“If you are twenty-two, physically fit, hungry to learn and be better, I urge you to travel – as far and as widely as possible. Sleep on floors if you have to, find out how others live and eat and cook food. Learn from them – wherever you go!” -- Anthony Bourdain
Introduction:
If you are living in Mumbai or Pune and getting bored with your boring corporate life, you will need some escapes to be energetic and lively time to time. This adventures trip is such a small escape from the world of stresses and strains. Kolad is a place in Raigad district of Maharashtra, near Roha. This place is easily accessible through all the routes but I will recommend rent a cab for convenient trip. You will get to do rafting in Kundalika River, which originates from near abouts of Roha only. The beautiful sceneries with fierce rapids of the river will make you feel that nature has the best healing powers.
How To Reach:
Cost:
Our Experience:
So, the thought hit my mind on 14th Nov 2020, a day before 'Diwali', when I was going to office. Being away from home on the biggest festival of your culture is something, which makes you feel low. Therefore, I always try to find an escape from the tough moments like such. I surfed through the Internet and came out with the plan of going for river rafting. I had heard about that from one senior but this is literally known to very few people. I asked my friends and 6 of them were ready for the execution of plan (Akash, Modi, Murli, Dinesh, Pushkar Sir and Akshay Sir). If you have a bigger group in such activities, this is a blessing!! I called a few cab drivers and services in Mumbai and finalized one with the admin of my office. Then I made a call to an adventure company that organizes a rafting there. Though the rate is fixed as 1500 per person but we got some discount (after too much of bargaining) as we were in a large group and it wasn't as such a peak season for rafting. After paying the advance money, I received the invoice and read the instructions. Based on those, I suggested all my mates to get foot sandals instead of slippers or shoes, which is really logical. Anyway, we all were excited very much.
Next day, on 15 Nov, Diwali, we left for Kolad in cab at 5:30AM. One can reach Kolad from Mumbai through 2 routes. One is through the the Mumbai-Pune express way and another is through Mumbai-Bengaluru highway. We chose latter as we were 7 people in an Ertiga which could be problematic if traffic police noticed it. But we didn't regret our decision as the route became more and more beautiful as we crossed Panvel. It was dawn by 6:30 and we were amidst nature. We were enjoying the weather and road trip. At 8 AM, we halted at a small dhaba and had breakfast: the classical Vada Pav-tea combo.
I called the organizer agent and asked for navigational location. It's always a good idea if you don't know the exact destination. He sent the location and we followed it. At about 9 AM, we were amidst a forest and driving through it. All mobile networks had vanished (And that is why Google Maps provide an option of saving maps offline, which we did not follow obviously). Consequently, we had lost the track of the location as well. But we we didn't care about it and continued driving as the surroundings were too calm and beautiful. Moreover, there was only one road going ahead so it wasn't necessary to have a navigation. The road led to a village and we got less-intensed mobile network. The road was dividing into 2 routes from here so we tried to follow the navigation. After some efforts, we were able to be on the right route. We reached at the given location by 9:45 AM. One bloke from the organizing team came there to receive us and took us to the rafting point.
The flow of water at that time of season isn't ideal for rafting, so when the dam water is released in the river, flow increases a quite bit and then only the rafting starts. So we waited for half an hour meanwhile the water level rose and we started getting adrenaline rush. Organizers came and we signed consent form (you always think twice before signing, don't you?). There were two more groups. As I mentioned it wasn't a peak season so it wasn't crowded. Prateek Bhaiya (our guide) asked us to inflate the raft by pumping and we all felt excited while doing that. At approx 10:15, we lowered the raft into the water and he gave us tips. Rehearsal was done for 10-12 minutes during which we were told about the signs, technical terminology, instructions and other precautions. Bhaiya asked the two most bony of us to take the front space at the raft because strength is required there. It was decided by the consent of all that Akshay Sir and I take that place. We accepted happily. So finally, it started at 10:30
It was as smooth as contrary to our expectations at the starting. Within 10 minutes we were amidst the dense forest containing small hills. I think for a moment or so, I forgot about the rafting and was lost in the serenity of the place. It won't be exaggeration to say that it felt magical. Suddenly Prateek Bhaiya told us to faster the pace of rafting. It was time for the very first RAPID of the route. Though it wasn't that fierce and we all got just a small splash of water, it gave us more excitement. And there came rapids one after other, Prateek Bhaiya was continuously instructing during the trip and that's where I felt that how important it is to have an experienced guide with you while having adventures because 'Adventures are Uncertain', aren't they? When there was smooth flow, we used to sing along and took photos with GoPro. Bhaiya told us that during monsoon, rafts generally topple down into the water because of fierce flow of water and that is the real adventure.
He told many stories that how many people lost precious possessions of theirs while such toppling due to lack of care. We regretted that we chose not so good time for rafting. Anyway, after 1 hour or so, flow was again really low and then Prateek Bhaiya asked us to tighten our safety gears and jump into the water. It didn't come to us as a surprise as he had already told us that for 3 to 4 KMs, we would be floating into the river. We didn't JUMP but lowered ourself into the water one by one. It was the best part of the trip and it destroyed all the regrets we were having because I don't think in monsoon you would be able to float like this.
We formed many formations together and Prateek Bhaiya took some really cool pictures of us. Akshay Sir and Dinesh knew how to swim so they were enjoying in their way. After half an hour of such floating, Prateek Bhaiya asked us to come back. Akshay Sir, being an athlete, climbed on the raft in style which Pushkar Sir took on heart and accepted the challenge. That was really a fun moment as he tried several times, not giving up and failing every time. Finally, he climbed (with a little help of Akshay Sir, of course).
By now, we were exhausted and hunger was making it's space in the flood of different emotions. The rafting went for 15 minutes more in still water, the Sun rising sharp over our head. We didn't care about all the tanning we got on our body.
At approx 1 PM, we reached at the bank of the river. Pulled our raft for half km to get to the place where our cab was already there. First thing we did to have some Vada Pav and Vatata Bhajji even before changing our wet clothes. After spending some moments in silence, we left from there. It took half an hour or so to reach at the highway. Our next task was to find a decent eatery to make peace with continuously compounding hunger. However, I must admit that we failed to fulfil that task as we ate at a restaurant, which serves really pathetic food. However, it didn't matter at last. We reached Mumbai at 5:30 PM and another beautiful day came to an end. But it was Diwali and it couldn't end with some more celebrations so we enjoyed till the very end of the day, satisfying the cravings with food, chocolates and ultimately with Red Velvet Ice Cream cake!!
I hope you like the blog and would plan for this awesome experience this monsoon! Please share this and follow us on Instagram and Facebook.
4 Comments
Great💥💥
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ReplyDeleteBeautifully written ❤️
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