Trip to Rishikesh - Shivpuri - Haridwar | River Rafting | Ganga Aarti | Adventure & Spirituality Unfolded!!

Shivpuri Beach

"Rishikesh" the holy city in the lap of ganges is known as the Gateway to the Garhwal Himalayas. The city is world famous for yoga and yoga festivals which are celebrated during March every year and you can immerse through the spirituality across umpteenth ashrams that are spread across this beautiful sacred city. Rishikesh is also famous for adventure sports such as white river rafting that originates from Shivpuri beach. Apart from Yoga and river rafting Rishikesh has host of other attractions to offer such as:

• Rajaji National Park
• Ram Jhula
• Laxman jhula
• Beatles Ashram
• Swarg Ashram
• Neelkanth Mahadev Temple
• Parmarth Niketan
• Jumpin Heights

It happened to be an impromptu trip with a group of office folks and a tempo traveller was booked to experience river side camping, White water river rafting along with visiting some beautiful & serene locations of Rishikesh.

 Travel Tips:

• If you are going beyond main Rishikesh city (Hill top/ River Side Camping) you must go by your own vehicle since public transport is not available
• Best time to visit is from March- April & Sept to Nov are the most suitable time for rafting
• Rafting charges have been fixed now a days ( 1000 for 16 km & 2500 for 32 km rafting). An additional slip of 20/each is also charged at Shivpuri Rafting beach
• It is recommended that you are in good health and you must carry bathing suit, shorts, t-shirts along with antiseptic cream & sunburn lotion. Also you should put on compatible foot wears to be comfortable during the rafting.
• With increased rafting charges a two day camping trip would cost 3500-4500 depending on the quality of camps

The group of eight folks boarded the Tempo traveler and a fun filled journey triggered from the word go! It took some time to come out of Delhi NCR traffic and we stopped over for a quick tea break (at Jhilmil Dhaba) around Ghaziabad which had some delicious snacks to offer. We had pakoras and chai and got onboarded the traveller to continue the sojourn.  

Jhilmil Dhaba

 The journey continued at travelling for about six and half hour we could see beautiful ghats and ashrams on the bank of  Ganges in Rishikesh. From the roadside Parmarth Niketan and Ram jhula were sparkling in  in their full glory. 

Laxman Jhula area

 It took another half an hour to reach our hill top camps as pathway was quite narrow and steep. By now it was late twilight hours and winter breeze had set in the river side camps. Camps were just besides the rive and we could very well feel the flow of water sitting inside the tent. Typical hill with small hamlets and smoke coming out of their rural kitchens was making the overall scenery awesome.   

Hill Top Camp area

Hill Top River Camps

 We left ourselves wandering for some time to soak in the ambience and then after relaxing a bit in our tents we set for night fun around bone fire. The chit chat along with food and drink went on till quite late in the night and around midnight group disbursed to catch some sleep to be ready for the adventure. (River rafting).

River Side Camp

Morning was even amazing with cool breeze flowing through the river behind camps and you could only marvel at the beauty of the nature. Wish it would not move for some time but time and tide wait for none. Soon sun was shining brightly and we caught up with daily chorus followed by a fantastic breakfast and some game time.

Around 12:30 Afternoon we packed our bag to head towards Shivpuri Beach to experience the adventure. We got our rafting kits soon and while we waited for our trainer cum guide to arrive we kept clicking amazing scenery all around!  

Shivpuri Beach

Post formalities our trainer arrived and gave us a good session for about 20 minutes which terrified us to the extent that sense of adventure was lost to some extent and we got more concerned about safety. This was the time we realized that river rafting had some real practical challenges and dangers involved (including threat to life if safety instructions were not paid heed to) So, we paid full attention during demo sessions, did some false paddling at the bank and with the slogan of "Jai Ganga Maiya" we embarked upon the 16 km water rafting  from Shivpuri beach with our guide cum trainer Jagmohan. We were told by our guide that we'll have to be very alert and cautious while passing through nine rapids and work in tandem skillfully to stay afloat.

