Trekking in Dandeli May 17, 2006

Oookiee..Its almost time for my next trek (to Ooty!! Yayy) , so I thought I should get done with my Dandeli Trek "description" before I have other things to say!

I had gone trekking in Dandeli (which is around 11 hours from Bangalore) and whitewater raftingg in Kali River. *Yayyyy* When I started off(unlike the last time when we were a gang of four and "fun" started from the word go), I was a bit apprehensive about gettin bored et al..But believe me, I dont think Trekking can EVER bore you.Its got its charm and its freaking addicitive.

I walked close to 9 hours in a jungle with 11-12 other trekkers with a local guide who seemed to be lost himself .Plus it stretched well into "night" time and believe me , darkness and forest and rocks and streams – well, they dont agree TOO well with each other! Initially, we went over what seemed like a million streams , hopping and perching precariously on rocks, trying not to get ur shoes wet, but once that started slowing down our progess, we just waded through "stagnating" water not caring even if our jeans get drenched and little worms found their way into our socks! Right!! it is Ewwww The Highlight of the trek was undoubtedly spotting a 6-ft long python , which I didnt really "spot" for too long cuz I was (ahemm) busy pushing everyone off , getting as far away as possible and images of a snake family having dinner totally spurred me on . (Inevitably , when I got back from the trek, People got to hear about the 10 feet long "anaconda" that I encountered and bravely fought with ..ahemm againt! ) Walking with minimal lighting in a jungle leads to all sortsa things — getting poked with thorns and stones and roots and shoots and god knows wat — Twisting your ankle walking through all these weirdly shaped rocks — getting bitten by "Weaver Ants" and imagining their presence on your body even when you are a mile away from them — Tearing even those "tough" (or so you had thought) pair of jeans. When the 9 hour ordeal got over and we found civilization or atleast a "tar" road, I was lying flat on the middle of the road which actually felt like a soft bed.I was soo darn exhausted to move even to the horns of ongoing "traffic"..So that was Day 1. We reached back to our "guest houes" and I went and crashed straight onto a real bed

Day 2 was less strenuous. We were scheduled to have our Whitewater rafting session in the morning, but some political bigshots a.k.a VIPs managed to steal our slots , hence we ended up waiting for 4 hours. In the meantime, while waiting, I managed to fail pathetically in a carrom game, then tried to redeem myself In Table tennis which proved to be much better .. Success tastes soo sweeet . Finally we got to our Kali river rafting starting point. We were given instructions and life jackets and helmets and an oar! So off we went into the not-soo-white but exciting nevertheless, water — learning to row a boat , swimming and thrashing around in the water trying to save yourself from drowning even with life-jackets, ducking when the rapids got the better of us, trying to race with the other rafters !! On the whole, an Amazing experience !!Sigh Is this Heaven OR IS THIS HEAVEN! Can't wait to go for my next trek..

Check out some more PICS from Kavitha's album here

And THIS is my album
Oh and Herez that 15 ft long anaconda I was talking it ( Notice how the snake keeps growing?? Strange huh Haha)

Aaah Kidding ..herez the REAL one

 And NO thats not Just the skin!
Herez another shot of a Scaryy pythonnn

Hehe..Ciaoo