Saris and Elephants

With a due sense of apprehension, I left Mumbai for a weekend in the river with 5 of my colleagues. After breakfast at The Park, we drove on, through the monsoon rains, to Kolad. A small sign on the side of the road showed us where to park our car and catch a boat across the fast flowing river to our home for the weekend.

When we arrived we were greeted by Jehan and Samar, our guides for the weekend, who also instigated the song of the trip; ‘bana-na-na-na-na’ (to the tune of Frere Jacques) once they learnt my nickname!

Once we had settled into ‘Rose Cottage’ it was time to try our hands at river crossing. This involved hanging on for dear life to a rope while pulling yourself across the raging rapids in 20 feet of water. The current was so strong in places that the rope was shaking and two of our group were swept under the rope just by loosening their grip for a moment. Safely back on dry land, soaked to the skin from the river and the rain, with aching stomachs from holding ourselves upright and laughing so hard, it was time for a delicious lunch and sugary chai.

Before we had completely dried off we were told we were going to spend the afternoon relaxing in the Jacuzzi, however, this was a Jacuzzi with a difference. A short walk upstream led us to a sheltered section of the river where the water swirled to form a ‘cold-tub’! Here you could float round in circles just by taking your feet off the ground. After relaxing in the eddying water we took it in turns to float down the river on a body board, relying only on the current to steer us. This was great fun, and anyone watching from the side of the road must have though we were insane. We finished the afternoon getting to grips with kayaking, before changing into dry clothes and turning our hand to cooking dinner.

However, our day didn’t end here. After dinner we went in search of crabs, snakes and other creepy crawlies on a night hike, armed with torches, raincoats and stylish umbrella hats (ahem!).

Muddy, soggy but happy, we returned to our presidential suite of the camp to enjoy our warm champagne and laugh about the day.

Sunday morning started early, although most of us hadn’t slept much in between fending off the mozzies and scratching all our bites! We had hoped to go white water rafting, but a night of heavy rainfall meant that it was unsafe. So, after a tasty breakfast of uttapam (a type of rice pancake) we packed up our bags and drove to a small village nearby. From here we trekked up hill through gorgeous scenery and over slippery terrain to the top of an impressive waterfall. Here we relaxed on the rocks, some of the braver among us relaxed in the waterfall, and watched the locals playing games of football and taking a monsoon shower.

All too soon our weekend with nature came to an end and we were driving back towards Mumbai, planning our next trip before we even reached the city!