Ashish KumarKolad is well known for its waterfall,rugged topography ,rocky mountain and all the above lies Kolad river rafting .Also , to my surprise , this place is known as the adventure capital of Maharashtra. Kolad lies on the bank of river Kundalika and is a great weekend gateway for both Mumbai and Pune residence. Kolad is also a perfect nature retreat,rejuvenate yourself in the lap of nature. It was already in the bucket list of mine for a couple year since I heard about it.
Finally in the month of Feb, my college friend rang me and told tomorrow morning be ready we are heading toward Kolad to indulge into the river rafting and camping for this weekend. My Trip mate appeared as I moved out of Kharghar station ,Danish, Neeraj , Rajan and Shikha .After having some snack we started our journey around 11 a.m. and we had to cover 120 kilometer to reach the destination.As we were already late as per the schedule plan we decide to fueled our vehicle on the way and took NH 48 mainly known as Mumbai -Pune Expressway .Once we were off the highway the journey become more adventurous and exciting as we crossed off ramp,narrow lanes , under construction road and maze .On long way we couldn’t find single Gasoline and dhaba ,at same time fuel indicator was also indicating E (empty symbol) and we were starving out of hunger. But our friend on the driver seat “Neeraj” kept on saying “Ek aadh kilometer ke batah hai sab mil jaayega”. Finally in Pali our vehicle got fueled up but we will still starving out of hungry.Finally after travelling around 15 km we found road side motel to satisfied our hunger.
Around 4 pm we reached Kolad village.Having number of option we had to travel few kilometer from the village to find our accommodation. After checking out 2-3 farm house we choose DM Farms.It provide a rustic village atmosphere with number of trees , fresh air away from pollution.It also had paddling pool for relaxing and big play ground which help you to connect our childhood memories games.
Once we checked in our tent we directly rushed into the ground to enjoy the game of cricket , followed by volleyball and badminton. In the night we had the bonfire ,loud music ,dance and barbeque.
Next morning post our breakfast we headed toward the starting point of river rafting .The source of Kundalika River is from Tamhini Ghat and it flows through Kolad village and is a perfect place for rafting for amateurs.This rafting activity is conducted between two dams which are about 12 km apart.
Once the water was released from dam one instructor was assigned to the group.After a brief training and instruction , the instructor asked us how many of us where doing it for the first time. Except Rajan all of us raised the hand .The instructor bust into laughter and said ” First time no need to worry, just enjoy the ride”.
Here goes my take! Our ride started with our instructor instruction move forward, “Forward, Forward”.While navigating through the rapid it is important that everyone work in unison in order to maintain stability. The raft moved explicitly well when all 8 and our instructor 9th one paddle in the sync. When there was more or less effort from one side raft changes it direction and move sideline. Raft made us realize what actually team work means.
There were time when we stopped paddling and went ahead where the river current took us.Also our instructor told to stop paddling while navigating through the rapid. Our instructor shouted calm yourself ,rapid will pass .While rafting almost all except Rajan,Shikha were fallen out of raft when ever the rapid arrived. Later before reach the end point instruction made all of us to jump out of raft . Finally after rafting for almost 2 hour we reached the end point.
For my experience i can say Kolad rafting was indeed a very thrilling and satisfying experience .One of the most Amazing thing or sport activity i had done in my life. A thrilling experience when you face the real power of water in various level of rapid.
