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I am in Mumbai for a few days. So I looked up whitewater rafting adventures in Maharashtra, India. I can find 2 options:

Kundalika River

12 kms / Grade 2 & 3 / ~12 rapids / 2 hours / Easy

Situated in the Sahyadri mountain ranges, this is a dam-controlled river with dams on either side. Bhira dam on the upstream and Dolwahal dam on the downstream. The flow of the river depends in the daily water release from the Bhira Dam. The start time is dependent on the release of water, scheduled between 8am-9am. Our adventure requires the blessings of the dam authorities, not just nature!

Kolad is base town for major of the operators and is situated ~120kms from Mumbai & Pune. 80kms from Lonavala.

List of rafting operators with identifiable owners, compiled based on my research

• Daivya Adventures Activity Camp by Arun Sawant
• Wilder West Adventures by Mahesh Sanap
• Aqua Adventures Kolad by Atish Kapse
• Infinite Journeys / Foliage Outdoors by Rahul Rao

Though I have seen claims of being operational all year along, when I checked in December it was closed and scheduled to re-open in mid-Feb.

Pej-Ulhas River

6 kms / Grade 2 & 3 / ~9 rapids / 1.5 hours / Easy

Pej is a tributary of Ulhas River. The beautiful town of Karjat is the base and is situated 65 kms from Mumbai, 100kms from Pune and 40kms from Lonavala. Infinite Journeys / Foliage Outdoors (listed above) also run operations on this river. 4 runs in a day at 9am, 11am, 2pm and 4pm.

Conclusion

Maharashtra is the 3rd largest state of India by area with more than 103 rivers. Though only 2 are active rafting destinations, it is a easy opportunity to taste the thrills of rafting. For a time, rafting used to be on the Vaitarna River, but it’s not happening anymore. If you have done rafting in Maharashtra, I am interested to hear from you.

You know how to reach me. If not, X @rajspace

_{Maharashtra River Cover Photo Credit: Nakul Patil}