Eco Encounter with "Eco Mantra River Trail" @ Kolad

After working in IT & consulting firms in Mumbai for last 8 years or so, I have realized a few things about the psyche of the folks working here:

We believe that:

- Parties / Outings = Going to a pub or five star hotel and boozing through out the weekend

- Adventure = Watching Cricket

- Extreme Adventure = Playing Cricket

Today’s metro based professional white collar employees are a bunch of highly paid, extremely pampered lazy bunch of typical desk workers who feel that they are living a posh life and equate happiness to splurging on expensive toys for ourselves.

We asked ourselves these same question and decided to do at least something which will give us a feel of nature and at the same time be not very taxing on our body.

Our trusted friend ‘Google’ was in action and we were busy googling around for nature outings around Mumbai. The results were a lot of ‘eco-friendly’ places offering everything from joy ride in jungle to white water rafting to staying in a village home.

Of all the results, we liked a place called “Eco Mantra – River Trail” in “Kolad” village in Raighad district. The website was very professionally made and it had a very impressive corporate clientele. We were looking out for a day outing and the distance also worked for us – around 100-120 KMs from Mumbai.

So we got our PR specialist in action and called up this place and Mr. Alan Rodriguez responded to our queries in the utmost professional manner when compared to his peers in the same area.

We must say our decision to go for Eco Mantra – River Trail was mainly due to how he spoke to us and customized the plan as per our needs.

The discussions went pretty well and we were given a quote for INR 1,500/- per person for a day trip that included 2 Activities + Welcome drink + Breakfast + Lunch + Evening Tea and Snacks.

When we told Alan that even though we were from one organization, our trip was not sponsored by our firm, he was nice enough to give us a reduced quote meant for families at INR 1,100/- per person!!!

The deal was done and we booked a tempo traveler for 11 of us. We started on a Sunday at 6.30AM from Powai and after picking up everyone we hit Mumbai-Goa highway. After 3 hours drive and multiple sessions of dumb charades we reached River Trail.

We boarded a boat to reach the camp base after crossing river “Kundalika”. It was fun as many of us were not used to sitting in a boat frequently!!!

We were making a big issue out of boat movement and having fun and the boat navigator was adding to our fun by getting the boat to bend on a side catching us unaware!!

Our eco experience started at around 10 AM when reached the base camp and were served the traditional drink of kokum syrup in cold water (kokum = red mango / mangosteen, wild mangosteen). It’s a great coolant in summer time and very natural drink suiting an eco experience.

While we were enjoying the drink, the eco mantra team jotted down plan of day on the white board.

It all looked pretty well planned – breakfast, kayaking orientation, kayaking, lunch, river crossing, and closeout. We all were looking forward to doing these activities and had our breakfast of uttapas and poha at a rather brisk pace.

We changed into water clothes and hit the river bank. Alan was waiting for us for the Kayaking orientation. He showed us the basic things like how to get into a kayak and getting out of it, how to hold the paddle, basic paddle movements for forward, backward and halting the kayak.

Once we had our life jackets on, we started with the activity. Initially we were paired with experienced trainers or tourists like us who had done it earlier. After first few minutes of anxiety, we started enjoying it and started being our crazy selves. While kayaking, I wondered that if Mumbai developed mass water transport systems then it would ease huge amount of loads on the congested road networks.

If paddle boating is taxing to your legs, then kayaking is taxing to your shoulders and untrained back muscles. We were told to sit in relaxed manner and not exude any extra effort then needed or else back and hand pain would start.

Lunch was simple but tasty fare of chapatti, dal, sabji, and pulao. It was very nice routine change for our stomach which is bombarded daily with absolutely pathetic, awfully greasy, fried and re-fried tasteless junk that is served in our world class office canteen!!!! Okay I promise I won’t vent again in this post – food is such a topic that I got carried away ;-)

After lunch we took rest in the rest area which was covered with a few hammocks and wooden chairs overlooking the river were a nice treat. The girls, who were pretty much sleepy all the morning, hit the hammock and dozed off.

Guys did not have anything better to do either, so we all hit the wooden chairs and had a short siesta

We woke up refreshed but there was still some time left before river crossing activity would start. We fooled around for some time and check out the tents and other accomodation available for over night stay.

Unable to control the urge to submerge ourselves in the cold water of river kundalika, we took the inflated tyre’s and fooled around in the shallow part of river. Occasionally few of us drifted to the deep end of the river when the life guards jumped into action and made a Baywatch type rescue (oh no…don’t let your imagination run wild…….no Pamela Anderson here…..the guard rescued a male colleague of mine who fell off the tyre but did not know how to get back on!!)

River crossing was fun activity and like every act of pleasure, it was very intimidating at first, but pleasurable once started. We started off in shallow 4 feet water and moved towards center where it was some 10-15 feet deep. We were taught how to get locked into each other’s hands and with support of the rope as a guide we did not have much difficulty crossing the river and coming back.

Our adventure was coming to an end and we did not like that. Time passed pretty soon and we were served tea and some pakoras as we prepared to depart. We clicked pictures with the Eco Mantra River Trail team and bid farewell.

The return journey was again in the boat which dropped us at the other end and we started our journey back to Mumbai.

As we bid farewell to ‘River Trail’ and it’s staff, our face had a satisfactory smile and a sense of happiness in true sense. The adventure was over, but the memory is still fresh and brings smile whenever we chat about the fun we had on that day.

Our Costing:

River Trail Cost - 1100/- + Travel – 500/- + Sundry Expenses – 100/-
Total – 1700/- Per Person

Travel from Mumbai:

Option 1: Take a car and drive down to Wadkal Naka and take bypass to Kolad on Mumbai-Goa NH17 Highway

Option 2: Take Konkan route trains and get down at Roha. River Trail camp is 9 KMS from Roha station

Eco Mantra website has detailed map for reference.

This kind of activity and place is highly recommended for every city guy and girl who has not done much adventure in life apart from traveling in Mumbai local trains. The activities are designed to be easy on body so everyone can enjoy so long as you are ready to experiment, laugh at yourself and have a good time.

Who should strictly NOT go:

- People who cannot stay without smoking, doping, snorting, boozing and everything in between

- People who dislike eating simple veggie food

- People who cannot stay without air conditioner

So folks pack your bags and head out!!!