Located in the foothills of Himalayas, on the banks of Ganga River, Rishikesh is among the most popular tourist destinations in India for all the good reasons.
The thrilling adventure of river-rafting on the rapids of the Ganges can be enjoyed in Rishikesh during any season except monsoon.
Delhi to Rishikesh is around 250 km which is almost 5-6 hours journey and believe me this journey becomes awesome the moment you enter into the state Uttarakhand. The state is blessed with beauty of nature and the roads which lead to the destination are beautiful. I recommend you cover this journey by car. You will feel the core of nature throughout your journey. Without telling much I will leave you with this.
We started early in the morning from Delhi around 6 AM in the morning keeping the fact in mind that we will reach around 11 AM in Rishikesh and will rest for the day. We reached as per our schedule and soon after reaching we booked camps for us as planned.
Note : I would suggest not to book hotels in Rishikesh instead book camps if you really want to enjoy your days into lap of nature.
We finally reached our camps; I was mesmerized after seeing the site. it was located in a valley both side mountains, river stream flowing one side out of which swimming pools were made. I felt satisfied. We had amazing Lunch and spend whole afternoon in the natural swimming pool. In evening we went outside for some sightseeing.
Look at the view from our camps on next day morning. Isn't it soul refreshing.
Next day early morning we reached to the rafting location ( the camp service provider will provide the cab for this and will charge nominal amount for this ). The Rafting cost depends upon the rafting stretch which you select. Normally rafting in Rishikesh costs approximately Rs.450 to Rs.1800 per person.
There are many rafting stretches in Rishikesh out of which you can choose to raft upon. The most two famous ones are below mentioned
Brahmpuri Strech: This is the basic stretch. The length of this stretch is 9 km and it mostly has grade II rapids. Rafting can be enjoyed here between September and June
Shivpuri Strech: This 16 km long stretch mostly has grade III rapids, and is a recommended stretch. It opens soon after the Brahmpuri Stretch and is closed down around the beginning of June.
The Rapids which you face during the rafting and are the most thrilling part of this journey are divided into different grades based on level of difficulties. Below are the grades in which these are divided.
•Grade 1 : These are the easiest among all the types of rapids.
•Grade 2 : After the grade-I, there are the grade-II rapids that are also considered ideal for the 1st time rafters.
•Grade 3 : These are the rapids which will start your adrenaline pumping. Because of it’s high speed and size of these rapids, whenever they crash against the rock surfaces, they appear to be foamy-white.
•Grade 4 : when compared to above , these rapids are more fearful and are known for the various levels of challenges.
•Grade 5 : There are recommend for experts only. These require extreme Rafting skills. These rapids are huge in size , high in speed and fearsome.
We selected Brahmpuri Strech as the other starches were closed and the water flow was very high during that time. The traveler took us to the site, as we were only 3, we had to wait for half and hour or so for 5 others. A raft always accommodates 6-8 people in it.
Finally, our raft arrived. We were provided with all the safety equipment’s. All the necessary rules and guidelines were told to us.
Note: I want to specially highlight here that one must follow all the guidelines given by rafter and keep the life jacket tighten all the time. Adventure always comes with risk and wise people take all the precautions.
We were joined by 5 other members. My heart started beating faster ( as I don’t know swimming and was trying this). I had mixed feelings, filled with joy, thrill and lot of fear. I had to overcome all my feelings before this and I did.
We boarded the raft and started slowly and gradually and soon after some time the stream took a U Turn. We started facing fearful rapids one after another. As we crossed rapids I was getting more confident.
Every Slash of water on my face made me feel alive
We jumped into the water ( for that moment I remembered my whole family in a minute 😊 ).
Tip: Make sure to tighten the life jackets as hard as possible, to avoid any sorts of accidents.
Here comes the most exciting part of the rafting “CLIFF JUMPING” and believe me you get the most thrilling experience when just jump form a cliff . It will bring out your fear of water and height both.
The whole experience of this rafting taught me many lessons.
I felt like I have conquered all of my fears.
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