September 6th was a full house for us, we had Sudhir and his team numbering 22 who had joined us.

They came in a mini-bus through the Nagarhole forest to Srimangala where we received them. We left the bus in Srimangala and them transported to the homestay in Jeeps. It was already late in the afternoon and they were thoroughly famished. As usual we had called upfront and the just as the guests entered the homestay, hot food was laid out and ready for the guests and they dug into it.

This is the fag end of the Rafting season, a good rain and the water levels go up, a dry spell and the water levels go down. We had seen that the waters were good on Saturday, so Rakesh suggested that everyone do the rafting immediately rather than waiting for the next day. So soon after lunch the teams left for the 3.30 PM rafting session.

The rafting session was among the best we had for a long time, of the 22 guests, Aravind had to opt out of rafting because of medical reasons, the rest took to the water. All the four rafts hit the water, the guides Ashok, Mahendra and Muhammad took our guests, while the fourth was taken by a new guide, Andrea, who has joined the team. Prakash and Alok who are the organizers of the Rafting also joined in. One of us almost always are with our guests when they raft, this time Rakesh decided to watch from the sidelines and do some photography instead.

The rafting itself was very eventful, the most promising group of rafters were with Ashok, they were paddling well, however when they actually hit the water, their raft flipped at the Wicked Witch …and the rafters had to be rescued by the other rafts.. — Goes to prove, Man may try his best but finally it is the River that Rules. It was perhaps one of the longest sessions of rafting we did this season and it was past 6 by the time everyone got back to the homestay.

Dinner followed and some of the folks carried on partying till late in the night, while others tired from the journey and the rafting session hit the sack. Sudhir for one had body ache from all the exhertion and was unable to sleep! The teams plan was they would all be up and join for the trek at 630 AM in the morning….and we were thinking…hmm a 4 hour journey in a slow bus, 3 hours of rafting.. partying late night.. that means the only way they are getting up at 630 AM is if they are talking of 630 AM GMT not 630 AM IST . To their credit, by 1030 AM they went for trek, the weather was pleasant and I think everyone enjoyed the experience, they returned back for Tea and then left to the stream. The original plan was to spend some time in the stream and then start the return journey with a stop at Iruppu falls, but they enjoyed the stream so much that they decided to stay there for more time and skip Iruppu falls

The team left after lunch and were just in time to take the train home..they forgot a Torch and a Docking station back at the homestay though

We were able to meet some very like-minded gentlemen in this group, Daniel, who is a prominent member of the “Madras Bulls” and Kandan, who wanted to make a documentary of treks in the Western Ghats on a back pack and Bull

For the less-informed, the Bull, refers to the Royal Enfield “Bullet” motorcycle, “Madras Bulls” – is the Royal Enfield Motorcycle Club of Chennai

Both Rakesh and I are “Bullet” riders and affectionadoes..and have been planing a trans Himalayan trip for some time now… if we are able to take a break from our homestay operations..