^ Photo Courtesy of Ms. Melinda

Our DP1 Trip this year took our grade of only 19 towards central Sri Lanka – to Kithulgala, a small town named after the Kithul tree, of which it has in great abundance. We spent three days at Borderlands, a riverside adventure camp situated on the banks of the Kelani River, where we engaged in a plethora of mainly water-based activities, including white-water rafting and canyoning.

Day One

   After an early departure from our campus at 6.30am, and a little-over 2 hours drive, we arrived at our first activity’s rendezvous point – around half way on the river Kelani’s course for white-water rafting. We had a few welcome snacks and drinks before heading to the river bank for our safety equipment – a life jacket and helmet – after which we baptized ourselves in the river, in hindsight of a whole 3 more days playing with it. Moving on, we were given a brief, but quite insightful, safety & knowledge brief on the river and how to read it – and for me at least, Wade’s famous line, “You will never look at a river the same way again”, still stands to this day. 

   We were quickly split up into groups of 6 (including a guide) to venture off rafting – I ended up with Akash, Pep, Oliver, Dr. Leigh and Kasun (our guide). A quick additional safety brief highlighted Pep being thrown into the water as a sacrificial offering to bless our voyage (she was thrown as a dummy to demonstrate proper rescue techniques if one of us actually fell). Our start was in calmer rapids, which gradually built up to tougher ones which required more technique – one of which we succumbed to. It was an all-round experience to say the least – at one extreme, the calm tranquility of the gentle flow and the other, the ferociousness of interwoven rapids which made our boat “taco” so much so that we all had a dip and came out a little confused. We had an interim stop on a bank beach in between our rafting for a little reflection about nature and appreciation for its complexity. Since the beach was raised on a levee, the slope was steep enough for the guides to flip over a raft to make a makeshift water slide – all of us took the pleasure of sliding ungracefully into the river without a single care in the world. 

   At the end of our rafting excursion, we moored port at the foot of a tall bridge and proceeded to walk deep into the jungle to our next activity – picking up our first encounters with leeches as we went – canyoning. It was amazing – from the slides to the jumps to the crab-walking, it was a memorable experience. Adjusting to the cold water took a while, but after my body accepted the new equilibrium it was even more enjoyable. Never before had I ever had a state where I coordinated so much of my five senses to make a decision, it opened a new avenue to how I thought about the body. To tie it all together, there was the occasional scream from some poor sod who forgot to crab walk and almost ended up needing plastic surgery. We ate a much needed, warm traditional Sri Lankan lunch at the end of the canyon before walking back to the bridge.