White water rafting at Dandeli

Who : Ravi ,Suchi ,Amit ,Priyanka,Guru,Dakshina
When : Nov 24th -25th 2007
Dandeli is a very small town 57kms from Dharwar and 95 kms from Belgaum. Although I have stayed most of my life in Belgaum,i never knew there was so much beauty so closeby waiting to be explored.The very idea of travelling from bangalore seems stupid,but we did it .. Dandeli can boast of dense ,moist decidious forests and the gr8 river Kali flowing across it. The town has very little to write abt ,but around the town there are a lot of resorts and nature camps --jungle lodges,bison resort,kulgi nature camp ..Also the Kavalla caves,Ullavi temple,Supa Dam,Syntheri rocks are other places of interest ... You can find a lot of info abt these on other sites .. What we enjoyed there was the river rafting and the leech ridden forest trek !!The first splash against the chilly waters to feel one with it ,the ride on the rapids,the "full servicing" as the local guide called it ,the adrenalin rush as we rowed upstream challenging the rapids and experiencing the force of the rivers, the fear factor as one of us (Guru) fell into the river and his oar slipped off --Well all that made the trip memorable . Sadly we dont have fotos of the rafting .. But the memories will last forever.. I especially liked drifting into the water with the life jacket on ....-that was my feeling of nirvana --i felt i could float on and on ..






Another beautiful spot there is Molangi ..
Lovely couple by a lovely river!!

And now for the logisitcs <>

THE BEST WAY TO TOUR DANDELI IS BY PRIVATE VEHICLE
since agents charge very heavily for each and every  activity in Dandeli. If you have private vehicle, your
trip will be very comfortable and economical. One more reason for suggesting private vehicle is: you cant
book return tickets i.e., from Dandeli to Blore . You can book tickets only when you go to
Dandeli and only on the day of returning since KSRTC people start booking only when the prev night bus
which left Blore reaches Dandeli if at all. And there is only one Rajahamsa (all other buses are Karnataka
Sarige buses) bus b/w blore-Dandeli and it leaves Dandeli by 5.30pm :) Also, the same bus leave Blore at
8.5 and reaches b/w 9-10am.

So, to make oyur trip comfortable and economical,travel by private vehicle.

Where to stay:
--------------
I will be suggesting for people looking for economical stays. For those people who are not so worried about
expenses can easily go for some resorts like Jungle Lodges, bison river resort, etc...
1.Best place to stay would be in Kulgi Nature camp. We didnt find accomodation thee since it was alreay
overbooked.
They charge a nominal 500/- per tent which has attached bathroom and they also have a 250/- tent with
common bathroom.
Cantact Numbers: 08284-231585
Shivanand (works there): 9900834633

2.State Guest House (also known as State Emporium/lodge). I got a feeling that this is a govt
run lodge going by its name but its not. Its a private lodge. This one is located exactly opposite to Dandeli
bus stand and nice rooms are available.
Fares are as follows:
- Single bed room - 180/-
- Double bed room - 270/-
- Family room (4 beds) - 440/-

Sandeep (State Guest House person): 9880749222

There is one more nature camp at Anshi and my advice is not to stay thee since it is 50 kms from Dandeli
and there is no transportation to that place. You need to have your own private vehicle and it migh take oyu
1 1/2 hrs to 2 hrs to drive to Dandeli form there.

Where to eat:
-------------
1. If you enjoy North Karnataka food (jawar roti,sabji,rice, sambar with muli salad) go to
Veerabhadreshwara Khanavali. They serve hot delicious food. You can also njoy some movie going on in Udaya
TV. He charges Rs 16/- per plate (2 rotis, sabi, rice,sambar, papad, salad) and dont go by the price to
decide the quality of the food. Its delicious/healthy North Karnataka Khanavali food.

2.Shetty veg & non-veg hotel: It is adjacent to State Guest house and serves decent food. Even state Guest
House serves food form this hotel. If you like hot pakodas, try out Onion pakoda here.

