The showers gracing the State over the past few days were an open
invitation to get over the gloomy weather and head right under a cascading flow
of white water. Goa is blessed to have wonderful waterfalls with rain water
that make their way over rocks or boulders to gracefully descend into a pool of
water. However, with all the excitement of walking into the wild in search of
these natural wonders, taking Mother Nature for granted or underestimating its
power is a terrible mistake, especially if you are facing it head-on, in a new
setting.
A Sunday outing has to be planned well
with someone who knows the terrain and when to cross the streams that lead to
the waterfalls. Goa has a number of adventure-based organisations that work
with experts who have been trained to access the areas concerned and learn
about it before venturing with larger groups.
A waterfall can be dangerous in the monsoons but even walking
across a low stream of water on slippery stones can make you fall and hit your
head. You have to be very careful while placing your feet in the water and
consuming alcohol is a strict no-no. If it’s a family outing or even a trek
with friends, drunk trekkers can be quite a nuisance with their loud unruly
behavior and of course breaking of bottles in pristine clean places.
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In its fourteen years of organizing treks in Goa and
mountaineering treks to the Himalayas, Eco Treks Goa has now completely stopped
organizing treks to waterfall for over four years. “Earlier, we used to plan at
least 4-5 treks to waterfalls in the monsoon. We used to take the help of local
villagers to guide us on a recce trek to check the difficulty level. While
organizing the trek to a waterfall, we used to keep in mind the distance one
has to walk, whether the path is clear and safe and that there are no leeches
on the way or in the waterfall,“ says Rajesh Rao, a member of Eco Treks Goa. A
recce trek is where the leaders do a preliminary survey of the place, find a
local guide and learn what to expect when on an actual trek with more people.
If they find the place risky, they don’t venture on that trek.
He further adds, “We always had leaders at regular intervals to
guide a particular number of trekkers and ropes are tied across to cross the
river or stream. The local guides know where the water is shallow but the force
is too strong in the stream.” However, as they used to organize treks for
people in the age group of six to sixty years, they found that the other
trekkers were usually carrying drinks and littered the place with broken
bottles which was not a good influence on families with children which made the
organization completely stop all treks to waterfalls. Their last trek to a
waterfall was in 2019 to Pali Waterfalls.
Yash Karpe recently joined the travel community in Goa with his
new venture Off Beat Community Goa where he organizes treks to different
waterfall almost every fortnight. He has been receiving great response from
people who want to visit waterfalls safely without any untoward incidents. His
next trek will be to Tambdi Surla on July 17. “I have organized treks to Vazara
Sakala waterfall and to Shivling Waterfall in Pali with 70 and 65 people
respectively. The best time to visit waterfalls is after nearly 25 days from
the beginning of monsoon. The water level is great and even the waterfalls are
cleared of loose trees, boulders and other debris. The water is also clean
after the initial muddy waters have flown downstream. We even carry first aid
for trekkers as a precaution,” says Yash, a Sanquelim based adventure
enthusiast.
One factor that irked Yash was the inconsiderate behaviour of
men who visit the waterfalls. “It was infuriating to see people bypassing the
forest guards and openly carrying crates of alcohol bottles. They later get
drunk, dance to loud music and leave behind a trail of garbage. I also find
some families who cook at these waterfalls but at least they don’t mess the
place and carry their waste items with them. The villagers are also upset about
this kind of people visiting the waterfalls in their area,” he adds.
Goa Tourism Development Corporation Ltd (GTDC) have been
organizing waterfall treks since 2015. However, the pandemic brought in a two
year drought for these lucrative treks. Making a comeback this year, GTDC
organized a trek to Tambdi Surla Waterfalls on July 3, a trek to Hivrem
Waterfalls on July 10 and the next trek will be to Naneli Waterfalls in Sattari
on July 17.
“We request the help of locals from the respective areas who are
like trained guides for the treks. for every ten trekkers, we have one leader
to prevent the people from venturing into dangerous waters. Adventure can be
quite risky and due to weather factors sometimes it can be beyond our control.
We used to have the assistance of the Forest Department and the forest guards
for our treks. We check the difficulty level before announcing every trek,”
says Anil Dalal, Assistant Manager at GTDC.
Monsoon
is the best time to explore these natural wonders. However, it’s better to be
safe than sorry when heading out in unpredictable weather, where the water
level can rise within 15 minutes
