I first heard about the Bakpackers organization trough one of my school friends and I was suitably impressed by the account he gave me of the camp. Our summer holidays were just around the corner and this camp gave me an opportunity to interact closely with nature, which, I had not been able to avail before. The pick-up point was at Kantheerava stadium and we reached the Bhagavati nature camp In Kudremukha the next morning by two comfortable buses. There were children of ages varying from 8 to 16.When we reached, we were immediately served breakfast. The tents in which we stayed were absolutely clean and spotless with sanitized bathrooms and cozy chairs and beds. We stayed at the camp for three days, during which, we got to do a lot of adventure activities. There were exertions like trekking, zip-lining, swimming, nature walks and so on. All these activities were refreshing and kept my mind away from the thoughts of the city for the full three days. The food was delicious, not to mention excellent and was provided every day on time, right on schedule.  On the first day of the trip, all of us were sorted out into 6 groups and were escorted on a camp tour, so that we get acquainted with our new surroundings. We got to explore the Kalsa river, which was one of the prominent landmarks around our camp.

That afternoon, we were shown a PowerPoint presentation on frogs and their habits. Subsequently, we went frog watching that evening. We got to see many tadpoles in the river, including some tiny, young frogs and a huge green one, with webbed feet.

The next day, all the groups were classified into two batches. The first batch went zip lining in the morning, while the second batch, of which I was a part, went trekking. In the afternoon, the roles were exchanged. This was followed by a long leisure of swimming in the Kalsa River, but only after we had adorned life jackets for safety, even though the river was not that deep. This was so much fun that, in the end, we ended up swimming for hours together.

On the third and the last day, we all went for bird watching at day break, which was hampered by a bit of rain on the way. This bird watching turned out to be a sort of nature walk as we spotted very few birds there. After the walk, we had our breakfast in the dining area, following which, we paid a visit via bus to the Lakya dam. This dam was different in virtue from the others that I had visited previously. This dam had been specially designed to block the residue of silt that was brought down from the minefields in the mountains. The sight that greeted us from the dam was simply breath-taking and formed a stunning picturesque scenario.

On our way back from the dam, we made a small detour to the Hanumangundi falls. We had to descend nearly 300 steps to reach the falls, but our toil proved not to be in vain as the falls were aesthetic and visually appealing.

Later that evening, we were shown two video clips, one of the Bhadra river, the other about rock climbing. Then, certificates were given to all the participants in the camp and a final group photo of all the camp children and the volunteers was taken.

Finally, I would like to thank all the organizers of the holiday camp who maintained order amongst the children and at the same time, made it possible for me to enjoy the camp thoroughly.

Thank you bakpackers!

By kaushik