The Christmas vacation for these boys from Chettinad Vidyashram NCC group was exciting. This group had been to the Mangalam kombu forest, which is 47 kms away from Kodaikkanal on an adventure camp organised by the Challenger Academy Foundation, on Dec. 25, 2007.
In the middle of the very deep forest full of greenery and scenery, the boys laid their tents beside a stream. The eight tents accommodated 37 boys and three elders, two teachers from the school and an official of CAF.
As the first activity of the camp, the boys walked on parallel ropes. Two ropes at a distant of four feet were tied between trees 50 metres away. The boys had to walk on one rope holding the other. There was a rope tied to their waist and a tree for safety.
The second activity was tree climbing. They climbed a tall tree with the support of small wooden blocks attached to it. “This was easier than the previous one,” say the excited boys.
The rope ladder climbing was fun! They climbed a rope ladder, 20 ft long!
The next day, they did a short trek, which was 5 km long. Climbing the rock, which had small grooves in it, was the toughest of all.
Then they had rappelling. That was to climb down a rock catching hold of a rope which hung from the top. This was easier than rock climbing, declare the boys!
The next day, they crossed a river holding a rope. And on the last day, they went easy and ventured out for sightseeing in Kodaikkanal. Silver Cascade, Bryant Park, Green Valley View, and Pillar Rocks!
For the boys, it was an exciting trip like never before.