River rafting in Sita Nadi

Hey everyone....
let me take you all a few days back....let me tell you about my first adventure trip that i had been to....
me n my friends always think of something wheneva v have 3 or 4 days of holidays during the semester...
n this time we thought of something completely different n new...but adventurous at the same time....i had regularly been checking this website called adreno.org...its owned by this company called Adreno which organises trekking camps,river rafting,river kayaking and various other things....these guys basically have two camps in western ghats..they work in co-operation with Karnataka Tourism...(so we knew that these guys would be safe to go with).....one is along the Sita River...which is like 30 kms from Manipal towards Shimoga...and the second one is somewhere near Kundapur...while the latter is open only during monsoons..the former is functional throughout the year...n the river rafting is there only in the Sita Nadi Nature Camp...so we thought this is the best time to go for river rafting...
Although there packages are a bit expensive but it doesn't matter much coz they provide you with those sort of facilities right in the middle of a deep thick forest...
okay so let me tell you guys something about their packages...
for 2D1N...it will cost you somewhere from Rs. 2600 - rs. 2900 depending on the place where you want to stay(dormitories or tented cottages)...this includes river rafting short run(12-15 kms)...and the next day they would take you on a trek to Koodlu Teertha...
If you don't wanna stay over there, then you can choose only for river rafting which is Rs. 1250 for short run....n yeah by the way don't forgot to ask them for special offer for students.For more details you can log on to the site www.adreno.org

So,now about our trip...initially we had planned to go for the 2D1N package but later on we came to know that it wasn't available so we had to settle down for the river rafting thing only...we had thought of friday as the day...so we made d necessary bookings....

Now the thing which was troubling was how would we reach over there...initially we considered goin in d bus itslef but later on we came to noe dat there migth be a bus strike on dat particular day...so v decided to rent a Qualis with a driver...which wouldn't be so expensive considering the number of guys who were coming(der were 6 of us who were cumin includin me)....so v booked for the car...n told him to come at 6 o' clock in the morning...coz d time slot which v had got ws of 8.30 n we wud require atleast 1.30 hours to reach der....n plus v evn had to stop for breakfast on the way....

So here starts the day...15th august..friday...
6.15 - we board the Qualis from 4th hostel Block....n then pick Anisha up from d ATM n then some guys withdrew the necessary amount (Rs. 1500...v knew dat wud b more than enuf)...
7.00 - we reached Udupi and somewhere just outside the city we found a decent enuf restaurant for breakfast...v had good food ova der....n left by 7.30...
8.35 - we reach Sita Nadi Nature camp which is just 3 kms from Hebri town...
8.45 - we change our wardrobe n wear the rafting gear (life jacket,helmet)
9.00 - we get instructions by the camp officials on how to raft n wat to do n wat not to do when you r in d river...n then v start d journey....

