First of its kind in Orissa, the Women Mahanadi River Rafting Expedition

[Preeti Sinha]

It took a bunch of four daredevil girls seven days to tame the mighty Mahanadi River by covering 296 km on a raft.

In the first of its kind in Orissa, the Women Mahanadi River Rafting Expedition was flagged off from Sambalpur on August 12 and culminated at Paradip on Tuesday.

"I have an adventure streak in me and therefore I decided to join the other girls for this unique experience. It was in fact very fascinating to see so many riverside villages. At several places, we were greeted by schoolchildren and this encouraged us to go on," Rajashree Mohapatra, a plus two student of Chandol college in Kendrapada said. The other members of the team were Rosalini Pattnaik, an LLB student from Khurda, Rosalini Behera, a plus three student of Puri's A D College, and Sonaphoola Sabar, a plus three student of Nuapada College.

National Adventure Foundation (Orissa Chapter) director Rabindra Kumar Bhuiyan, who coached the rafters, said Mahanadi was ideal for this unique expedition. "We chose Mahanadi because it's the longest river in the state and flows along hundreds of villages in six districts," Bhuiyan said.

The coach added that the all-girls expedition will help in promoting rafting as an adventure sports in Orissa. "This will attract more tourists, particularly foreign visitors," he added.

This enthusiasm was echoed by Paradip Port Trust chairman K Raghuramaiah, who welcomed the rafters. "It gives us enormous pleasure to greet the four girls, who braved the arduous journey to come here. Their expedition has encouraged us to try and promote this adventure sport," Raghuramaiah said.

Bhuiyan said his organization has several plans to promote rafting in the state. "We failed to spot talented rafters because no state championship has been held in Orissa so far. We are planning to organize a state-level competition to promote rafting as a popular sports among locals," he said, adding: "More sponsors should come forward to promote adventure tourism in Orissa." He said, "In Himachal Pradesh, Kashmir and other states, rafting is a more popular sport. But I think rafting in the river Mahanadi will offer better experience than in other states."

Alll of us were excited looking at the interesting and challenging rapids in the river. There are very interesting rapids and some of them are very challenging. I think there is a great potential here. Our experience has been great. Rafting in the river Mahanadi can become a hotter tourist destination than other rafting places in the country as it had all the potential, said Rabindra Kumar Bhuiyan the coach.

Source : TOI