Dandeli - The rafting tale!

Dandeli is located in North Karnataka in the western ghat region and is very popular for rafting in Southern part of India.

For me this was a random plan as my office friends were planning to go for this trip and I had decided I wont as I had my Spanish exam but seeing the excitement in office for the trip, I finally decided to postpone my exam.

We rented a tempo traveller and set our journey late in the night around 10 o' clock from Bangalore Whitefield. The expectation that you could catch on some sleep during the night was definitely just an expectation cause within 15 minutes of our journey we had loud music playing and in the middle of the bus, there were 10 people standing and dancing. Even though we were falling on top of each other, it was a great fun. Specially, because we had our DJ Ananya who was just great with all her collections of Hindi, English, Punjabi and what not.

After few hours of dancing and going crazy, we slowly started drifting into sleep. In the morning we reached Dandeli where we had booked Kingfisher jungle resort.

#Stay
Kingfisher jungle resorts
Unlike the review comments on trip advisor ,the place was below average. The rooms were not very clean. The food was average. The activities which have been mentioned are at a much smaller scale and not all the activities are there which have been mentioned in trip advisor. More than anything else, the owner was not at all friendly. As we were a large group with inquisitive people, we wanted to know what all we can do in 2 days and he very cunningly told that we are coming again and again and disturbing him.

#Food
The food at kingfisher resorts was average. Morning there was Upma, Dosa, Bread, Butter Jam
For lunch and dinner there was dal, roti, sabji, egg curry etc.
The stay and 3 meals were for 1700 per person per night including activities in the resort and Jacuzzi bath and river boating.

#Activities in Kingfisher resort
Lake crossing: This was the most interesting of all and finally Subashish, I and Deepak in that order could do it ;)

Zipping: Zipping over the man made lake was interesting and fun

Kayaking: They have 2-3 Kayak available and you can do kayaking in the lake

Slide: There is a small slide and yet again it was fun to fall into water without holding hands

Above all was fun except the issue that the water in the lake is not clean at all though the helpers in the resort , Abhishek and Janarthan were really nice and helpful.

#Activities in Dandeli
Supa Dam: You can visit Supa dam which is an interesting site but as we had only the weekend we couldn't visit the dam.

Syntheri rocks: This a huge rock with a small waterfall. Interestingly they have also given a lot of information about different kinds of rocks that are available around the place and it was interesting to read them

Syntheri Rocks

Trek to Syntheri rocks

Entrance of Syntheri rocks

Different types of rocks and information about them

The Gang!

Dandeli wildlife sanctuary; There is a safari available in Dandeli wildlife sanctuary. If you are lucky you can spot a black panther though we didn't have time for this one

White water rafting in Kali river: This is the main attraction of the place.It was 500 INR per person for this one rapid. As I recently did rafting in Rishikesh so I can easily compare the two.

First the Rishikesh is much longer than Kali river. Rishikesh has around 7-8 ripples of different level. Kali river had only one though it was huge so the rafting guys took us in the same ripple 2-3 times.

As there was Kayak festival going on so the Supa dam was opened and there was lot of water in the Kali river otherwise the rafting company told, you might not find so much water in general which means the ripple wont be so much fun as it was in our case :D

Kali River

The gang left for rafting

We in our raft

In the water when we went for boating

Jacuzzi in Kali river: This was amazing as there was very strong water current and with friends this was the best part of the whole trip

Jacuzzi and the gang

Our Netaji! 

Madness in Jacuzzi

This was awesome!

The rafting company in Kali river was less professional compared to Red Chilli in Rishikesh and well it still makes me puke but the safety equipment with the company in Kali river were disgustingly dirty. If you are cleanliness freak, you would simply hate to wear those safety equipment.

As we stayed with Kingfisher resort,for us Jacuzzi and river boating were part of the package. otherwise Jacuzzi is 250 INR, the river crossing is 350 INR. Most of the activities were in the range of 250-350 INR.

Over all it was a great trip over a weekend because all my crazy friends were there who didn't let a minute go by without dancing, laughing, talking and teasing. And yes special thanks to Dalbir (Dalbir hamara Neta hai :)),as I decided to join the gang last minute and because of which he had to sit in front with the driver :(

Roopkund - Easy or Difficult?

