White Water Rafting @ Dandeli

Isn't it funny! Knowingly or unknowingly we make it a point to be late that too by 2 hours! This is what happens when we friends decide to leave early for a trip. We had decided to leave bangalore city by 7:30 pm or so... but it was 9:30 pm when we actually left for Dandeli. We make it a point to be late!

I was terribly sleepy that night as i was working for long hours for the last 2 days in office... But is it possible to sleep when such good friends are giving you company! hehehe! anyways they just couldn't stop me from sleeping... The problem was that since we were doing a night journey, if everyone had slept off, the chances were that our Driver would have also fallen asleep and I guess I wouldn't have been writing this blog! Anyways the ever reliable few didn't sleep and we made it through. It was the last week of dec 2006. I had got the full week for myself as my company had shutdown for christmas and new year.

Anyways morning came and we were in Uttara Kannada District and closing in on Dandeli. On the way we had breakfast in Sirsi. At Dandeli we stayed at a Guest house which was neat. Food was simple and good too. As one of my friend had contacts we got to see a better view of Dandeli, River Kali, Dam, Power Generation Plant, which the normal visitors don't have access to. So the first 2 days went in visiting these things.

We then went for a Wild-life Safari in the so called Dandeli Wild life Sanctuary in the evening. At the end of a 2 hour dusty ride, we got to see the Dorsal view of a Bison hehehe! We had shifted to a Jungle Safari Lodge which also had a tree house. I had a good night's sleep at the tree house, however initially it was a bit scary as my friend was being teased of ghosts and he was so scared that he wanted nobody to sleep in the tree house... hope he doesn't read this!!

Dandeli which is a so-called Wild life Sanctuary has been completely vanquished by human inhabitation! The River Kali that flows along is polluted by the Paper mills that exist alongside the river. Anyways this I found out while River rafting.

So our river rafting was guided by australians who were enjoying there time @ dandeli. It was very adventurous and its a real good experience! But very expensive. I say that cause when we were kids my cousin used to build a raft using bamboo and banana stem and we used have great fun! but anyways this kind of rafting is more of power and speed and you need to use safety equipments.

With the rafting done with, we started our journey back. On the way we had dinner at Dharwad i guess (not sure!)

Finally we were back in bangalore safe and sound. I had a few more holidays to enjoy... Though the rest of my holidays did go very fast. Anyways all said and done, rafting was an ultimate experience. Hope I do it again, this time our very own Cauvery!