After being told by our rafting instructor that we were about to raft in a river which had crocodiles in it, I was astonished. It had been just seconds ago that we were left in the river with life jackets on so that we don’y panic in case on of us falls out in the river while rafting.
But the instructor told us that the crocodiles were ‘vegetarian’ and had not harmed any humans in the river till now. And now with the proud feeling of having ‘swam’ in a river infested with crocodiles I rowed along with the others towards the first of the six rapids in the river. Rapids are caused due to obstruction in the downstream flow of the river creating a miniature water fall. The first rapid was enormous. It flung us with the water flow and we were all drenched in seconds
The next 6 or so rapids brought the navy seals out of us ! A few on the other boat fell into the water only to return back and row further. It was a memorable 1.5 hour journey through the river. We rowed through narrow tunnels formed by dense bushes that made an arc like structure over the water. I was in love with nature and being a rafting instructor felt like the best job in the world. Away from the busy streets and the polluted cities right in the heart of the nature, this experience was really breathtaking. We rowed through all the rapids and were asking for more at the end of the activity. But we had to return back to the guest house as we were leaving back to Goa on the same evening.
It was Holi that day. Once we reached Dandeli Nisarga we revealed the Holi colors that some of us had smuggled without the others knowledge. We emptied the colors on each other. RGB was everywhere, on shirts and on faces. The threads of colors weaved themselves through the crisp afternoon air. After a refreshing bath and a superb lunch, the soothing weather laid everyone off to sleep. As the evening started blending with the late afternoon we packed up for our journey back home. We then left the wilderness behind as our vehicle drove over the muddy roads through the jungle. It took an hour less on the way back to Goa from Dandeli.
With pleasant memories we woke up the next morning and met each other at work to discuss the amazing trip. Truly, nature has its own creations which man will never be able to create.