For all as long as I have known I’ve had a bit of an adventurous streak in me when it comes to the outdoors. Be it a bit of outdoor hiking or trekking a forest trail or walking into a waterfall I was always first in line. This defined my personality right through school and college days. But it was however at the very end of my academic life that I well and truly got to indulge my thirst for adventure sport.

It was the end of post graduation and time again to be out and quench my wanderlust. So we were all to converge on Delhi to set out on what turned out to be amazing journey traversing breathtaking destinations. But thats a story for another day. Before we set out two of us where in Delhi with a few days to kill before the actual trip. This called out for an impromptu mini trip. Thanks to my friend who enthusiastically narrowed down on Rishikesh and its spot on the adventure sport map.

So within know time we managed to book us into an overnight train ride to Haridwar from where it was a short hop (an hour’s bus ride) to Rishikesh. As soon as we set foot in Rishikesh we found out much to our delight that there were umpteen rafting operators. So in a jiffy we got ourselves a raft and a guide at a very reasonable price and were on our way uphill to the starting point.

Rishikesh we learned was the one of the most highly rated and popular rafting destinations in this part of the world and it was no wonder why!! The water was crystal clear and pristinely green with wonderful views on either side as we rafted Ganga river. The rapids were innumerable with multiple grade 4 rapids along the way (Rapids are graded on an ascending level of difficulty from Grade 1 to 7 and Grade 4 is the highest advisable level for amateurs). It was just the two of us on a raft for 6 but fortunately we had a very good guide who helped us through the rapids without getting thrown into the water and the rocks.

Rafters extraodinaire! 😀

We managed to take a dip in the chilling but pristine waters of Ganga during the those calm stretches. But surely the surprise highlight of the morning was when we halted along the way at what turned out to be a fine cliff jump spot. Despite not knowing how to swim, urged on by the confidence instilled by our guide we undertook what was an incredible thrill experience. It was with trembling knees that I stood on the top and peaked over the edge  and after a few hesitating seconds jumped with an involuntary scream. Truly one of the most scary and adrenaline high moments of my life!

Before the plunge!

Thus all in all my eventual plunge into adventure sport turned out to be bloody brilliant indeed! So i leave you with a video of the day.