Manali Diaries - Live snowfall at Gulaba

 

Winter tour to Manali -  Live snowfall at Gulaba 

At Gulaba Checkpost with our Car

Dates: 08th April 2026

Adventurers : Irish & Stuti Pereira

Driver : Mr. Kamlesh Verma (Mob : 98058 37732)

Prologue:
It was quick trip to Manali from 08th April to 10th April 2026. Being onset of summers in Manali, we never expected any snowfall activity. However when we reached Manali on 08th April, the weather forecast had changed by Grace of Almighty. And it was chilly rainy morning when we reached Manali. 

On day 1, we actually had plans to explore Sissu through ATAL TUNNEL. However due to rainfall, there was heavy snowfall expected on higher regions of Manali. Due to which only 4x4 vehicles were allowed past Solang valley.

While strolling on mall road post breakfast, multiple drivers approached us to ferry us to Sissu by 4x4. However charges they quoted were very high. We decided to go back to hotel and then decide further plans. 

Then one driver approached us and offered us to explore Gulaba on Rohtang pass route. He expected high chances of snowfall there. The charges he quoted appeared reasonable. Then within half an hour, the driver picked us up from our hotel - Vista Resort.

Before starting the car we prayed to Almighty to guide us and to avail us beautiful snowfall. It was there we got know that the driver also happened to Christian believer. Then he was our driver and guide for next 3 days till departure and brother for lifetime.

It is an hour journey to Gulaba. Initially it was raining at Manali when we started. However as we gained height, the rain covered into snowy flakes. And by the time we reached Gulaba check post, it was fully fledged snowfall. 

What a wonderful moment it was !!!! It was a dream come true by Grace of Almighty. Or else who would have thought of full snowfall in summer. 

Our guide Kamlesh warned us to spend around 45 minutes as more snowfall will clog the roads affecting our return journey. As we had 2x2 Maruti Celerio, it would get tricky if too much snow covers the road. 

There having fun in snow for an hour, we had some maggie at local shack. Believe me when i say that the maggie tastes more tasty in mountains. 

Then we hurriedly started back to Manali before snowfall covered the roads. 

Summary : It was a dream come true to enjoy live snowfall in summers in Manali. We were out of words to describe the moment. All Thanks to Almighty God who made it possible. It is HE who controls the climate.

Fun in live snowfall

Stuti with Snowman

Maggi taste awesome in mountains

For more of my treks and travelogues you can check my blog. https://irishpereiraonthego.blogspot.in/

Happy Trekking, Keep Exploring!!!!

Kataldhar Waterfall Rapelling @ Lonavala, Maharashtra

Kataldhar Waterfall Rapelling @ Lonavala, Maharashtra

Activity: Waterfall rappelling
Location: Kataldhar waterfall near Rajmachi
Coordinators: Range Adventures, Pune
Base village: Phanasrai near Lonavala Maharashtra
Height: 450 feet
Participants: 11
Route: Map Coordinates to Kataldhar Waterfall

Epilogue: It was one of the lazy July Sunday and a rainy trek was on the cards. Probable locations were one day trekking to Rajmachi near Lonavala. It was a trekking of choice i had not visited the place and also as it offers a wonderful view of Kataldhar waterfall in the valley below. The waterfall can be ideally seen from Srivardhan fort of Rajmachi.  However I was confused to choose between trekking and waterfall rappelling. And mind you I choose both.

Instead of viewing the Kataldhar waterfall from Rajmachi, I chose to go the other way around. I.e. to see the Srivardhan fort from Kataldhar waterfall. Meaning I had enrolled for the waterfall rappelling at Kataldhar waterfall itself.

After boarding Indrayani express from Mumbai, i had managed to reach Lonavala by 8:15 Am. There the trek lead Siddharth was waiting with a bus in a tow. Along with 3 participants from Pune, we were 11 participants in all, managed by 4 coordinators.

