot about it at the first place). We decided not to share the room for "--------" reasons. Poor sush and her friend dont know how they spent the night in the jam-packed room.
We had our dinner. A short documentary was going on about the jungle and its inhabitants. Then the person incharge told us that we could spot panthers/bears if we just walk down the street outside the nautre camp. Chetu tensionee thogondilla, araamagi hogi malkondu bitta. Kiran repeatedly warned us not to go in to the forests without any guide. Somehow we could convince him and went in search of panther, but didn't find any. The funniest part was that Kiran asking "what should be the strategy if a Panther appears just in front of us".
Went back to the tents. Morning took a safari. As usual couldn't spot any major animal. However vicky claimed of seeing a panther which none of us saw. Came back to the nature camp, got ready and had breakfast. We had a gypsy booked to visit nearby places. First he took us to Kavala caves. We had to climb down some 300 steps to reach the caves. Shandilya Muni had done penance here for close to 80 years. We entered into the caves, it was totally dark, the guide used a torch to show us the Shiva linga, the serpant and ganesha idol. The linga was formed with Adike. It was white earlier now it had turned brownish. Another linga was a natural one formed by the droplets falling from the roof top. We came out sweating. Met Sushma again here. From here the driver Raja took us to the Syntheri Rock, which is about 600 ft wide and is a single rock. Alongside the rock was a river. There was a board put up with the count of number of people drowned at this place, asking us to stay away from the water. Did lot of photography here. Vikas got good snaps, especially the rock climbing ones. Left back to the nature camp. We were left with no money. Went in search of ATMs where we could draw out cash. Thankfully found a SBI ATM. Went back to the nature camp. Had lunch. Me and Vikas laid down on the grass. Then we had a photoshoot, where we both were trying to pose the same way. We had to come to Dharwad as we didnt get a direct bus to Bangalore from Dandeli. We came in a trax kind of vehicle, where in only Himesh's songs were played. As soon as we boarded the bus, I went into sleep, when I woke up, we were in Bangalore....... it was time to get back to work :(