This weekend was one of the very special ones for me. This was one more first time in my life. For the first time that I went for a holiday to an adventure resort, The River Tern Resort, Shimoga, one of the many Jungle Resorts in Karnataka.
I always have believed that I am not an adventure person, but this trip surely helped change my mind. We started for the weekend trip on Friday night. We met at a team mate’s home as he required help to carry the numerous beer crates that had been purchased. For most of the seven hour journey not many slept. Drinks overflowed and so did the energy. I have this theory for people who do not drink. Man… you will enjoy at the cost of the people who do. This theory was validated yet again. The highlight of the onward journey for me was the condition of one of our otherwise docile team mate’s boisterous behavior. Reason: he drank for the first time and drank a lot.
Man… it was a sight. The person on his neighboring seat who is a seasoned pleasure drinker complained, ”isko koi chup karao…chad hee nahin rahi hai”
We reached the resort early on Saturday morning. After freshening up, we were all set for our first of the scheduled events – kayaking and water trampoline. We clicked the customary snaps with the rowing paddles and life jackets. We tried some acrobatic activities on the water trampoline. No prizes to guess how a group of software professionals fared at that. ;)
After everyone had a shot at the trampoline, we dived back into the waters and then proceeded for kayaking. Abhijit and I went a fair distance… The greater challenge wasn’t to row, but to row in such way that the kayak moves straight. It seemed to havea mind of its own and a crazy sense of direction.
On completing with the water sports we headed for a lunch. After lunch we got some time enough for a very brief afternoon siesta after which we proceeded for the tiger safari at the Bhadra Tiger Reserve on the banks of the Bhadra river.
When you visit the sanctuaries of Karnataka you realize how much they do to preserve them. The first sight of wildlife was a beautiful peacock. Then a langoor. We saw quite a few birds viz: a couple of kingfishers (everyone was thrilled to see them thanks
At night we had a camp fire which was rightly supplemented with lots and lots of booze.
We woke up at 6:15, Rishi, Abhijit, Surya and myself. I was amazed at seeing the bikes. They were imported bikes with 24 gears. The experience was the most enjoyable for me. We first climbed up a small hillock using a muddy road. From the top, we got a great view of the surrounding landscape. We saw a few river tern birds. It is amazing the way they graze over the water surface and dive inside in search of fish. I was surprised by the amount of time they spend underwater. They come out after about five minutes to breathe and then dive back again. Abhijit in the mean while had found a snake skin and has brought it back as a souvenir for our trip. We climbed down and cycled along the canal towards the village. It was simply great. We waited for a while and sat at the canal immersing our feet in the flowing water. Simply refreshing. We returned back to the resort for breakfast.
After breakfast we moved for another round of water sports, this time it was canoeing. We set aboard a canoe and went to the island which was approximately two and half kilometers from the resort. It was very tiring as we found it difficult to get the canoe to move straight as well just like the kayak. While we were approaching the island we saw a few deer grazing. We then realized that the island was nothing but a part of the animal reserve. The noise we made while we approached sadly drove the deer away.
This was the last event at the resort. We proceeded for a quiet lunch and then on our way back to
The bus ride was a lot of fun too. There was a lots of singing and dancing. Some people were experiencing were on a flight of a different kind thanks to the beer that had been consumed. Some began dancing and didn’t stop until they dropped…literally. Some kept talking. The others, I must say laughed, laughed and laughed.
It was indeed a memorable trip. I recommend this adventure resort to all at least once. I hope you all enjoyed reading about the trip as much as I enjoyed being there.