Trip Itinerary -> Bangalore - Delhi -Haldwani - Wan Village - Bedni Bugyal - Bhagwabasa  -Roopkund - Bedni Buygal- WAN- Karanprayag - Rishikesh - Delhi- Bangalore

Finally the bandh on my travel for year 2017 came to an end with my trip to Roopkund trek. After my chadar trek got cancelled in the month of Feb my frustration was multiple folds and hence the desire to hike too ;)

This plan came alive just randomly when I was discussing with Dhivakar where shall we go? I suggested Gaumukh, then we discussed Mana pass, sach pass. None of these options were working out at this time of the year and then came the idea of Roopkund and we both agreed to it together.

Next few days went in planning, booking tickets and buying lots of trekking stuff. Decathlon in my opinion is one stop shop for all your needs. The quality of things is great but at the same time the prices are great too :).

And then we set on our journey.

The best part of this trip was that it was a perfect amalgamation of biking for 4 days, hiking for 4 days and rafting in Ganges at Rishikesh. The rafting at the end, ended the trip in perfect harmony.

Notes before I give you the details of the complete trek
1) This trek can be done without guide for sure. In case, you are planning to do this trip in month of May , you must carry crampons or else rent them in Bhagwabasa .
2) In my opinion, trek to Begni budyal was difficult hence carrying your own luggage could be quite difficult, though we saw many people carrying their own luggage. My suggestion in that case would be to pack light! :)
3) If at all you want to eat Dimox, eat it before the start of the trip
4) No need to carry food as you get food at every stop over though it would be a good idea to carry energy bars
5) In case you are travelling individually, tent is a must have
6)Water is available at the major stops except while coming from WAN to Bedni Bugyal where you have water sources on the way also.

#Delhi - Bikes on rent - Joga motors
We rented our bikes from Joga motors, Karol bagh and I can totally vouch for their bikes. It was a soothing sail for us with the bikes. If you are looking to rent for bikes in Delhi , go nowhere else except for Joga motors.
Rent per day : Electra : 900 INR ; Thunder bird : 1000 INR.

Call : +919873224443, Amrita

Our awesome bikes

#Delhi - Haldwani
After getting the carrier on Dhivakar's bike, tying our luggage to bikes and filling petrol, we left for Haldwani. The road to Haldwani is pretty good with most of it NH highways. We stopped at multiple places on the way to take breaks, have coffee, clean the smog from our faces and rest our bums!

#Stay
As always we reached Haldwani late in the night hence we took the first hotel that came our way. We stayed in hotel SV for 1000 INR per night.

SV hotel Haldwani

#Food
We ate in the hotel itself and the food was decent. The dinner for 2 was less than 500 INR

As Haldwani was a stop over for night for us, we didn't explore any place in Haldwani and started for WAN village right in the morning.

#Haldwani - WAN village
As we planned to start our trek from WAN village hence we rode all the way to WAN. The road from Haldwani is mountainous and is a beautiful sight. By the 7 pm in the evening , we reached Lohajung from where lot of people start their Roopkund trek as well.

On the way to WAN

Breathtaking view enroute to WAN

#Stay
There are few hotels available in WAN but we got a room in Paras hotel. Actually we slept over in the staff room of the hotel owner as there was no room available and we were late. Per night charges for the room was 600 INR.

#Food
Paras hotel gave us rice , chapati, dal for dinner and boiled eggs, tea and bun omelette for breakfast.
If you are a big fan of tea like me, then you will have no problem at all for tea on this trek. The dinner was 120 INR per person and breakfast was 60 INR per person.

Bun omelette

At WAN you have to decide if you want Pony, guide or porter. As this is the main business in the peak season, you will see many local people swamping around. The porter costs 1500 INR per day, the mule costs 500 INR per day. If you want you can take the guide for the complete trip and they will cook, carry your luggage, put tents for you. So you basically in that case have to just carry yourself :) for as much as 25000 for 3 people.

