Trip to Hornbill River Resort, Dandeli

chillibreeze writer —Shashirekha Vyaas

My husband Sridhar had booked the Hornbill Resort in Dandeli for Valentines Day. My children Sanjanaa and Siddharth were excited when they heard that they would actually be staying in a house built on a tree. The Hornbill River Resort is close to Dandeli, which is about 481 km from Bangalore, on the banks of the Kali River.

We took a train to Dharwad where a family friend of ours came to pick us up. It was a two hour journey from there. We reached the resort in the late evening about 8.00 pm.

Mr. Umesh, the owner of the resort welcomed us with tea after which he showed us the two tree top houses and asked us to choose one. We chose the one on the bank of the river with the view of the flowing water from both windows. The stairs, made of bamboo, lead to the house, also built in bamboo. Surprisingly, the house is cosy and also has a bath which gets hot water. It even has a natural swimming pool on the banks of river.

The next day Umesh asked us to try white water rafting, for which Dandeli is famous. We were a bit hesitant and then decided to give it a try. The children were left in the resort under the care of staff there. We reached the site in a jeep provided by the resort. The guides there helped us get equipped with life-jackets and paddles.

We were 8 people, in our raft, including our guide. For the first 20-30 minutes, he gave us the basic training like commands and actions, modus operandi, safety precautions, and what to do if you fall in the rapids.

I was the only female in our raft and that too a non-swimmer. Our guide asked me to jump in the river just to ensure that I won’t panic in case of an emergency. I jumped in and panicked immediately. I started shouting that I didn’t want to go rafting but our guide assured me that he would take me back safely. I decided to learn swimming by the time I go there again.

The rafting was quite exciting with two more teams competing with each other. Our guide kept regaling us with his experiences. By the time we finished rafting, all of us had decided that this will not be our last rafting experience. We reached the resort a bit worried about the children. They were actually enjoying themselves, trying their hand at fishing and feeding Anjali, the deer.

The next day Abdullah, one of the staff, took us to a natural Jacuzzi on a small island near the resort. We took a boat ride to the place which is actually a rapid of the River Kali. When you sit on the rocks, you get the effect of a massage due to the pressure of the water.

The last day was the visit to the wild life sanctuary, which was a sheer disappointment for the children. Except for a few rabbits we could not spot a single animal.

The food there is definitely worth mentioning. Every time we came back from an activity, the food was ready on the table. It was delicious home made fare prepared by the cook there. The only sore point was the coffee.

Before we knew it we were packing our bags and planning the dates for our next trip to the tree top house, wishing that time could just stand still.

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—About our writer:

Shashirekha says, "I am from Bangalore. I work as a online technical editor for a media company. My hobbies include reading, swimming and cooking.

Trip to Hornbill River Resort, Dandeli

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