[ninjatalli]

Over one of the recent weekends, an itch started coming up in my mind to do a weekend trip in the mountains. At the bare minimum, all I wanted to do is hit the (Western) Ghats to enjoy the monsoon. If this was Bombay / Pune, all it would have needed is a 1-2 hour drive and I would be right in the lap of the mountains. But this was Bangalore - in that time frame, I'd probably just barely cross the Outer Ring Road (traffic). So the itch itched.

Looked at maps to identify options with a shortest drive possible which probably meant Sakhleshpur or Chikkamagaluru which was about a 5 hours drive without breaks included. Googled a bit and found out most of the falls/treks around these areas would be hounded by crowds during the weekends for exactly the reasons we would have picked these spots. So the search continued further. Further discussions with interested friends finally materialized to look at Coorg with an overnight halt at Mysore; thus enabling us to reach the destination (in Coorg) well early in the morning while bypassing the weekend crowds as much as we could.

So the plan was put.
- 4 of us in a car
- departing on Friday night with an overnight halt at Mysore
- departing Mysore early-ish morning for Coorg
- return back to Bangalore by late Saturday night
- chill at home on Sunday



Our destination for the trip was Kodagu White Water Rafting at Barapole (on Barapole river) which boasted level 4 & 5 rapids. The other alternative was rafting at Dubare on Kaveri river which didn't seem to be open/running during this monsoon season. A few calls to the lead (Pavan) and our booking was done - we just had to reach the venue and we'll be allocated to a raft on a first come first serve basis. I'd highly recommend this team to anyone who's interested - they were extremely professional and the whole manner in which the rafting was done was with full safety gear and proper means. They have been running this setup for several years and the online reviews surely reflect their services till date.


The ride to Mysore went without a hitch - we left Indiranagar around 8pm and reached Mysore just after 12 in the night. Crashed for the night and work up by 6am, leaving our hostel by 7. Breakfast was at a fantastic place in the city itself and then off we went to our destination, a ~3 hour ride.



Once we reached the destination, we were quickly grouped with another couple and taken to the starting point carrying our raft on the jeep. At the venue, we were given proper instructions on what to do in different scenarios, how to seat ourselves, what commands the lead/guide would use over the next 1+ hour of rafting.







Once it was done, we pushed ourselves, and off we went into the flowing water. There were a bunch of rafts that started off just a few minutes before us and we could it was going to be fun!



My wife who couldn't do this due to an injury took some pics from a bridge that we passed and boy was she getting FOMO feelings (we plan to do this again in one of the coming weekends for sure!). So far while it was fast-flowing water (thanks to the immense rains), the rapids were yet to start - but we didn't know that (lol). Most of us were under the impression that the tiny "white rapids" that we saw so far was what we were talking about.







But within a few minutes that changed - as we got pushed into heavy rapids at the next turn itself. Thankfully our guides had GoPros which recorded the rides (we can avail the videos at an additional cost) and here's a snapshot of what we faced over the next hour.

White water rafting

The thrill that we get is something that can not be described. I had done white water rafting (level 4 & 5) in the rivers of West Virginia (US) so I was well aware of what to expect. But my friends who had limited idea about it were definitely in for a surprise and boy did they have fun or what.

Here's a more better view of the entire track taken by a drone as shared by the organizers (watch from 0:24 onwards) - do note, that's not us in the below video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32s9X9e3Yh0

As we headed towards the end of the stretch with rapids and as the water flow settled down, we came to a point where the lead/guide asked us to jump into the water and have a bit of fun. After a few hesitant seconds, we jumped off and literally turned into water-hippos





After some time, we got back into the raft and gradually headed towards our end point, while taking a few group snapshots as and when the opportunity came up.





After loading the raft back on the jeep, we took a short ride back to the starting point; changed into fresh/dry clothes, and off we headed back to civilization, done by 12 pm! We decided to take it easy on the route back home while stopping for some yummy local cuisine for lunch and some bajji & tea while it rained. We reached Mysore around 5 in the evening and decided to stop for some evening snacks at one of the quaint cafes. Wrong decision as we bore the brunt of heavy traffic on a Saturday evening/night on the Mysore Bangalore highway and it literally took us 5+ hours to reach Bangalore. But thankfully we still had Sunday to recuperate and get back to the usual rigamarole.


Summary of costs:
Rafting: 1200 per person + 1000 for the photos
Stay: 700 per person (hostel setup)
Food & Beverages: ~800 per person approx.
Fuel & Tolls: 1500 per person approx.


~~~~ Ciao! ~~~~

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[Ragul]

Nice one! Something to plan and try on the next vacation. Thanks for posting!

[ajayc123]

The videos while navigating close to the rocks were quite scary for me. Not my cup of tea. Nevertheless, glad that you got an opportunity to do what you liked.

[Gypsian]

Thanks pal. This is on my bucket list this month. Very well written up. Any tips on safety or precautions that you suggest while attempting this?

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by Gypsian

Thanks pal. This is on my bucket list this month. Very well written up. Any tips on safety or precautions that you suggest while attempting this?

100% listen to the guide whatever he instructs before and during the ride, irrespective of one's individual emotions during the ride. He can only manage/steer the raft as long as all of the participants perform as a team.

[maddy42]

Awesome writeup and pictures Nitin. I live 10 mins from this place and everyone from my family except me has been here.

Barapole is super deep and has a lot of spots which can get you stuck if you venture with no knowledge and a lot of ""Great Swimmers"have lost their life here. So do listen to the guides especially in such areas. These folks have been doing this for a really long time.

Maddy

[chandrda]

Looks Nice and adventurous

I never knew there was White Water Rafting in Coorg.

Homestay, camping, trekking and other activities spring up like mushroom in Coorg. While these doesn't involve any danger to human life, the same cannot be said about rafting

I was thinking how safe is it and if they have the required training, certification and equipment in case of emergency/accidents

There is a SOP listed for Rafting by the Adventure Tour Operator Association of India in partnership with Ministry of Tourism. I am just skeptical how many of these SOPs are actually followed by these Operators.

Attached a 2018 Guidelines for Rafting. Page 128 lists few of these SOPs to be followed.

Regards

[JoshMachine]

A nice and quick adventure, considering it was all done over a weekend

Reminds me of my own rafting adventures on the mighty Teesta. Since we were a group of assorted family members then, some of us experienced different levels of difficulty, ranging from grade 2 to grade 4.
Can relate to the thrill and the "OMG, what next?" feelings that pop up every other second on such rides!