Even though I completely understand that guiding, porter etc. are the way to make money for local people at WAN. I felt, that some of the people were lying to us and were moulding the information like at one point they said trek is not possible without guide, then they said they dont have porter then we found the porter , he told he will drop half the way but will take full money.Finally, with too many frustrations and confusions , we decided to carry our own luggage which in a matter of few minutes changed :D

#WAN - Gharoli Patal - Bedni Bugyal
We started  hiking from WAN village. Though in few meters, I had the realisation that I  have vouched for something really really difficult. Already the steepness just at the start itself was huge and on top of it, we had heavy bags on our backs.

On the way to Gharoli Patal

On the way to Bedni bugyal

The forest through which we hiked

Luckily, we met Rakesh on the way, who was grazing his mules in the mountains and he agreed to drop our bags upto his home for no money. This kilometre of walk made me realise that it definitely is a good idea that I do the trek without carrying my luggage.

Our luggage! Thanks to Rakesh and the mule

Once we reached Rakesh's house, we requested him to drop our luggage to Bedni Bugyal and he agreed for the same for 500 INR. He mentioned that he will drop our luggage at Uday's hut. From my point of view, the hike to Bedni bugyal was the most difficult one , may be because my muscles were still warming up :p ;).

After almost 1-2 Km, you will reach to a place where you can take break, get tea, water, maggi etc. but also there will be forest department people who will make an entry for the people, guide etc. The charges are based on number of people, guide, porter , mule , number of days, if you are going to put a tent or not etc. With all this our total amount came to be 720 INR.

On the way , with a beautiful view and the river

This part of the trek was mostly in the forest. After few km of walking, we reached to Gharoli patal. here we took a break, ate biscuits, fed some dogs, had a nice cup of tea with ginger. Here there was a stop over for India hike group.

At Gharoli patal

After a break of 1/2 an hour or so , we continued to Bedni Bugyal. This part was still steep and into the mountains. And then our world becomes green suddenly as to the complete contrast of the forest we had huge grass meadows. And the contrast of mountains and the green meadows at this points made the whole effort completely worthwhile.

Bedni Bugyal in view

Here we got our luggage at Uday's dhaba. We had reached on time because within 2 hours of our reaching , it started pouring heavily.We set our beautiful tent. Had tea at Uday's dhaba and eat yummy hot dinner of roti, sabji, dal.

Awesome view at Bedni Bugyal

#Stay
We set our own tent, but if there are not too many people then Uday gives his tents for free to stay in. There are 3 tin oval structures but those were accessible to people from TTH, India hikes or some people who had come with the guide.

And the side view

The interesting part was that in the night with heavy rains, most of the people's tents broke out but ours was super strong and kept us safe in the cold of the night :). So if you have to go for a tent get a quechua one and put all your nails at a 45 degree angle.

#Food
We carried our own MTR food so at lot of times we ate it but here in Bedni Bugyal you can easily get food at Uday's dhaba.
In the morning, we also had bun omelette in the morning and some boiled eggs.

Bedni Bugyal - Pathar Nachni - Kalu Vinayak - Bhagwabasa 

After our break fast, we left for Pathar Nachni. This road is alot more easier. There are some steep patches but most of it is easy. You also reach to a point before Pathar Nachni which has an awesome view and a small temple kind of structure.

On the way some structure where we kept stone on this structure

View of Bedni Bugyal when we left for Pathar Nachni

Generally people stay at Pathar nachni to acclimatise themselves  but we just took a break here, had boiled,eggs, MTR ready to cook dal makhani, rice and tea and left for Kalu vinayak.

At pathar nachni

Enroute to Pathar nachni

Boiled eggs at Pathar nachni

After Pathar Nachni the road is very steep to Kalu Vinayak. Here I had some crazy idea to take short cuts and hence we actually cut through mountains and reached on top. My sincere advice would be dont try such stunts because by the time we reached on the top, we were panting for breath and already we were walking faster and this difficulty added to lack of oxygen in our body.

A stop over before Pathar nachni

At Kalu Vinayak, there is a Ganesha temple and 2 shops for tea, maggi and egg buns. Here we stayed for a while and continued to Bhagwabasa. The road to Bhagwabasa from Kalu vinayak is pretty straight but the view is breath taking.

