White water River Rafting at Barapole, Coorg

A team of about 50 packed snacks and gears and set out for a 5 hour drive to Barapole, south coorg. The event was part of a one day adventure outing for the employees of Honeywell, Bangalore. The event itself was divided into two parts. A 150 metre long river crossing exercise followed by the white water rafting.

River crossing was conducted over a running river stream over a rope stretched for about 150 meters, tied strongly against two trees at each end. We were padded with gears and tied to the rope from our waist. Crossing was a good warmup we thought. The excitement was not much since, the rope itself was tied as a slop to the other end. This meant that, we would not have to do much to do the crossing, just drifting along the slant meant we would reach the other end anyways. But nevertheless it was a good start to the exciting end of the day we were about to witness.

Next, we were taken to the river bed, it was about 30 minute drive to the Barapole. Clear instructions were given by the organisers, Ace paddlers, on how the rafting would be conducted. The package considered the fact that, none of us have done river rafting before. Teams were divided into batches of 4 5 or 6. Each raft had one coach.

Once we all settled into our respective rafts, each of our Coach gave us a crash course on the commands , viz - forward, back paddle, left forward and the right backs! The practise session went for about 15 minnutes before we actually started the raft ride!

It was a thrilling experience rafting our way through the currents, hitting the rocks. We were allowed to get into the water with our life jackets on. And for most non-swimmers(including me), it was a exciting experience being afloat. We had 3 rapids , the last one was arguably the best of the three and that was when we reached our end of the raft.

Overall a wonderful day out and for an adventure enthusiastic crowd like ours.