The wilderness of Dandeli and white water rafing

Here goes my 1st blog for ma 1st BTC trek!!!

Since this was ma first trek, leave about a two-day trek, I was a little apprehensive about how I would get along with others. But now, it turns out that it could have been the best way to start off my trekking journey.

I got a chance to be a part of it cause of ma aunt, Aruna, who is a member of BTC. I became a member of BTC only on the day the registrations opened up for “Dandeli Exploration Trek”. I’m really great full to her for taking me along on this adventurous trek. I was excited to pack up and was waiting for the day to leave.

Finally the day arrived, 14th of March for us to depart. We were to assemble in the SRS Travels bus stop at 9:30pm. I was early and reached by 9:00pm. Since this was ma first time and hadn’t met anyone before, I was wondering as to how to identify them all! Slowly, a few guys started coming in with their Quechua bag packs. So, I was sure that they are from BTC itself. Then, Deepthy came n identified Aruna n me. Sneha came n sat next to me n gave a big intro of hers n we got along well. I was surprised to see how much she spoke to a stranger :D The bus arrived n we all boarded. All started playing Dumb Charades as the bus left. I was silent in the beginning n didn’t play as I didn’t know anybody. So, I dozed off soon. Zzzzzzzz :P

HERE WE ARE….DANDELI!

After a bumpy ride, we reach dandeli at 7:15am. We then headed towards d Jungle Camp Home stay. We got freshened up n had breakfast. N got all set for WHITE WATER RAFTING. We all went in jeeps to the rafting place. The jeep ride were so cooool :D When v had to sign the indemnity papers, v had to write our age as well. That’s when I found out I was d youngest in d lot (cool 19). It was a long drive to rafting in Kali River. Shamant went on like a Jukebox non-stop; at d same tym poor Abhishek getn ragged each tym (pity him)!

We reached d rafting place. V got our group split into two rafts. When v started, our coach taught us to raft n den v all had to jump into D River. V swam n floated for a while (me love swimming :D). It had 8 rapids n d last rapid was d best! D whole rafting was jus WOW amazing experience!

We were exhausted n hungry when v reached d home stay. V ate n slept. We had planned to go for a small trek in d evening. Ha, I woke up Kaushik by sprinkling water: P :D (@kaushik- ur bday gift on its way) ;)

In the evening v went on a small trek in the dried out forest. V took many pics in the mines n of course v had out 4 Kingfisher calendar boys photo shoot by photographer Ms. Deepthy!

Diptendu got us all to an awe moment with his special night photography. It was WOW!

Camp Fire

We had camp fire in the night after dinner. We were singing our hearts out n chatting. We cut cake, celebrating BTC’s way to 100 (I was given d privilege to cut)

Yes, here comes to exciting part of d night- The Dumb Charades (Open Challenge by Abhishek) :P Not to miss his “Kanth Langoth” n “Phata hua Bermuda” LMAO :D

Unanimously, he wins d Entertainer award.

This went on till 1:30am in the piercing cold midnight. It was fun sleeping in the tents (ma 1st time). The people in different tents tryna out perform d loud music!

The next morning seemed so hard to wake ourselves up for another exciting n adventurous day.

Syntheri Rocks n Ullavi Caves

It was again a long drive in the jeeps to the rocks first. It had some falls there but had a red flag instruction. I rememba some *shit* falling on all of us! *eeeeww*

It was drive in d ghat section this time to Ullavi Rocks. The steps down were too steep, making it a long walk downhill. We went into 3caves. One was jus a small one with Basavanna Vibuthi. The second was d venturesome one which was worth it all! The last was a photography point.

The climb uphill was really tiresome. It seemed like a never ending long way climb up. We were exhausted n hungry.

We made it back to our camps in the evening at 5pm. There was a surprise awaiting us there! :-) 

HOLI HAAAY!!

When we all were packing up, here comes Hiren to our bewilderment splashing holi colors on all. We had full on masti. I was telling Deepthy d previous day that v could play but she didn’t even leave a clue abt this! I love playing holi n i was filled with elation!

@hiren- d happiness overdid u spoiling ma fav white shirt!

D last min rush!

We rushed to the Dandeli bus stop. We waited for a long time there n then got a bus to Dharwad n traveled in d local bus fully crowded. From Dharwad, we caught a bus to Hubli n reached Hubli at 10:15pm when our train was at 10:20pm. A few of us started running in hay wire towards d railway station. Then, we took 5 autos to the railway station, but Diptendu was still running like Usain Bolt with his luggage n tripod stand :D

We somehow made it to the railway station n ran on the over-bridge to catch d train. V all got in at 10:18pm. This is an unforgettable moment to finish it all like an icing on d cake. It was a trip which made every moment count n each incident marked it special.

Thanks a ton to Deepthy for organizing this event n making ma first trek as the best n encouraging.

I had a great time penning this down. I hope all of you would also re-live these times while reading this! Hope to meet you’ll soon in d next trek :-) 

Thanks all for making me feel comfortable n at ease on ma first BTC trek itself!

Written By        : Aishwarya Vishwanath

Organized By    : Deepthy
Date of event    : 15th & 16th Mar, 2014
Members Count : 17
Place                : Dandeli
Pictures            : BTC FB Page