The Kali Kayak festival 2017 was an event that lasted three days long, but an experience that will last forever.
Somewhere in the middle of the Kali reserve forest lays the river Kali, running wild and free though the Western Ghats. Untamed, ruthless and harsh, like a snake in search of its prey. I’m kidding. It’s controlled by a dam, and you need luck to be in the river when the water gates are opened. And Ganeshgudi, a small town in Karnataka close to Dandeli and known for its adventure sports, was the epicenter of the Kali Kayaking festival.
If whitewater is your kind of rush, then the Kali river festival in Karnataka is the place you need to be. The three day festival had participants not only from all over India, but from New Zealand, Australia, UK and Nepal as well.
The festival was held just at the onset of the monsoons, between June 2nd and 4th. The races included the slalom, down river, boater cross and down river marathon. The surprise package was the huge turnout for beginner’s race with over a 110 participants.
The last race was the river marathon, a team event, where the participants were randomly grouped into teams of 4, and raced down 8kms of river running through the Kali reserve forest.
None of the tasks were easy, most of the races had a rapid where the participants were required to paddle through a bottle neck called the dislocator Rapid. The weather during the festival was gloomy and rainy, drizzling all day and rainy at night.
The event was covered in detail by a team of 8.
Aditi Shastri – Videos
Adrian John – Photography & Production
Md. Faseeh – PR & Photo edits
Nithin Francis – Video Editor
Praveen Jayakarn – Photography
Puneeth Kumar – Aerial cinimatography
Supriya Vohra – Social media
Neil D’souza – Director
Marathon footage : Nth Adventure
Music
The Raghu Dixit Project – Lokada Kalaji
The biggest challenge we faced white covering the Kali kayak festival 2017 was getting to the location. The best spots were on the other side of the river, and the only way to get there is either hitch a ride on a raft, or a Kayak. With raft’s coming in rare, and busy with safety, using the Kayaks as Taxi’s was a fun but scary experience.
The organisers for this event were Goodwave adventures and GETHNAA.
http://www.goodwave.in/
