bheemeshwari - River Rafting

Riding the Rapids: My First River Rafting Adventure at Bheemeshwari

Finally, I got the chance to try river rafting! Anitha, Dad, and I decided on this trip to Bheemeshwari just the night before, around 10:00 PM on October 31, 2009. Nothing was certain, as we hadn't registered in advance. I called CARE India (Out-door adventurers), and they were incredibly helpful, assuring us we could come and would get to raft.

The challenge was that I hadn't met anyone from CARE before, and there's no cell coverage at Bheemeshwari. So, contacting them if we arrived on our own would be impossible. Parmesh, the CARE coordinator for the event, agreed to meet us before 6:00 AM on November 1st so he could provide directions. He called late that night and arranged a meeting point in Jayanagar.

On the day of the activity, we left home around 6:15 AM and reached Jayanagar by 6:30 AM. We met Parmesh, paid the Rs. 3,000 (Rs. 1,000 per person), and set off for Bheemeshwari in our Maruti Alto. I planned to have breakfast in Kanakapura, remembering a good spot from a previous trek, but to our bad luck, the hotel was closed. We continued to Sathanur, where we found a small roadside shop. We stopped there for breakfast: three plates of thatte idlys and two teas, costing a surprising Rs. 27 only!

After our quick stop, we continued to Bheemeshwari, also known as Cauvery Fishing Camp. Upon arrival, we headed to the office and spoke to Mr. Siddaraju. We filled out forms and were asked to wait. All four rafts had to launch together, which meant a long wait from 9:30 AM to 11:20 AM. We explored the camp and had some fun while waiting.

Once all 22 of us (six per raft, so four rafts in total) were ready, we strapped on our life jackets and put on our helmets. After a few pictures, we handed our cameras to the instructor, who secured everyone's belongings in a waterproof bag. Following basic lessons on rafting, paddling, and emergency procedures, we embarked on our 8 km rafting trip, which included about five rapids. Since we went in late October/early November, the monsoon rains had stopped, and the rafting season was winding down, so the rapids weren't very intense. The maximum rapids here are Grade 2 and Grade 2+. Our instructors were from Rishikesh.

We had a great time paddling through the small rapids, and best of all, every single one of us jumped into the river! Confident in our life jackets, we floated downstream alongside the raft, enjoying the cool water and trying to swim. After a while, we climbed back into the raft. After another rapid or two, we completed the 8 km stretch. Jeeps were waiting to take us back to the base camp, which we reached by 2:00 PM. We then enjoyed a fantastic lunch, which was included in the Rs. 1,000 fee. That was it! We bid goodbye to the others and headed home, reaching by 5:00 PM.