It was a rainy morning to begin with. Our compact tempo traveler was negotiating the muddy and crater filled roads. The road conditions worsened after Della adventures. After around 45 minutes we reached the Phanasrai village. 

Heavy Rains at Rajmachi point

At that point there is a stream flowing which later forms one of the feeder streams for Kataldhar waterfall. It is a open plateau with few shacks run by local villagers serving snacks and tea. There were quite a amount of trekkers at the point. Some adventurous bikers were also there with their mean machines. ...read Royal Enfield's.

The shack

The stream at Rajmachi point

Bikers and trekkers

We had our breakfast at one of the shacks. By the time our breakfast was ready, we were observing the bikers who were trying to get their bikes past the stream. It was more than a knee deep stream to begin with. But bikers with the dose of jingoism we were hell bent to pass through the stream, even if their beasts refused to do so. So their fellow bikers have to pull the bikes (white elephant as I would like to call them) out along with their saddle. The funny part was that this 2 legged mechanical beasts like 4 legged live beast seemed to be uncontrollable. See the video below.

We after gulping down our breakfast, headed towards the rappelling point; which was 15 minutes steep descend of around 400 feet from the point. We had to cross one stream enroute.




Then when we reached the rappelling point besides the stream, our trek leads were already busy fixing up ropes and setup. The heavy rains were still on and prevented us from capturing the view from that point. The valley was very deep and clouds covered the valley most of the time hampering visibility.

Trek leads fixing the ropes

We could occasionally see the Rajmachi fort peeping out of the clouds. It was one of scenic points, but rains and winds prevented us from capturing the view in our mobiles. We had only one GO pro with one of the participants that too has very limited battery. There each on was handed a helmet, harness along with descender and carabineer and gloves.

All geared up for the activity

So around 10:30, the setup was fixed.  There 2 ropes fixed of which red which white was a mainline and other one red was belay rope. The setup was well calibrated and validated before one of the trek leads Sameer descended on it. Siddharth the trek lead was manning the top activity point; the trek leads were equipped with walky talky to coordinate the activity. 

The setup - White mainline and Red belay line

Sameer who descended first had one walky talky and updated of every move of the rapeller to the Siddharth at top who was manning the belay rope. So each participant during activity is under close watch by the trek leads. 

There then 3 other participants including Ankit descended one after another taking around 25 mins each. It took around 15 mins to descend and 10 mins to pull the ropes up for next participants to begin with the activity. On average for experienced rappelling participants it should not take more than 20 mins each. But we had more amateur rapellers as usual.

Ankit rappelling down

Every time one looks down from that height at the valley with stream flowing, with wind blowing at such a pace that it makes ones heart miss a stroke. But that's the fun and thrill part of it. Then around 12 pm it was my turn to rappel down. There the trek leads aligned me with the ropes and harness and I was ready to go.

One has to feed the mainline rope through the descender to move downwards keeping body straight inclined in an angle towards the rock wall. The more you feed the rope upwards through the descender, the more you move downwards. This is the basic mechanism of rappelling. There is another rope for belaying which is controlled and manned by the trek lead on top for safety. If in case the mainline trips, the person still hangs by the belay. So it is a 2 pronged safety setup.

The rope seemed very heavy to lift to begin with. The first 20 feet stretch was kind of muddy, then started the rocky part. By now the rope was kind of lighter to feed. It was one on the wonderful moments where one is hanging on a rocky wall at a height of around 450 feet in the foggy  and windy valley with besides gallons of water gushing down at a lightning speed. There is no human contact at that moment. You tend to feel cut from rest of the civilization. At that moment there is only you and nature. The noise of gushing water hitting the rocks beneath was so loud, that no human voice can be heard even if one shouts with his lungs out.  Words can hardly describe those goose bumps in the belly. It is straight fall of 400 feet. If you want to feel the same, refer pic below of my fellow rapeller Kishor.

