It was rainy and gloomy Saturday in Mumbai. The usual problems of roads getting blocked, traffic jams, water seeping into the house had started creeping up. This is also the best time to visit the outskirts of Mumbai, enjoy the greenery and witness the newly formed waterfalls. We decided to step out and go for river rafting at Kolad, 3 hours drive from Mumbai. We had already booked a place to stay for the night and the package deal for rafting for our group of 5 people.
Luckily, one of us decided to get his car. Travelling by public transport in this weather could be a little difficult, if not impossible. We started out at 4 in the afternoon and were pleasantly surprised to see very little traffic on our way. We reached Vashi in an hour and decided to buy some booze for the journey and the rest of the trip. Samosas could probably be the best snack to enjoy during the monsoons. A couple of hours drive and we had already reached Lonavala. The cloud or rather the fog had descended on the mountains and the view from the car was simply breathtaking. Since, it was getting dark we decided not to halt and waste more time. An hour later we had taken a left turn from the Mumbai-Goa highway and were heading into a jungle. We could see a few lights as we passed a small village and were not quite sure as to where our Farmhouse was. Quite frankly, we were a little lost and a bit scared too. We tried calling the farmhouse for directions but our cellphones were not within the mobile network. Finally, we saw another village and I went out to ask for directions. After another hour of hunting in the dark we saw a little board with directions for Pooja's Farm and we were relieved.
The sumptuous meal at the farm house was a perfect welcome for us. The cottage at the Farm priced at 1000 bucks per person for the night.seemed to be a little expensive. The huge window on the front in the cottage offered a beautiful view of a lake and we immediately knew that it was worth the effort and the money we were paying. The cottage was big enough to easily accommodate 5 people. Playing around with the long exposure photos from the camera spiked with some booze we were carrying made the experience of staying at this farm quite memorable.
The next day, we got up early and after enjoying an Omlette and Poha we headed out to the river. Kundalika is 12kms away from the farm and carries water from the dam. We met people from other groups who had come down from Pune. After the first few lessons on how to row forward and backward we were ready to hit the water. This was the first rafting experience for me and I was a little scared to start with. The flow in Kundalika is not the greatest and after a few initial tests we set sail. We were accompanied by our instructor who was guiding us on when to row forward or backward. We ran into our first rapid after a while. It didnt really turn out to be tough. On the way our instructor felt a little adventurous and decided that we should venture into the wild bushes and grab some Jamuns. This didnt really please the bees one bit as they attacked us. To avoid the sting we decided to jump off the raft into the water.
Going a little further, our instructor had plans to clean all the mess left from the bushes inside our raft. So, we met the next rapid head on and rowed further into the rapid filling our raft with water. This turned out to be quite an experience and a little scary for the people leading our raft. Now, we were all quite comfortable with the art of rafting and wanted to enjoy ourselves in the river. A few of us flung ourselves into the river and just floated around on our backs. We later realized that pulling ourselves back onto the raft is one hell of a task.
Finally, our expedition had come to an end and we, having made some friends on the raft, joined them for a drink afterwards. The Fenny offered to us by our new friends turned out to be quite smooth and we ended up licking it.
Back at the cottage, our meals were ready and we left for Mumbai after enjoying the delicacies. It turned out to be an experience I shall never forget and would certainly come back next time for some more adventure.
The sumptuous meal at the farm house was a perfect welcome for us. The cottage at the Farm priced at 1000 bucks per person for the night.seemed to be a little expensive. The huge window on the front in the cottage offered a beautiful view of a lake and we immediately knew that it was worth the effort and the money we were paying. The cottage was big enough to easily accommodate 5 people. Playing around with the long exposure photos from the camera spiked with some booze we were carrying made the experience of staying at this farm quite memorable.The next day, we got up early and after enjoying an Omlette and Poha we headed out to the river. Kundalika is 12kms away from the farm and carries water from the dam. We met people from other groups who had come down from Pune. After the first few lessons on how to row forward and backward we were ready to hit the water. This was the first rafting experience for me and I was a little scared to start with. The flow in Kundalika is not the greatest and after a few initial tests we set sail. We were accompanied by our instructor who was guiding us on when to row forward or backward. We ran into our first rapid after a while. It didnt really turn out to be tough. On the way our instructor felt a little adventurous and decided that we should venture into the wild bushes and grab some Jamuns. This didnt really please the bees one bit as they attacked us. To avoid the sting we decided to jump off the raft into the water.
Going a little further, our instructor had plans to clean all the mess left from the bushes inside our raft. So, we met the next rapid head on and rowed further into the rapid filling our raft with water. This turned out to be quite an experience and a little scary for the people leading our raft. Now, we were all quite comfortable with the art of rafting and wanted to enjoy ourselves in the river. A few of us flung ourselves into the river and just floated around on our backs. We later realized that pulling ourselves back onto the raft is one hell of a task.
Finally, our expedition had come to an end and we, having made some friends on the raft, joined them for a drink afterwards. The Fenny offered to us by our new friends turned out to be quite smooth and we ended up licking it.
Back at the cottage, our meals were ready and we left for Mumbai after enjoying the delicacies. It turned out to be an experience I shall never forget and would certainly come back next time for some more adventure.
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