Activities Fare:
----------------
1. Rafting:
-----------
Rafting activity is carried out by many agents in Dandeli and everyone charges Rs. 1100/- per head. If
you bargain they will come down to Rs. 1000/- Its about 1 hr duration. And the Kali river flows in dense
green forest, its just awesome place. Rafting is fun in that place and especially when you come to the
point of "Full body servicing" - am sure you will remember for oyur whole life :-) The rafting experts
are very professional and they make you feel confident and enjoyable.
There are two slots for rafting for sure: 9am-12am and 2.30pm-5.30pm i.e., agents' vehicles will leave pick
you at Dandeli bus stand at 9am and leave you back at around 1pm and similarly pickup at 2.30 and drop you
by 5.30 or 6pm. I am not sure whether there is one more slot around 11am.

2. Trekking:
------------
This activity is carried out by Kulgi Nature Camp people and agents also. Kulgi Nature Camp people
obviously charge less than agents since its a govt run camp. There are various routes which you can find it
in the link:
http://www.karnatakawildernesstourism.org/Trekking_opp_in/Dandeli.htm
You can select the route and tell inform them about the same when you reach there (as you can see on this
url, routes 1-4 startes from Kulgi Nature Camp and I am not sure where other routes start, you can enquire
those people only) and they will arrange the guide for  you. As you can see in some of the routes, they also
have the facility of night halt at Shiroli peak and some other places.
Entry fee: 40/- per head
Trek fee: 75/- per head
Guide fee: 150/- per day

If you plan to stay in the night on top of shiroli peak, you have to carry food, water, tent, torch, etc
etc... as there is nothing available on the top. They cook/serve/pack nice food at Kulgi Nature Camp. Hot
chapathis with sabji, rice and dal.

Taking tobacco/salt is compulsory to avoid leeches in winter season :-)

I am not sure how much the agents charge for trekking and all but i find it of no use since Nature Camp
people also arrange this at teh above mentioned price.
For trek, you have to be there in the Kulgi Nature camp very early, they prefer to leave early int he
morning around 6-7 am. You can also manage to go afterthat and if you are lucky you will find a guide
available.

3. Sight seeing: (Kavla caves, Cynthery rocks, Ulvi Channabasava temple, etc)
----------------
All these places are nto so well connected to Dandeli - in the sense there are no frequent state run or
private buses from Dandeli to these places. So, forsight seeing, you have to have your own private
vehicle or you have to hire a zeep in Dandeli.We didnt do sight seeing, so i dont know much about
these places. We enquired a little bit about this in Dandeli and som einfo is here:
- Kavla caves are lcoated inside wild life sanctuary and it will be covered in the Jungle Safari ride.
- The Cynthery rocks are nearby Kavla caves but it is not covered in safari and if you hire a jeep they
charge around 800/-.- or you can take a zeep for sight seeing for whole day at approx 1600/- some localite said.

4. Safari:
----------
Kulgi Nature Camp people some days conduct safari rides in their bus. If you are lucky and on that day
if there are about 25-30 people they will carry out this activity otherwise you need to have your own
private vehicle or go thru an agent. I think agents charge a lot.
Again there are two slots for safari for sure: morning 6-8am and evening 4-6pm. I am not sure whether they
allow vehicles at any other timings and even if they allow am not sure how many animals you can see during
those rides.
Govt charges 250/- as vehicle entry fee and 150- guide fee and 40/- per head. I think if you go thru agents
they charge you around 800/- per head, am not sure.

---------------

Also, at the end of our trip, we came to know that  there is one-day package of Rs. 2500/- from some agent
(he works with forest dept by name Manju; we forgot to take his number but you can try calling Kulgi Nature
Camp people and ask them about his number). He was the  instructor for us during our rafting activity, Here is
his package details as told by him:
- his one-day package is b/w 12pm-12pm
- food
- safari
- rafting
- trek with night camping
- sightseeing (am not sure about this)

If you ask my opinion, it is the best someone can get/offer in Dandeli. It is very very convenient and
economical if you go by bus since bus reaches b/w 9-10am and leaves at 5.30pm. You can finish everything
in one day and leave next day.

All you nature lovers out there do visit this place sometime ..