India: Trip to Corbet with Friends

 

Image0458Corbett was always a special place for me as I had celebrated my three birthdays at Jim Corbett, but this time it was different. For the first time in my life, I was going to a place far away from Delhi (where I live) without my family. I was only 10. Our school “PRESIDIUM” planed this educational trip for us. In this trip, I also had with me my best friend Shivansh, whom I also call Shivu. We started our journey from our school in Delhi at around 8 am in the morning by bus. Finally, after a long journey of 6 hours, we reached our destination – the Corbett!

I had already visited the Corbett around 10 times, but the place looked new and more beautiful this time. Our school had booked the Manu Maharani Resort, a luxurious and comfortable resort by the side of the Kosi river. The resort was surrounded by thick, green forest and I could notice a large variety of birds all around. The staff of the resort was quite courteous and they warmly welcomed us to the resort. After we put our luggage in the rooms and freshened up, it was time for something big and dangerous. I mean RIVER CROSSING.

The river was very wide and the speed of flow was too much for us. On top of that, the water was too cold. In the winter season, you surely would not want to swim in cold water. After some initial hesitation and fear, I and my friends finally did it successfully. I was very proud after crossing the river not only once, but thrice! I also got the punishment for it, not by the teachers but by God. I had caught cold by the time I returned to the resort. But after having some hot pepper soup, I was much relieved and till the next morning, I was perfectly fine.

Next morning, at 4:00am, we went for trekking and as we trekked higher up the mountain, our view kept on improving. After about an hour of walking, we had completely left the noisy area and were on the top of a mountain of an average height. The view from there took my breath away. It was so amazing and serene. After sometime, we saw a peacock in the bushes. The pleasant weather, the silence, and the view were all just perfect. Today, even after 3 years of the incident, I still remember the exact view because the view and the peace of the place is not stored in my brain but in my heart.

We had planned to sleep in tents the second night. Each tent was to accommodate three children; so, I had two of my friends in the tent with me. Unfortunately, Shivu was not one of them because “who sleeps where” was decided by the teachers.

The forest, which looked so inviting during the day, was now looking horrifying in the dark. My roommates, or rather my tent mates, were too scared, as various sounds of dangerous animals were coming to our tent from outside. From my camping experience with my parents, I knew that animals will not come near us because of the fire that was lit outside the camp. However, I decided to play a prank on my tent mates and instead of consoling them and telling them the truth, I told them that it is not only the animals that they should be scared of, there are also ghosts here!

Listening to my words, they both became pale with fear. I started to scare them more and more by telling them some made-up ghost stories and when it was too much for them to take, they got up and ran away to another tent and slept there. They did not do this because they thought I was lying and scaring them but because they though they would be safer in a bigger group if ghosts came in the night. I have no doubt that they were unable to sleep well because no tent there had space for five children. But I got an independent tent for myself and invited Shivu to my tent, where we both slept very well!

The next day was again full of fun. We did trekking, had good food, and went for the jungle safari. The jungle was not new for me, as I had been inside the Corbett forest several times before. As usual, we saw lots of golden deer, sambar deer, peacocks, and other small animals. That night, we slept in the rooms, which must have been a great relief to my previous-night tent mates. Both of them slept very early, as they could hardly sleep the previous night. I chose to be generous this time and let them sleep peacefully.

Next day morning was the final day of our trip and we returned to our school by the evening. I and Shivu again had a lot of fun during the bus journey.
As all good things end, the trip was over and we were back to school and back to studies. But I sincerely thank my school and my teachers for this wonderful trip, which offered me so much of peace, fun, and adventure during the three days; though I cannot say for sure that my tent mates would agree with my assessment of the trip. May be I will ask them some day.

About the Author:  AAKASH PANDEY: I am Aakash and I am 13 years old actually I just turned 13 this October. I live in India and my current story was about my school trip to Corbet. I want to do well in the field of English and want to be a writer one day.

Gratitude Travel Writing Contest

We hope you enjoyed this entry in the We Said Go Travel Gratitude Writing Contest. Please visit this page to learn more and participate. Thank you for reading the article and please leave a comment below.

8 responses to “India: Trip to Corbet with Friends

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

We Said Go Travel