Kishor on the rock wall with his GO PRO

 There i was descending down when that moment arrived when the streams of waterfall were blowed by winds to cover me in entirely in cloud of white gushing water. What a rapturous moment worth every penny spent for it.

There on one of ledges where I could foothold myself enroute, I took a short break to enjoy the view. Moreover till then right arm was aching in process of lifting and feeding the rope. There looking at the wonderful creation of nature, a thought crossed my mind.  We humans however intelligent we may be, we are tiny and just helpless before the nature. How beautiful mighty, unbridled and limitless is the nature. This thought took me to the creator of this nature. One can only imagine boundaries of his knowledge and intelligence. Whatever he has made, all things are beautiful in its design. There I thanked Almighty for the opportunity of this scene and continued rappelling down the rocky wall.

After around 150 feet from ground there is a overhang. Now overhang is a point where the rocky wall caves inside. Meaning there is no place to rest you feet at overhang and you just hang at this point. There one has to only slide down feeding the rope hanging in the air without foothold. This part was one of the easiest part of the activity. By now the rope was easily being fed.

Myself at the overhang

There at the overhang again winds made their way into the water streams covering me entirely into milky white clouds of gushing water. I waited hanging till the winds to subside and then continued sliding down. There is when I saw Sameer who was waiting for me beneath to pull me towards the foothold in the rocks. He loosened the mainline and guided me towards the cave. The rocks beneath were full of moss and hence very slippery. The flow of the waterfall was dreadful. The continuous rainfall has swelled the waterfall limits.

There at the cave were around 50 odd trekkers who had come trekking their way from other end of the mountain. There on the rocks near cave we waited for all other participants to rappel down.

View from inside end of the cave

The rains were still on and now there we had started feeling the chill in the air. There at cave we had snacks.  Some of the participants took around 30-40 mins to rappel down adding to our impatience. The last participants rappelled down at around 4 pm. Till then we were observing the cloud covered Rajmachi from the cave.

Rajmachi Fort - Drapped in clouds

Then the trek leads at top pulled up the ropes and we set on our route back to top at 4:15 pm. We had to descend on the muddy slippery route in the valley below. The return route circumvented the entire hill to join the motorable road 2 and ahead of our starting point.

Our way back was a steep climb of gaining around 1200 feet passing through 3-4 small streams. Finally around 5:40 pm we reached the motorable road. We expected our bus to be waiting for us. However to our dismay, the trek did not expected us to return back so early and had waited at the starting point.

Then 2 of us had to reach the starting point to get our bus to end of the trek point. The main reason for the hurry was to reach Lonavala railway station before 7 pm to target a specific Vasai bound train. Then after a gulping down hot tea at local shack, we started of towards station to reach station around 6:55pm.

However we were scheduled to have lunch at a restaurant in Lonavala. There our trek leads and few trekkers from Pune departed to have lunch/snacks.
However for me and 2 other trekkers, in order to reach station in time we had to skip our lunch.  Reaching home safe and in time is always a priority after any trek or adventure activity. There we boarded the Pune- Indore express at Lonavala to reach Vasai at around 10:10 pm. From there we bid adieu to trek mates.

To sum up it was a wonderful and thrilling experience consisting of both waterfall rappelling and trekking.

Few point of advice to trekkers planning for this trek.

•          Prior rappelling experience is must for this activity. (Amateur please avoid)
•          People having height phobia please avoid.

For more trek and travel you can check my blog. https://irishpereiraonthego.blogspot.in/

Happy Trekking, Keep Exploring!!!!

SCUBA diving at Malvan

Scuba Diving at Malvan

Activity: Scuba Diving

Location: Sindhubazar Malvan Beach

Depth: 15 feet

Google Map Coordinates of the Scuba diving booking Location.

Just like all other water sports, SCUBA diving was there since long on my “” List. Unlike water sports which can be availed at many beaches in Maharashtra, Scuba diving is available at only few beaches like Malvan, Vengurla. Outside Maharashtra, this underwater activity is avaialbe at Goa, Karwar, Netrani Islands and Andaman Islands.

