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What does a child need after a pandemic? A much needed break from the boring life style of Covid and an escape from the ordinary city for a while, right? And what better than an adventure camp at Dandeli. Rugged Cub had organized Dandeli Adventure Camp on 12th, 13th & 14th November 2021. Altogether 35 children from Kolhapur and nearby places had registered for the camp.

Dandeli is your perfect getaway with adventure assured! It is a trove of dense forests. The place offers you a perfect mix of water adventure sports, vibrant traditions, mystic flora and fauna, and tranquil nature walks which will provide you with the eventual peace of mind, all in one place. This destination has got everything for everyone. From trekking to nature walk, this destination is truly a one-stop spot. Dandeli is one the most visited tourist spots because of the large number of adventurous activities to do in Dandeli which includes river rafting, rappelling, boat ride, camping, kayaking, trekking, Jacuzzi bath, and much more.

We left Kolhapur at around 6am on 12th November. All children were in a sleepy mode but very excited for the trip. For the first few hours everyone were sleepy but later on they started gossiping with each other, tripping on songs. We took a halt in Belgaum for breakfast and then continued the journey towards Dandeli.

With being adventures we also need to indulge our personalities, our boldness, confidence, team spirit and keeping in mind all that we had a few activities planned for children and we started in the bus itself. We had planned an introduction round for them with a twist. Here they first had to know the person sitting beside them and introduce him/her. It was very funny to watch as some were introducing their friends and spilling their secrets already.

We reached Dandeli around 12pm. We had lunch, rested for a while and met back at the gathering area. We had a few things planned for the children.

As said, team spirit is most important, so we thought of dividing them into random teams where we could analyze them on the basis of leadership, team spirit and tasks given to them. At first everyone had a hard time accepting their teams as they wanted to be with their friends, but eventually they did mix up. Every team had a Captain, Vice Captain and a team name. Team names were very funny like ‘Limbu Timbu’; ‘De Mithas’; etc. The first task given to them was to prepare a skit.

As it was a hectic day with all the travelling we thought of keeping it low in the evening and we visited the ‘Honey Bee Park’. This unique honey park is about 20 km from Dandeli town. The park has a demo area, processing unit and a unit to sell honey. Soaps, body wax and wax candles made of pure honey were available. Honeybees visit 40 lakh flowers to produce 1 kg of honey. And to produce one drop of honey, a single bee has to make 500 trips. The idea of a park was mooted as availability of pure honey has become a rarity and several big brands are not giving pure form of honey to their customers, said the bee experts. The park has honey boxes and each box will have an average bee population of 15,000. We proceeded back to the resort and later we had a camp fire night. During the camp fire the children portrayed their skits. Most of them weren’t prepared but they did it anyway. We had a fun musical chair round for them. Plus they all enjoyed dancing and singing together.

The next day, you can call it the adventure sports day, for which all were excited had arrived. The day started with a trek to Supa Dam. The forest in Dandeli is well known for trekking where you can spend some time with your friends for a wonderful trek with aroma of flowers/trees free from pollution. These treks can help in exploring the beauty of forests in Dandeli where you can come across various waterfalls and lots of medicinal herbs & different species around the jungle.

After the trek we had breakfast and finally that brings us to the next part, some awesome River Rafting in the Kali River! : It was indeed a Memorable Experience. It was one of the most exciting things to do in Dandeli. The long stretch of Kali River open for rafting provides seamless chances to both the first-timers as well as professional rafting lovers to experience an ultimate dose of adrenaline rush. The wild terrain of the river and robust flows of the water contribute to making white water rafting here an experience worth memorizing. Apart from the River itself, the rafting experience was conducted with a lot of fanfare. As we boarded the raft and went out onto the calm river we got instructions about paddling – forward, back, get down and so on. This is usual but after that we were all asked to jump into the river as prep – in case the raft turned over in any of the rapid, we shouldn’t panic. So we jumped down, most of us had a good time floating around, some who were scared of water ,screamed for a while. We then re-boarded the raft – it was quite a bit of fun! After that we were off towards the rapids… we continuously paddled, ‘got down’ into the raft when the rapid hit us and immediately got back to paddling. Overall it was a fun experience, only thing is that the rapids don’t really justify the major prepping – “when the raft overturns….” I think these instructions are more like a formality I doubt that rafts actually overturn! Mostly people end up jumping into the river themselves for the fun of it. Dealing with risk and the need for teamwork is often a part of this experience.

We had a lot of activities lined up for us and one of them was Kayaking. An unforgettable experience. Kayaking in the impulsive waters of the Kali River is another major attraction why you must consider a vacation in Dandeli if you’re fond of water sports. The encouraging activity of paddling a narrow watercraft surely added to the highlights of our time here.

Next activity was River Crossing. Satiate the Inner Thrill Seeker. Experience crossing of river which helped us to extinguish our hunger for the thrill it offers. In this activity, we needed to cross the flowing river using a safety harness which is tied to a rope at a height above the river. The fervor of the river and the need for balance and strength made the crossing an exciting affair. However, experienced guides are present there to make sure of your safety.

One more to go and that was the Water Roller. Rolling into the water inside an inflatable Zorb roller. After all these thrilling activities children enjoyed the natural Jacuzzi and swimming in the river. It was noon by the time and all were tired. We freshened up, had lunch and left to visit syntheri rocks:

Syntheri Rocks is located in the dense forests of the Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary in the Western Ghats and is a remarkable aberration of nature that has whipped up the interests of tourists and nature lovers since ages. The monumental rock is 28 kms away from Dandeli town. Syntheri Rocks is a remarkable masterpiece of nature and truly worth a visit. It was a flight of 200 odd steps downwards that lead you to the base where the river flows and you get to see a giant rock formation from the bottom.

Later we came back to the resort and had dinner. As it was the last night, the children weren’t ready to sleep early so we had a fun personality development game planned for them ‘Taboo’, where they had to explain words to their fellow teammates without using the hint words. It was indeed very much fun plus challenging for them. Their winning personality in them came out.

The last day! And we had one of the most thrilling adventures of all. All children woke up and proceeded in the forest area for RAPPELLING. Rappelling was one of the most offbeat and thrilling activities that we experienced in Dandeli. This is one of those adventure sports that one cannot try everywhere, The idea behind rappelling is climbing down a cliff. The children were nervous but even excited at the same time. Even though they were scared, they did not step back. Overall it was a thrilling experience.

This brings us to the end of the trip. After rappelling we went back to the resort packed up our stuff and left for Kolhapur. On our way back we stopped for a bit at the crocodile park. The crocodile park comes under Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary and is recognized by the Govt. of India. If you just stand on the bank of the Kali river, you can see number of crocodiles in the river.

We came back around 8pm to Kolhapur .Overall we can say, Dandeli was a surprise. It was a lot wilder than we expected & wild isn’t exactly what we expected it to be either. The programme at Dandeli was a well-planned experience, leaving no scope for boredom to set in. Atlast we can say, it was a hassle-free trip.