When one of our friends, Mustafa gave us a surprise visit from Dubai, the plan for River Rafting popped up. Weekend was nearby and so was Kolad. We could not think of anything better than that.

You can visit Kolad at any time of the year for river rafting on Kundalika River. We chose August.

Kundalika River originates from Sahayadri (Western Ghats) and flows towards Arabian Sea. It was rainy season which was the best time for rafting and we knew it would be crowded. We contacted ‘Snow Leopard Adventures’ and pre-booked it with advance amount of Rs. 300/- . The total cost was Rs.1200/- per person.

We started at 4.30am. We had to cover a distance of 160kilometers from Pune. As I ave already mentioned that it was rainy season, the hills were draped in greenery. The road was through beautiful hilly areas.

After two punctures and a wrong turn we reached at the place at 9.40 am. Our rafting started around 10am.

From left to right: Me, Sukanya, Ashish, Soham and Mustafa

Our instructor was from Nepal and he had worked at Hrishikesh River Rafting. Being a non-swimmer, he was my only hope. After getting brief from him we started our white water rafting. We had to raft a distance of 12-13 kilometers. Kundalika is a dam-controlled river and when we started the water level was high. To be honest I freaked out whenever the boat got imbalanced due to heavy waves. Only wild bushes can be seen in the banks of the river.

When you could see the waves that were bigger than you, are storming towards you, it scares the hell out of a person. In the meanwhile it started to drizzle. Yes, we rafted in the rain on a river for almost an hour. There were 4 rapids and the last one named Johny Walker was the most difficult one. Last year a lady died at this place. We saw one guy to fall from boat there. The first 5 kilometers were more adventurous than the rest. You cannot guess what was coming next. After that the river got a bit tired and became still. Here we got down from the boat into the river. It was around 10 meters deep. It took us 2.5 hours to complete. For me it was a memorable experience.

Here is the proof that we actually did it. :p

We took the route of Tamhini Ghat while coming back. Although we were tired, we did not miss the exquisiteness of the place.

That is Tamhini Ghat for you.

Few points to be noted:

1. Follow all the instructions of your instructor.
2. You’ll get completely drenched. It is better to have on Swim-wears.
3. Apply Sunscreen if you want to avoid tanning.
4. You can stay at Kolad overnight and enjoy camping. We came back on the same day.
5. After the rafting is done, you’ll get tired and hungry. There are options for fast foods. If you want to avoid that, carry your own food.

That is your blogger pretending to look cool.