River Rafting - Agumbe    map: Sringeri, near Agumbe

Monsoons are back.. Sun takes long days off.. Some say, it's all gloomy.. For some, it's the season of Romance.. But we decided to sync with the moods of the rain.. have some splashy outing.. What better way, to hit it out and get wet, than to go rafting in the rivers gushing down the Ghats with Monsoon menace ? Ozone offers 2-day rafting near Agumbe and Sringeri, in the Western Ghats, reachable by overnight journey from Bangalore. Ozone arranges transportation.. and charged 1700 bucks, all inclusive.. On that wet friday night, we set off from Bangalore.. colleagues Prateek, Sharad, Ajay, Ravi, Ashwin et al..

First day, there was a bit of swimming and training... to fight the challenges of Seetha (the river), manoeuvering the raft, rowing tips, jumping into small rapids and floating safely.. and some 3-4 kms of rafting.

Food was good.. arranged at a small and only hotel of the village.. and we slept on foam mats on the floor of a shanty on the river bank.

By 8 next morning, we guys, a dozen of us, set forth on a downstream voyage. Half an hour thru the meandering waters flanked by thickly wooded banks.., the raft, after banging on a rock in the middle, threw two guys into the water.. their oars also came off the secure rope and were out, floating..

suddenly it felt like a semi-panic situation since the flow had considerable force and was very difficult to manoeuvre.. Operation Rescue followed for the next 15 minutes.. the guys who got thrown out went off the main course of flow, towards the banks.. to fetch their oars.. while trying to get them back into the raft, the raft got stuck in a patch of thick undergrowth of shrubs from the riverbed. Though the guys got back, it took more than 45 minutes and all our energy and strategies to get the raft back onto the main flow from the obstacles.. The currents of monsoon season made it all the more difficult and tricky to manoeuvre..

We had heard stories last night, of previous experiences of Ozone guys.. on one occassion the raft had completely overturned, dumping every one into cold currents.. and one girl panicked, yelling for dear life, clinging on to one guy's neck, making him go down and gulp gallons.. and once, rafting was aborted halfway thru.. when it similarly dumped all and floated off after hitting rough waters.. they finally found the raft 6km downstream..

Later on we reached some rapids and it was pure thrill untill we started hearing the threatening sound of violent waters somewhere downstream.. we grew apprehensive.. But our 'Captain', Raja of Ozone, the instructor directed us to divert into shallow calm waters thru a rocky patch.. all got down, and we carried the raft down the rocks.. to the base of the Falls !..

We were avoiding the Falls.. It was just about 5 meters.. but Power.. and Fury of the deafening white waters.. made us all silent and we just stood there and admired it for sometime.. then our Captain gave us a choice..

either get into the raft and sit thru the following rapids.. or.. just jump into it and float for half a mile.. but for that need to make sure that you always face downstream direction and keep legs stretched in front.. so that you won't bang the head somewhere.. Ooh.. that'd be an XPERIENCE.. I didn't think twice to decide..

Five of us took the plunge.. Uh.. that was Real Thrill.. yelling full throat.. feeling The Pace and The Power.. transporting you to Higher Levels.. floating with the foams and wavy waters.. Heading into an eddy and losing sense of direction.. slowly it all calmed down.. and I got control.. but the hang-over of it all lingered much longer..

Climbed onto the raft again and rowing and rowing and rowing.. after 6 hrs and more than 30 kms downstream, we wound up the Wondrous Voyage.