Kodenchery gears up for Malabar River Festival, rafting begins

Kozhikode is abuzz with activities for the upcoming Malabar River Festival & 9th Int'l White Water Kayaking Championship. River rafting, mud football, bicycle expeditions, rain walk & off-road vehicle race are some of the events. KSRTC Budget Tourism Cell has organised monsoon trips to the venue.

With barely a week left for the Malabar River Festival and the 9th International White Water Kayaking Championship to commence, Kodenchery, the upland hamlet in Kozhikode that hosts the event, is already abuzz with activities. Rivers Iruvazhinji and Chalipuzha, where the festival is being held, are swollen, much to the enthusiasm of kayakers and rafters who have come from different parts of the country to be part of the festival.

The festival is being organised by the Department of Tourism with the support of Kerala Adventure Tourism Promotion Society and the District Tourism Promotion Council on August 4, 5 and 6. For the first time, the public will get a chance to experience river rafting, which is being held in both the rivers under the aegis of Paddlemonks Adventures, Kerala’s first white water adventure company. River rafting packages of varying degrees of risk and difficulty and kayaking training have already been made available. A raft guide and two safety kayakers accompany a team of four tourists on these trips that may go on for one to three hours.

Meanwhile, the pre-events of the festival will begin on July 28 with the mud football competition to be held at Omassery. This will be followed by bicycle expeditions to Pulikkayam from Areekode, Kozhikode, and Kalpetta on July 30. The expeditions are being held under the aegis of Calicut Bikers’ Club, Wayanad Bikers’ Club and KL10 Pedallers. The rallies will be flagged off by MLA P.K. Basheer at Areekode, T. Siddique, MLA, at Kalpetta and District Collector A. Geetha in Kozhikode. Riders will be received at Pulikkayam by a team led by MLA Linto Joseph.

A rain walk has also been organised for women trekkers through the forest alongside Thusharagiri on the same day.

The off-road vehicle race will be held at Kodenchery on August 2, 12 and 13. Artists will camp along the rivers to sketch the activities live.

Meanwhile, the KSRTC Budget Tourism Cell has organised monsoon trips that start from the Kozhikode bus stand, passing through other scenic locations in upland Kozhikode, to the venue of the festival on all the three days.