Dandeli - I had not heard about it before

So Here goes the experience of one of the best adventure I have done so far. Dandeli - I had not heard about it before but when I saw the invite on Facebook from Bangalore Hikers and the very fact that Santosh was the organizer, I joined that without a second thought and even asked my friend Jyoti to join the same. Little was known to me by that time that I would be spending 2 wonderful days of my life in lap of nature.
We were a group of 12 people who gathered at majestic on Friday. At 9pm came our much awaited TT (Tempo Traveller) and we all embarked on an unforgettable journey where I would experience river rafting and jungle trek for the first time. Ironically Lohith, who is also an organizer, came last to majestic.
TT journey was not at all comfortable but then if you want comfort then do not join Bangalore Hikers. To kill the time, we started Telugu movie - REBEL and you can take my words - The very first song and dance of the movie will keep you glued to your seats. It does not matter if you know Telugu or not.

All good things do not come together. There is always a pinch of salt involved.

In our case the vehicle broke down when we were about to reach Dandeli but fortunately in 45 minutes, the driver managed to repair the TT and we were again on our way to Dandelli.

Day1

We reached Dandelli before 7am. The rafting was to begin by 10:30am. We all went and have our breakfast. The food was yummy. Do try kesari bath there. Specially for north Indians - It will remind you of your sooji ka halwa.

At 10:30am, The officer came and took us all in a jeep to River Kali. If rafting experience was Sachin Tendulkar, then experience of jeep travel was no less than Virender Sehwag.

We were divided into a group of 2. One group with 8 members and other with 4 to be joined with 4 member of some other adventure enthusiasts. And now started one hour 45 minutes of absolute fun.

If you don't know swimming, its okay you need not worry. They will provide you with life jackets which will help you float on water. Our instructor Rafeeq explained us what different terms meant. Like when he would say forward, we have to paddle backwards so that our raft will move forward by simple Newton's laws of motion which says- to every action there is equal and opposite reaction ;-)

After exhilarated rafting, we posed for some photos and then headed toward our place of stay - Kulgi Nature Camp owned by Dandeli forest department. We had booked dormitory for all of us. The home made food over there was awesomely awesome. We were served with chapati, rice, pickle, 2 vegetables, curd, papad.

Even though, we were tired, we started out for another point for another photo shoot where there were lots of different type of stones – Syntheri Rocks, on the banks of River Kaneri (a tributary of River Kali). The flow of water at that time was just okay.

Exhausted from long day, we came back to our camp. If you think we slept after having dinner then you are wrong ;-) . After dinner started the most entertaining part where we played bum charade. Yes you read that right, witnessed the most seductive pole dance by Ahmed and much more.

Day2

Will share the 2nd day story in some days where I will tell our encounter with bear. Till then stay tuned.. CYA

Written by: Ikshit Batra
Event dates: 6 - 7 June, 2015
Place: Dandeli, Karnataka
No. of hikers: 12 (8 M, 4 F)
Event Organizer: Santosh Kumar Gupta
Photos of the event: Water Rafting, Hiking and Camping, Dandeli: 6 - 7 June, 2015
Photo Courtesy: Sundeep, Syed, Pradip, Ahmed, Sumithra, Santosh