The River Rafting......
there were totally 8 guys in d raft....in which 6 were our guys n there ws one more lady from another group...n d camp official without whom none of us would return alive ;-)
there was one more raft for one another group....they were mostly old people (old in d sense..they might be in der 40's)...n then we started our rafting session which wud be for arnd 12 kms....then aftr v started off v were once again shown how to do it with the actual equipments in d water....by dat time the other raft had already left....
i was sittin on d first row on d left side...n i had to be in sync wid d guy who was sittin to ma ryt....n evry1 else wud watch us n do...initially i wasnt gettin d grip only n it felt tirin...but later on aftr v got hold of it...it looked awesome to do....we were right in middle of this stream of river with trees surroundin us...n d feeling was,believe me,out of d world...it ws drizzling slightly....n d environment ws jus perfect....all of us wud luk arnd n praise the nature's beauty....n jus then v wud b commanded "all forward" sometimes,"left back" sometimes, "right back" and "all back" sometimes....while rafting in forward direction was easy...i neva got the hold of backward rafting til the end....there were many rapids on d way...which wud splash all d water onto us....but it felt nice...after v rafted for about lik 5 kms or sumthn...in one of the rapids...a guy in d other raft fell into d water....n thn later he ws pulled back into the raft by the official guard...aftr seeing this incident i ws jus tellin this to myself "i also wanna fall once yaar"!! It ws jus goin on calmly lik this for little more distance...n we evn removed the camera from d water proof bag...n took some pix of ourselves....n then aftr dat der ws a rapid on d way...and in this one d raft went a bit more downwards towards leftside n as i was sittin in d 1st row...i lost my balance n fell into d water......i went completely inside first n then later on because of the life jacket i came back to the surface n d water ws till my shoulder level...n i ws jus searching for a way to get back into the boat...d gud thng ws dat whn i fell i had fallen along with the paddle bcoz this ws d thng which helped me get back into the boat...the guard locked his paddle wid mine...n pulled me towards the boat...n then he caught me frm my jacket n got me into d boat....n aftr this Rajan was like "even i wanna fall once"....v were jus laughing at him....during the rafting v came across two bridges,one ws meant only for pedestrians while the second one ws our end point...the sceneries which came on d way were beautiful....these were definitely some of the best moments of ma life...the other instance whn i felt so gud ws during parasailing....which ws also awesome...
so after all this was over we felt that it ws too small n v shud hav opted for d long run...coz d journey was simply amazing...then all of us were taken back to the camp in der own vehicle and a der ws a separate carrier for the two huge rafts...then in camp v changd our clothes n paid the amount...n then v enquired of sum gud place for lunch coz all of us were damn hungry....we came to noe dat der were not many gud restaurants der...so v had lunch in a small restaurant ova der...jus enuf to satisfy the stomach....then we headed to agumbe...
on the way v stopped at the sunset point...wer v cudnt see nythng bcoz it ws totally covered by fog...v stayed der for sumtime...n thn lefft to agumbe town...der i called d guide whom i had enquired of from the "Adreno" guy itself...v met him n he told us dat he wil take us to a waterfall and a hill....

Trek to the Waterfall :
this guy was called Hamid...he came along with us in d car...n took us to the waterfall...he had warned us before only dat d fall is right in middle of the forest so der wud b many leeches on d way....so v reached this haunting sorta place der...sumwhere jus outside Agumbe...v parked the car ova der...n then he lead us into the forest..thick forest...many trees had fallen on d way...n it ws actually scary...because v cud hear our voices echoin along in d jungle...it ws really strange to be in dat place....v enquired with him more about d place...n wat all animals wud be der...he was lik der r wild ox,sambar n even tiger ova der...n yea obviuosly der wud b many snakes also....ryt at dat time he told us dat der were sum guys frm Discovery channel who had done some research on King Cobra in this place...der is evn a research center of King Cobra ova der....
Before starting only he had told us to walk fast because if we walk slow then leeches would cling on to us....so we tried walkin fast...n after a tiresome trek through fallen trees n slippery rocks...v finally reached our destination...d waterfall(m sorry but i forgot d name of the falls)....it ws an awesome falls...it wasnt dat high but it was beautiful....n d water ws fallin wid a lotta pressure...n as v reached dat place...he told us chk out our clothes for any leeches,,,n yea v found some of them on our shoes...socks...n pants...v neva felt them but they were definitely suckin our blood.... ;-)
v slowly n cautiously went close to the water dall...the rosks were damn slippery so v had to tough time reachin der....aftr reachin der v took sum photos...n came bac along d same path as guided by him...jus whn v were returnin a large group of students from Manipal had come to see d waterfall....later on v came to noe dat they were 2nd year BDS students...they had come in 2 mini buses...so they were quite a lot...
after this the guide took us to a place called Kundadri Hills..this place is lik the hughest accessible point ova der...n u cud c evrythn frm der....although it wasnt dat clear bcoz of d fog....v cudnt stand for long in this place...coz it ws freezing cold ova der...so v jus tuk sum photos ova der n returnd....der ws a temple n a pond ova der...it ws built sumtime in 1961...but it was closed down long ago i guess....n thn v left bac to college....
so this ws one heck of a trip for us....v had so much of fun jus in one day...n v had covered so many thngs which v hadnt done...n which most of us wantd to do....
wait wait...its not d end hea...
aftr this v came to college...changed our clothes...n left to Mangalore for dinner...had lovely meal in Amazon, but v had to finsh it fast coz v had booked for late night movie show of Bachna Ae Haseeno...it got over by 1 o' clock n then v came bac to hostel by auto all d way frm mangalore...
so this ws d end of d day....
n whn i wud luk bac into life i wud definitely remember this one as one of the best days....coz v had 19 hours of pure fun n adventure in one day....