We had dropped at Sawantwadi in Sindhudurg for our 2 days annual office trip to celebrate New Year party. There along with other leisure activities we had scuba on our list. But due to unavoidable circumstances we were late in a day to reach the Malvan beach. Also we wasted our time indulging in other water sports like Banana ride, Jets ski, Water scooter etc. and hence there was hardly any time left for scuba. As it gets dark at 6 pm in winters by the time we reached for scuba, it was 5: 45 and so we have to abandon our plans for it. We all were very disappointed to know that, but could not help it.

Next day our entire group had plans to visit Amboli Hill station, but I had decided to go for Scuba. So after lunch myself and one of my accomplice Gaurang Sawant we managed to rent a moped fascimo to ride to Malvan. The plan was to also explore surrounding places if time permitted us.

It is 50 kms straight ride to Malvan from Sawantwadi. So after refilling our moped’s fuel tank, we both set towrads Malvan via Kudal Malvan road. 

The road to my surprise are all well maintained. Leaving few patches, the roads are in good shape. Also there was not much of a traffic on this route. So much so that we covered the distance of 50 Kms in straight on hour. There on the way we explored Karli River and bridge on it.

Our Riding map

Myself, Gaurang sawant with our ride

Serene Karli River 

Riding on the road through green cover was pleasure in itself. Being winter season the climate was very pleasant. We reached Malvan Jetty around 3 pm. But being 31^st December, all bookings were full. So with help of one of our local acquaintance we managed to get priority bookings. We were booked with agency named Mangalmurti Scuba Diving and there we waited for our ferry to arrive. Once we boarded our ferry, we reached the spot for scuba diving in 10 – 15 minutes. 

There the organisers had another boat with participants awaiting our ferry to leave for beach. The scuba location is just near Sindhudurg Fort on its east side.

Myself at the scuba diving spot - Sindhudurg fort entry jetty in backdrop

We were in all a group of 10 participants for the activity. Once we reached the scuba diving spot our organising staff were to take lunch break. So after their lunch break, the activity was started. There were only four sets of SCUBA gears available there, so organisers took participants in batches of 3-4 participants each time.

Just to begin scuba

Firstly each participant is geared with metal belts to increase their weights so that they sink in the water. Then they are geared with Scuba Black Dive Mask followed by jacket with oxygen cylinder attached to it.  Then the guide accompanies the participant on floating tubes to diving spot and instructs him about breathing and safety measures in case of underwater emergency. He also provides for mock up to breathe fluently through one’s mouth. Here in the scuba mask one’s nose is chocked, so one has to breathe through one’s mouth. Both inhalation and exhalation has to be done through mouth. However this is easy said than done. As we all are accustomed to breathe through nose and mouth both, here this change is not accounted by our body. One has to consciously try to breathe through mouth or else you end up choking yourself.

Once you are at the diving spot, the guide releases the participant off the floating tube diving point I had issue trying to breathe through mouth. With water all around and nose choked, it can be deadly moment to be in if breathing is not done properly. There my guide instructed me again and let me off the float to sink in the water. There under water it was another world all together. With corals and rocks at the bottom there were variety of fishes all around.  One were to hold onto the rock at the sea bed and experience the thrill of the activity. It was one of the wonderful moments to be with fish and experiencing the seas with fishes’ view point. The fishes were past me. There I tried catching few of them, but you can’t catch them there as they zoomed past faster than you think. After all it is their world. There were 3 varieties pf fish at that diving spot viz, spotted yellow, black and grey. But the waters were not that crystal clear as I expected; may be because many batches have visited the spot before us making the spot slightly turbid. Also we were doing this activity in the evening with low light intensity. So after 10 minutes of underwater exploration our underwater photographer approached me for photography session. By now I was begun to enjoy the activity after 15 minutes, my guide pulled out of the water and drifted me towards the boat. There it was end of the activity. 