Shop at Kalu Vinayak

Our path is very clear to us 

Kalu Vinayak temple

The stunning view from kalu vinayak

Note:
Once I reached Bhagwabasa I already had a pang of AMS (Acute mountain sickness). My head felt heavy and it was paining. I took rest for few hours but still no luck. When I still didn't feel better even after the rest, I started panicking because I was in wild  with nothing to my rescue and at the sametime I was very very close to my final destination. Thanks to Dhivakar for being there and being very patient and helpful and thanks to TTH to let us check our oxygen level in Oxymeter.

After discussing with TTH guys, I kept drinking water with electrolyte slowly sip by sip , ate a little and slept and luckily when I woke up in the morning, I was absolutely fine :).

#Stay

You can either stay in Pathar Nachni in tents as there are some grass meadows or you can stay in Bhagwabasa though the land is more rocky in Bhagwabasa .

Tents at Pathar nachni

Tents at Bhagwabasa

We didnt put our tent here and instead stayed in the tent of the guy who has his dhaba there for 200 INR per night.

TTH had their people there and they had set up the toilets otherwise going to loo etc. could be a little issue specially for women as most of the place is flat and its kind of difficult to find a deserted place for your nature's call

#Food
Thanks to Dhaba guy, he gave us tea, maggi and roti and lady finger in the night. In the morning at as early as 5 am he gave us tea as well.

Bhagwabasa - Roopkund 

This was the most amazing part of the whole trek and at the same time equally or more scary cause of steepness and the snow. We rented crampons to walk in snow for 500 INR for a pair per person and as I had AMS in the night so we also took a guide for 500 INR just to be on the safer side.

The walk was amazing. We had to be very careful as slight distraction made us fall and at some places the fall was quite scary. I also made sure that I keep drinking water on the way and walk slowly and acclimatise my body.

AND, finally we reached. The mountains, the lake, the temple and the blue sky....Everything added onto each others beauty. When we reached on top, TTH folks were already there so there was lot of noise and chirping around. After sometime when they left and there was the quietness of the nature, was when my mind , body and heart were in sync...After a long long time!

Even though snow was there, we saw some of the bones for which Roopkund is popular. At this time the lake was frozen,serene and calm. The walk around the lake at this time is not advisable as the ice can break anytime anywhere

Temple at Roopkund

Do I need to say anything

Roopkund for you

Roopkund with the bones in view

Our crampons

Roopkund - Junar gali

During summer you can go further to Junar gali which is 0.5 km from Roopkund but at the time when we were there because of snow it was closed and as I had suffered from AMS last night, I didn't want to take chances, though if it was open I would have taken the chance ;) ;)

Finally after spending an hour or so, we started back and in 1-2 hours, came back to Bhagwabasa. We packed our luggage and left after breakfast.

Roopkund - Bedni Bugyal

Using the same route, we descended all the way to Bedni Bugyal and I must say it was super tiring. By the time we reached Bedni Bugyal, it had started raining and we couldn't set up our tent. As there were too many groups who were staying at Bedni Bugyal, Uday's tent was also not available.

Tents at Pathar nachni

A group named Crazy pics offered us their extra tent. Unfortunately it was too small for Dhivakar and I with the luggage hence once the rain stopped we set up our tents.

Uday got us yummy dal, roti, chawal and sabji. I hogged onto it and crashed in my sleeping bag immediately.


Bedni Bugyal - Wan - Karan Prayag

Next day, we left all the way from Bedni bugyal to WAN village with stop at Gharoli patal in between. Finally when we reached WAN , I realized that I have lost Dhivakar's bikes keys :p ;) ...Neah not really , I had misplaced them. Luckily and thank god for it, we got the keys somewhere hanging in my camera bag. :)

After a sumptuous lunch, we started for  Rishikesh.

At Gharoli patal

En route while returning

Our path!

Here a young lad Sonaksh also joined us as he had to cut short his trek due to a severe cramp in his leg. He was a pilion to Dhivakar and hat's off to Dhivakar to ride in that terrain with his and my luggage and Sonaksh as pillion rider!

