Grade 9 Activity Week 2023

From camping in tents to showering with bugs to rafting and ziplining, there’s a lack of words to explain activity week – but it definitely was SOMETHING.  

The week started out with a supposedly two hour bus ride to Rishikesh, where we managed to get stuck in traffic for around six hours. Reaching Snow Leopard’s Panther Adventure Resort, both groups stayed together for the upcoming two nights. Each group spent two days in tents (at Camp Leopard Heights) , and the rest in the resort. Throughout activity week we took part in exciting activities like rafting, hiking, swimming and ziplining.  

One of the main points of this week was the other campsite, Leopard Heights – unreachable by anything but raft or zipline- which is where the problem creeped in. You see, people were so scared to zipline that instead they decided to raft and do a hike up to the new campsite – but of course, everyone was tempted to try it, scared or not.  Now, ziplining was an incredible experience- but a lot more extreme than I had initially expected- the wind blew on your face, threatening to push you off but the unbelievable views of the Himalaya peaking out was one of the best parts of the week. It was beautiful, but also extremely gut wrenching, especially if you got stuck in the middle (which almost every single person in our grade did), and got forced to ‘monkey crawl’  to the end. 

As for the hikes, the weather was extremely humid, there were bugs and we ended up using mosquito repellent as perfume, trekking through the rocks of Rishikesh. Swimming in the flowing clear blue waters almost made it worth it, as did the incredible hot chocolate there..  Key word: almost. 

Rafting, though, was what got everyone through the entire week. And oh, the rapids made all of the exhaustion so worth it. One of them was called the three blind mice- three sets of whitewater currents that you couldn’t see clearly, that kept hitting the raft again and again- threatening to make it flip. The thrill and the collective panicky happiness that struck us, every time the instructor yelled “GET DOWN!” is something I’ll never forget. 

Though the weather was extreme- quite humid, and a lot of the activities were exhausting, even terrifying for some- guys,  we made it. Rishikesh Activity Week- DONE. Trips like this not only help you feel like a part of the grade- with friend groups mixing and merging, and meeting up with the stuff, but they truly show you that as a whole unit, we can beat anything. From being scared to zipline, to dealing with nature (or giant bugs), to rafting and being afraid of falling in the waters, to hiking so much there seemed no end, and splashing each other in the rivers of the Ganga- Activity week was a hot-cocoa filled, terrifying, thrilling and slightly traumatizing experience- and I for one am so glad I could experience it.