See my scuba diving video below.

By the time all participants completed the activity, it was 6:00 PM. Our organisers after repacking all equipment’s we all left for the beach. There at the beach in the organiser’s office, one can get a copy of the video and photographs free of cost. There after collecting our videos, with all memorable experience, we both set again on our return journey to reach Sawantwadi by 7:30 PM. We promised to repeat this wonderful activity again in the future.

Tips to one’s planning for scuba diving:

• .    One need not necessarily know to swim to experience scuba diving.
• .    One need to breathe through mouth and hence participant with asthma, or other breathing problems may encounter few issues with the activity.
• .    Scuba diving activity can be in experienced to its fullest in the morning hours when water clarity is at maximum.
• .     There are 2 types of Scuba diving gears. Along with gears with oxygen cylinders, one can also opt for fixed tube support diving wherein oxygen is supplied through pipe attached to the hosting boat.

Scuba Diving organiser’s details:

Mangalmurti Scuba Diving:

Amol Sawant: 9422333446 / 9423304334

Vikrant Naik: 9405236201 / 9673670997

Additionally for any assistance in hotel bookings at Malvan and local support for any of the water sports, one can contact below:

Mr. Utkarsh Malvankar (Gopi)

Mob: 9730097230

Happy Diving, Keep Exploring!!!!

White water rafting at Kolad, Maharashtra

White water rafting at Kolad, Maharashtra

Activity: Water rafting in Kundalika River at Kolad

Base village: Rawalje village near Kolad, Maharashtra

Event coordinators: Travel Trikon
Date: 14th April 2017
Base Village coordinates: 🚩 Rawalje Village

Rafting map 

Kundalika is a small river in state of Maharashtra. It flows from East to west direction meeting Arabian sea in the west. There is a dam on this river called ‘Rawalge Dam.’ The Tata power company has a hydro-electric generators on this dam generating electricity. Every morning at around 9 Am, the dam doors are opened to let out water for irrigation needs along the river stream.  As the river bed do not have huge boulders, this river has become a hot location for water rafting in Maharashtra.

Every morning, when the dam doors are opened, there is gushing water which fills the entire river stream to its fullest brim. This is ideal time for rafting, when the river is full of water flowing at rapid pace in one direction that is towards west coast. After the dam doors are closed, there is only a small stream of water which is flowing throughout the day. One important thing to note is that Swimming is not necessary for rafting as it is carried out with life jackets.

As it was a long weekend in April, i had some plans for trekking. However due to hot climate, i dropped my plans for trekking and instead chose to go for water rafting, to cool my nerves.

Travel Trikon had a water rafting arranged at Kolad, which i chose the enrol. We along with 6 other trek mates’ started our journey from Dadar railway east in a Toyota Tavera at around 6 am in the morning.  To my surprise we had an lively elder person (60+) with us to participate in this rafting activity. So true is the saying

“It’s never too late to follow your dreams, and there’s no time like the present to start.”

We took Mumbai-pune expressway upto khopoli exit. From there we travelled on Mumbai- Goa highway to take a breakfast halt at Pali.

Our Transporter

 After a wholesome breakfast, we again started towards village. There we are hosted at a resort by Daivya Adventures on the banks of river kundalika. We all refreshed ourselves and then had few clicks on stream. The organisers has made all equipments ready along with our raft ready. We all were handed a life jacket, a rowing bar and helmets each.

Then the instructor after giving basic info of the activity gave us detailed working instructions. There is a technique in holding the rower bar, synchronisation technique without which the activity is not possible.

All geared up - Waiting for the siren

Then all geared up with equipment and instructions eagerly waited to hear the siren from dam. Siren is the alert sounded when they let out the water from the Rawalge dam on kundalika river so that all villagers near and on the river stream are alerted, and could stay far from river flow. Then around 9 am the was a siren and waited for waters to arrive at our stop. In few minutes gushing streams of water arrived, which converted the small rocky stream into a full fledged river flowing at a huge pace.