On the way, Blacky (we named him) joined us for the trek and came with us till WAN village. Once we left WAN village for almost 1/2 the way to Lohajung he kept following us :(. With the heavy heart we had to shoo him away.

Blacky!!

The plan was to reach Srinagar but we could only manage to reach Karan prayag.

Note: From Bedni Bugyal there is another route which takes you to Ali Bugyal though its longer but less steeper. But once you reach at Didna village you have to wait for shared jeeps to take you to Lohajung and as our bikes were in WAN village we chose the other path.

#Stay at Karanprayag

Due to char dham season, there were not many rooms available. Finally we got a room in a hotel named Hotel Geeta for 1200 INR.

#Food
There are many places available in Karan prayag where you can get good fresh north indian food. We ate at a local restaurant a meal for 3 for 500 INR

Food at Karan prayag

#Places to visit
In karanprayag there are few temples to visit but our plan was to reach Rishikesh so we woke up and immediately started for Rishikesh

Karanprayag - Rishikesh

The road from Haldwani to WAN is alot better than the roads on this route though a mountain road which has some adventure to offer to a biker are always more welcome ;).

#Stay at Rishikesh

There are many home stays available for 500 INR.

Zostel has dormitories for cheap prices available but you have to book them in advance as they are mostly booked

There also options to camp next to Ganges river for price of 1500-2000 INR

#Food at Rishikesh
Yet again there are many local food joints available where you can eat. Mostly as this place is holy , you will find vegetarian food.

#Places to visit

Laxman Jhoola : Its a iron jhoola built over Ganges. Interesting part is the bikes can go over it though. We took our bike on the bridge though it was not interesting as there were plethora of people on

Ram Jhoola: This is also another suspension bridge over Ganges

Temples: There are many temples located there. We didn't visit any of the temples.

Walk on the busy promenade: It would be fun and you could buy some random abstract, clothes and jewellery. Some of the places you can also find nice souvenirs

#Things to do
Rafting: Rafting in Rishikesh is a business and hence you will find shops at every nook and corner and the rafting options ranging from as much as 450 to 1200 INR. This could be very confusing as a novice cant figure out the differences.
Let me try to give you some heads up on this. Rafting is an adventure sport with its chances of  danger. Choose someone for whom safety is of the prime importance compared to anything else.

Another thing to confuse you will be 16km from Shiv puri or 26km from Marine drive. My sincere suggestion will be to take 26km from Marine drive to really get the feel of rafting.

With safety as our primary concern, we chose Red chilli who charges 1200 INR per person and does 26 km rafting. They give due importance to safety and also carries a safety Kayak for quick action in case of any mis happening.

Ganges calling us! 

Ready for the adventure!

Bungee jumping: Flying fox does bungee jumping in Rishikesh and is known for it with all safety measures taken though I have not yet done in Rishikesh

Zipping: Zipping over Ganges. As I have not done zipping in Rishikesh, I am not sure of the quality but flying fox does it and they are pretty good as I have done it in Neem Rana

Yoga: Well Rishikesh is the place to be, if you love yoga. You have many options for different forms of yoga. There are drop in classes or long term courses available if you are looking at becoming an instructor!

Cliff jumping: As part of our rafting, Red chilli also made us do cliff jumping. It seemed easy but when I was out there on the rock to jump, my legs were shivering but as they say, all's well that ends well, when I finally jumped, it was amazing! There is always that smile at the end of that fear :)

Rishikesh-New Delhi

As we were tired with being in water for quite long with Rafting, we thought we will stay at Meerut but then we pushed ourselves and finally reached Delhi where we ended our awesome trip which was Biking for 4 days, hiking for 4 days, river rafting , cliff jumping, lot of fun and awesome memories to cherish for a lifetime :).

Love of my life! Bullets! 

References and Note of thanks!

Thanks to Trek the Himalayas to let us use their toilet and let us use their oxymeter

Thanks to http://www.solobackpacker.com/2013/11/03/roopkund-lake-trek-1-general-information/
we got lot of information of our trip at this link though some of the information about food has now changed in years.