I hadn’t heard of Makalidurga until last week. Nor did I know of Nature Admire. But when somethings are meant to happen, they just do and on Sunday I was off to Makalidurga on a trek-cum-rappelling-cum-rafting day trip with Nature Admire. We were picked up from Victoria Statue at Cubbon park, and confirming to the Indian Stretchable Time (IST), we were zooming towards our destination exactly 45 minutes late.

First halt was at Sahakar Nagar for breakfast. There was ice still to be broken between the different sub-groups within the team, and it gradually begin to happen. It was clear that communication wasn’t one of the strong points of the instructors at Nature Admire, but we managed it ourselves. In fact, until the trek started, I wasn’t even clear as to who our instructors were

After breakfast at a hotel, we continued onwards. Surprisingly we were on schedule, getting off the highway towards Dodballapur at around 9. We crossed the road that deviates to Nandi hill and went straight towards Makalidurga where we picked up another instructor. There was a railway station which announced our arrival at Makalidurga. But save for a few houses, there wasn’t any civilization in sight. I personally felt good that we weren’t at any of the crowded tourist destinations (Nandi hills included). We alighted from the bus at the base of the hill, and were given a quick briefing of the day’s activities by Khaja Khan, one of our instructors. Trekking up the hill was first, followed by rappelling and then lunch. Rafting was post lunch, we were told.

All of us did the trek uphill within the specified time of 2 hours. I didn’t go all the way to the top, cause vertigo was as usual getting the better of me as I climbed up. Mallesh, the rappelling instructor who was securing and anchoring the ropes left me to guard the gear while he went to the top along with the others. The hill top has a fort and a temple.

Once everyone got back to the rappelling spot, Mallesh gave a quick demo of how it was done. Most of the people in the group were first timers, so everyone was cracking jokes to keep the spirit high. Of course, once you rappel the first time, it seems easy. And this cliff wasn’t too high either. The first to go down was 10 year old Rahul. This probably stuffed some confidence in the others, and soon one by one we eagerly rappelled down. It was soon my turn and I was secured and instructed on how to let go of the rope as I put my weight backwards. Things seemed fine, and I began to descend. But I was soon swaying sideways like a pendulum, and it was a funny feeling. All I remember was Mallesh shouting, “spread your feet”. Nevertheless, I got down and just before hitting the ground, I did a free fall (with the rope of course) because there’s no rock for the last 20 metres or so. This was unexpected, but fun.

After this exciting activity, we trekked back down to where the vehicle was parked and had lunch. Credit to Nature Admire for packing adequate food and water. We had the local village boys for company, along with some overzealous dogs. Post lunch, people were just chilling, talking and resting.

We were taken to the water body next, for the rafting session. The water body seemed like a cross between a pond, reservoir and an artificial lake. The water was muddy and not exactly inviting. But good weather and high spirits kept us going and we took turns rafting about. Rowing was again a first time experience for me, and I enjoyed it. Probably not as much as one of the groups that made the best of the raft and didn’t come back for nearly half an hour. While waiting, I caught shots of a few birds that were feeding in the banks. It was drizzling on and off, but no rains as such.

Once everyone got back and changed to dry clothes, we headed back to the village for tea. Most of the guys chose to sit atop the bus during the short journey, and the villagers were probably wondering what was wrong with this lot. Rahul later confirmed that it wasn’t exactly very comfortable on top, being very bumpy. We had tea at the village and I was chasing some parrots to shoot. The local village boys again gave me company, helping me find the parrots.

The days activities were done with tea, and we drove back to Bangalore. Surprisingly we were bang on schedule all through, and we reached the city at exactly 8 pm. A movie kept us company during the 2 hour journey back.

I would rate my first time experience with Nature Admire as a 3 out of 5. The fine weather, fun team and enthusiastic instructors were all ingredients in making this trip memorable. Here are the details for those of you who want to do this trip with Nature Admire.

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