Rishikesh, known as the gateway to the Himalayas is the starting point for the Char Dham pilgrimage — Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri & Yamunotri. An Indian magazine calls it ‘Rapid ride to Nirvana’ and you know it’s true when one out of ten people you see in Rishikesh are sadhus, pilgrims, people in saffron chanting and telling beads with the music of the temple bells in the background.
Apart from its religious and spiritual appeal, the adventurous facet of Rishikesh has gained popularity with numerous adventure clubs offering packages complete with rafting, cliff jumping, beach volley ball, rappelling and trekking of varying degrees of difficulty. It’s a happy co-existence of the traditional religion and youthful adventure & sports.
My visit to Rishikesh in the last week of April was an ‘adventurous’ one and so I will defer writing about the religious aspect till my next visit there.
After an early morning drive from Delhi we arrived at Rishikesh and checked into a camp situated on the sandy banks of the Ganges at Shivpuri.
We were put up in Safari tents well furnished with proper beds with clean Sheets, mattresses and blankets
After lunch we were taken for a 10 km drive to Marine Drive from where we returned to Rishikesh rafting the entire stretch through rapids like Three Blind Mice, and Crossfire. In the middle of the rapids you almost feel that you’ll be thrown out of the raft and every time we maneuvered through a rapid amidst screams, laughter, the roar of the waves and the instructions of the guide we cheered ourselves for the tough task we had performed
The rapids are given names and grades depending on the degree of difficulty. Most Camps cover rapids like Sweet Sixteen (Grade-1), Marine Drive (Grade-2), Three Blind Mice (Grade-3), Cross Fire (Grade-3), Roller Coaster (Grade-4) and Golf Course (Grade-4). Grade 4 rapids are undertaken depending upon the age & expertise of the rafter and the decision of the river guide
The rafting guides allow you to take a dip mid-stream. After watching non-swimmers in the raft take a dive, I cast my fears aside and plunged into the freezing waters. Though the temperature outside must have been 35 degrees the water was almost 5 degrees. It was an awesome experience to float on the waters (holding onto the sides of the raft of course) and gaze at the whole dome of the sky.
After a wholesome breakfast at the camp the next day, we rafted the 16 km from Shivpuri to Rishikesh at a leisurely pace, and crossed rapids named Return to the Sender, Roller Coaster, Golf Course, Clubhouse, etc. On the way we stopped for cliff jumping from a 25 ft high cliff. It’s surely an adrenaline pumping adventure and a spectator can make his watch worthwhile by recording the different pitches and decibels of screams let out by people in mid-air.
After returning to the camp we had a bonfire while groups played music and danced merrily around the fire. While having a sumptuous dinner by the riverside I watched the river ribboning through the hills and absorbed the sound the waves crashing against the rocks. After literally testing the waters of the Ganges I came back with a feeling of being overwhelmed by the antithesis that the river personifies- of immense power and calm, of the fieriness and serenity and of providing ‘Nirvana’ for the body and soul…
