One day I was scrolling through facekbook posts when suddenly I found an adventure event in my nearby area: Dudhiware Waterfall Rappelling. I didn't know anything about Waterfall Rappelling so I googled and watched some videos in the YouTube. I found it very interesting (actually reckless) and decided to go for it without much thought. The real challenge was to convince my friends. Most of them thought me mad and wished me good luck but luckily one of my childhood friend agreed.
Dudhiware is near Lonavala, around 70 km from Pune. We went with the 'Outdoor Ventures'. We boarded bus from Chinchawad and reached Dudhiware base village at around 9 am. The weather was very good. We got down from the bus and could see the twin waterfall of Dudhiware at a distance. The magnitude of the waterfall could be understood from even that distance. I was frightened. The first thought that crossed my mind was- 'Why the hell I am here'?!
We had our breakfast there and started walking. It took us around 15 minutes to reach the waterfall base. We were around 45 people in the group. We all rounded up and gave our introduction. Most of the people were novice with absolutely no idea about rappelling. Some people already started rappelling. I was observing them and was trying to understand the procedure. But it was of no help, believe me you will only understand it while doing.
We had to trek to the top of the waterfall from the base. The organizers asked us to come in a group of ten. We were too much enthusiastic so we almost ran to be in the first group. We left our valuable in the bag and started our trek. The road was very narrow and steep but it didn't take much time to reach the top. The instructor introduced us to the equipment and gave us some basic instruction. He showed us a demo but we couldn't see him properly as he disappeared from sight just after two minutes.
Now it was our turn. We all were very frightened. But still we were having fun. Some were talking about last phone call with their family. I too thought, I should have at least call my parents once before doing it. My parents had no idea I was there. But I left my phone in the base ,so I shifted my attention to the nature. I couldsee the Pawna lake from there and the Tung fort, standing tall above the lake. I was number seven in the queue, so I sat down in a rock and started enjoying the beautiful Sahyadri range.
My friend and I aggreged to do rappelling together. Our turn came. The instructor handed me the helmet and the gloves and made me ready. He assured me the equipment is 100% safe and wished me luck. I stood there, at the edge, facing the waterfall. I look down, could not even see the base. The waterfall is 190 feet tall. I started descending. Surprisingly I felt no fear. Later my mother asked me, If I was thinking about her while descending. The truth is no, I hadn't felt anything. The only thing that I could feel was the rope, the rock under my feet and the water. I felt confidant and actually, started enjoying it. Here one tip, trust the equipment and that's all. It probably took only 2-3 minutes to reach the base but those moments were best moments of my life.
I felt very tired after reaching the base as you need both physical and mental strength. We took some rest, clicked some photos. We went to the other twin waterfall. It was very beautiful too and ideal for bathing. We spend some time there, enjoying the cool water. Meanwhile almost 20 people completed their rappelling. We returned to the base village and had our lunch. We waited for the rest of the team to come back. The group was very friendly and I made some new friends there. We had lots of fun. It was almost 6:45 when we left Dudhiware. The waterfall was looking even more beautiful at sunset. I couldn't believe I had descended through that waterfall just few hours earlier.
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