We were given our positions in the raft so that raft is equally balanced on both sides. Each raft accommodates 9 rafters 4 on each side and one in the middle to keep balance. There is a one guide with each raft who sits at the keel position. He provides guidance and gives directions for each side of rafters to steer raft in desired direction. Balance, synchronisation and team work are crux of the water rafting activity. The guide being a north eastern had a typical ascent. 

Hands on Instructions

Starting towards the flow

Then after some of still rafting we encountered one of the 3 grade rapids on this river. Rapid is point in river where waters flows at great pace due rock beneath or presence of crater in the river bed.

Each rapid has been given a names..i could not recall them all like Johnny Walker and Mini Mouse etc. At rapids the raft is heavyly tossed in any directions. Sometimes the raft can also be overturned throwing rafters in river flow. So at rapids at guides directions, every rafter has to fall inside the raft holding anchoring ropes at rim of the raft. It prevents raft from overturning. One can feel adrenaline spurt in our bellies facing each rapid.

Other raft - battling one of the rapids

Fellow Rafters

There were in all 10-12 other rafts at that time with us which were represented by different organisers.

Then we reach a point where there were trees half submerged in the river. To over surprise there were also mango trees. Our guide steered the raft to one such tree to pluck raw mangoes or kairies. He knowingly had carried masala and salt with him along with knife to cut mangoes. There we relished tangy mangoes with masala and salt.

By now it was around 11:00 am and being in month of April we had scorching sun burning us from above. We had fun splashing waters on fellow rafters with our helmets. We used to fill helmets with water and all got drenched in water to cool our bodies from suns heat.

Once rapids are done with one can jump into the river stream. One need not worry about swimming as life jacket takes care of that. As the river is fast flowing in one direction, one is carried along with stream. Life jackets ensure that you are always afloat. It was fun to enjoy swimming or stay calm when being drifted along with flow. It is one of the prime moments of the activity. One can feel the deep silence all around except sound of flowing water. We were left to enjoy the drift for almost an hour. We had no cameras to take pics due to water, nor anyone in my team carried a Go pro video gear, which would have captured that thrilling moments.

So around 3.5 to 4 hours from time we started rafting, covering around 13 kms of river stream the activity ends at place called Kamath, the end point for river rafting. 

Approaching end point at Kamath

Kamath - The end point of the rafting activity

Here our organisers were waiting for us to arrive and hence we have video here. The raft has to be carried from here to starting point by tempo or alternatively carried on car hangars. We along with our raft mounted on the Tavera reached our starting point at Daivya adventures. There we changed our clothes after a bath. There was buffet lunch including non veg awaiting us at the resort. We were very hungry after the activity. We gulped down the lunch till bellies full. After that we rested for some time under trees in garden. My other mates played dumb sheras while i preferred resting under tree. At around 3 pm we left the resort on our return journey. We took same route en route khopoli via Mumbai pune expressway ...Reached Mumbai by 7 pm. It was indeed quite a refreshing activity and promised to repeat it again next year.

Ideal time for rafting is in rainy season where river is flowing  naturally full to its brim. Winter season up to March also provides memorable experience to rafting enthusiasts. After which due to water scarcity, the dam authorities do not let out waters from dam suspending the activity.

About Travel Trikon:
The organisers Travel Trikon is comparatively a new adventure group formed by experienced trekkers. They provide entire Water rafting activity package which includes Mumbai to Mumbai transport, Water rafting activity, breakfast, lunch all inclusive in one package. 
Website: http://www.traveltrikon.com/
Mob: +91 9819021806

Cost:
This package costed me Rs. 2200, which was a small amount considering thrill and convenience it provided.

Happy Trekking, Keep Exploring!!!!