If you live in Bangalore, and you have an adventurous streak, River Rafting at Bheemeshwari is something that may interest you. Bheemeshwari is about 100 km from Bangalore. It is better known as one of the locations where you have Jungle Lodges resorts, a concept that has really picked up well in Karnataka. The place is by the river Cauvery. There are small and simple things that you can do around there, like fishing, just sitting by the river on old tree trunks, and lazing around in Hammocks. Or just listen to the music of the flow of the river though it seemingly appears quiet.
River Rafting at Bheemeshwari
Whitewater is formed rapidly when a river’s gradient drops enough to form a bubbly or aerated and unstable current; the frothy water appears white. Rapids or the entire river are graded according to an International grading system in six categories. From I to VI, I being the easiest and the safest and VI being the toughest and most dangerous, almost suicidal. The raft is a specially crafted boat-like equipment that floats on the water.
As rafters, you are supposed to sit on the periphery of the raft with a paddle in your hand. It has multiple channels which are designed in a modular way and build redundancy in case of any part of the raft goes bad.
Rafting Instructors
A rafting instructor is with you who gives you commands to paddle forward or backward or not to paddle according to where you are in the river. Depending upon where and how big the rapid is and how confident you are in handling yourself in case the raft topples.
Grade 2 Rapids
The rapids in Cauvery at Bheemeshwari are of grade 2 or so. It can be a good warm-up ground for rafting in other places like Rishikesh, where you get rapids of higher grades. The rafting instructors are friendly and they make an effort to make you feel comfortable. While they also push you to get over your fears. My instructor made me jump into the water while holding the rope by the side of the raft and just float in the water. I was scared to do that as I did not know swimming. But once I was in the water it felt so simple to float with the raft. And it, of course, took the fear of water out of me to a certain extent.
Travel Time
It takes about 3 hours to reach Bheemeshwari from Bangalore. The 8 KMs rafting trip takes about 2 hours or so. If you plan properly you can pack in a trek in the jungles around the river. Spot some elephants and deer, and you can see some birds. Trek is pretty light. You get to eat at the jungle lodges eating place. Some plain and simple food and some tea with biscuits in the evening. All in all, you can have a well-spent day. You can come back home physically tired but mentally refreshed.
Recommend you to read the following One Day Trip From Bangalore.
Muddenahalli – Village of Bharat Ratna Visvesvarayya
Hi Annu,
It was a pleasant surprise to find this blog !!! I was searching for something and Google offered me this blog !!!
I am back in Pune and will be here for sometime. Please send me an e-mail to satyanarayanj@yahoo.com with your contact details. I will talk to you.
– Satya (JoJo)
Hi Annu
Can we drive in the morning and come back by evening from this site.
I also want to understand if we get all rafting equipement there itself or we need to hire some tour operators.
Regards
Abhishek
Hi! Anu its great to find this blog, and that too soooo much almost a ton of info from a privet person (non tour operator), great to hear about instrectors too, as Dinesh who is the main instrector and me worked together in events in GETHNAA.
Lalit kumat
Venture Adventure Club
Nice post…I will be visiting Bheemeshwari this month…
-Maneesh.
Hi,
Thanks for all the info on Bheemeshwari, we were looking for a good place near bangalore for a one day outing and this place seems to be perfect. your blog is very informative
Hey Anu,
Can we leave b’lore in the morning and come back from this place? can u pls mail me the details, my id is shraddha_jai@yahoo.co.in
– jai
Hi Annu
I want to know if we can plan to come back same day evening. Also, how tiring is it? Can we drive back after the rafting? Where do we book rafting – in advance, or we get the options there? Please give me your no, or mail me on missmeenalmalik@yahoo.co.in. We are planning this for the coming SUnday…..Thanx / Meenal
Yes Meenal, you can come back the same day. You can contact exotic expeditions, I did this trip through this. You can talk to Santosh there and he would be able to help you.
Mohan,
I did the trip with exotic expeditions. You can get in touch with Santosh at Mobile Number: 9986450370
Hi Anu,
this is Mohan from Bangalore. Thanks for your blog on Bheemeshwari.
Our friends have planned to visit this place as a one day trip. Could you please let me know what are all the other places apart from river rafting is available around? Also, it would be great if you could provide some contact details to arrange for river rafting from here as well.
Thanks in advance.
Regards,
Mohan
You can find many places around bangalore for bangalore-weekend-getaways.which includes trekking adventure bangalore.
Nice pics..hope you enjoyed a lot in the trip…Bheemeshwari is one of the best place for river rafting,and picnic spot, even fishing at cauvery…ON demand trip to bheemeshwari is available at Thrillophilia Adventures …
Bheemeshwari sounds fun! Would love to recommend it to our travellers. Thanks for sharing.
Happy to hear that Blueberry Trails.
Bheemeshwari is a lovely getaway from Bangalore. I loved their coracle rides as well as the ziplines. Your post reminds me that I should do an outing again. 😀
When I went there were no zip lines – just the rafting and I remember correctly no coracle rides as well. Long time it seems.
Nice to read 🙂
Nice to go down the memory lane sometimes Rupam 🙂
Hi Anu, how did you do the booking for rafting ? and How much was the cost? Thanks.
I do not recall any books, just landed there and paid for it. It was long time ago, so not sure of rates still matter, but it was something like 800 Rs or so.
Lohit river, Ganga river, Spiti river & Kundalika river, Kaveri river are one of the best rivers for river rafting in India. Reading the blog, my adventurous spirit just got evoked. 😀 B)
Bheemeshwari is one of my favourite rafting spot I visited twice highly recommended