The moment it was on, adrenaline rushed to higher level to see gushing rapids at some distance away. Everybody was thrilled with passion and fear amid amazing ambience. This is where actually we could sense that we were challenging our own inhibitions! The initial rapids we encountered happened to be "good morning" "black money" & "sweet sixteen", followed by "cross fire" and "roller coaster". No sooner did a rapid hit us we could hear the guide shouting "Move forward Ya'll" or "Stop" to ensure we were riding well. By now head to toe we could feel the sensation and the cold gushing streams. We were actually living the ad "Dar ke aage Jeet hai". :)

After "Golf Course" Rapid

 The most challenging & amazing rapid happened to be "Golf Course" where we were hardly in control of the raft and it was the momentum of rapid itself coupled with our guide who avoided the seize of the raft. Passing the golf course was nothing less than finding another lease of life. When Golf course hit us we were not able to hold even our paddles and kept struggling to find our feet. Once we were through everybody took turn to into the river stream and then was pulled back by the team. Fantastic team work was at display. After covering few more miles we stopped over at maggie point where we could also experience the cliff-jumping!

Maggie Point

Most of us dared to go for cliff jumping and experienced an unforgettable moment in life. When you fall freely heading towards stream you just tend to feel and see things you'd have never imagined and once you hit and go inside the water and come back on surface its scary adventurous. Post Cliff jumping it was time to grab some maggie and tea and while everyone was wet and feeling cool, couldn't ask for more than a "delicious maggie" and of course a hot tea. after spending about half an hour we were again on ride and faced another couple of rapid including "Double Trouble"which again tested our newly developed skill and resilience to some extent but we were too good and we were at terminal point of Neem beach very soon:) 

Neem Beach

Finally the adventure was over and we quickly grabbed few snacks before starting towards "Ram Jhula" & "Parmarth Niketan" This is the place where international yoga festival is organized every year in March. 

Parmarth Niketan Ram Jhula in the background Parmarth Niketan

We were early but could see and feel the environment which was nothing less than pristine. Ghats were glittering clean with umpteenth ashrams and yoga centers were all around. After a swift round about of the ashram we decided to move towards Haridwar. We paid a quick visit to Shanti Kunj - Gayatri Shakti Peeth & Dev Sanskriti University campus which was beautiful and a host to spiritual camps and ashrams accommodating many worshippers and followers. This is a place for people craving for peace and meditation.  

Inner sanctum of Dev Sanskrti University

 

Evening was fast approaching and we made our way to to "Har Ki Pauri" (Major landmark and renowned ghat on the bank of river Ganges. Taking a dip here is considered to be among the most sacred act). Since everyone was feeling hungry we decided to have our meal at "Ganga Vaishno Hotel" right beside "Har ki Pauri"& followed that with delicious "Lassi".

 Now it was twilight and crowd has gathered all around "Har Ki Pauri" to attend the famous evening "Ganga Aarti" (Religious Prayer performed at bank of sacred Ganges at Har ki Pauri at every stroke of morning & Evening when dusk descends. We also took our seats after collecting "Ganga Jal" (Holy water from the "Ganges"). It was spirituality and sea of humanity while aarti was performed.

Ganga aarti at Har ki Pauri

We got truly immersed in the atmosphere and were also lucky to be at Har ki pauri at the right time. The Ganga Aarti happened to be the  last destination of this trip. By now we were all but exhausted. The sleepy journey back to NCT of Delhi began right there!! 

Shiva Tourist Dhaba

We travelled for about two and half hours to reach Roorkee bypass and had our brunch at Shiva Tourist Dhaba which happened to be a fantastically organized dhaba offering a variety of food/snacks with an awesome tea. there was no stop over post that and by stroke of midnight we were in Delhi!