The Bhopal Tourism Promotion Council organised a four-day Bhoj Adventure Fest-2012 in the State capital on February 18-21. Events under the festival were held at several locations including Kaliasot and Upper Lake.
Parasailing, para-motoring, rock climbing, hot air ballooning, bungee jumping, trekking and rappelling were the main adventure sports besides bull riding, water surfing, boating, shooting and the commando net.
People who are enthusiastic about adventure sports participated. On the second day of the fest, 150 students from tribal areas participated in various events. Many political leaders and senior administrative officers like SC/ST Welfare Minister Vijay Shah and MLA Vishwas Sarang, Divisional Commissioner Praveen Garg, Bhopal Collector Nikunj Shrivastava and others participated in the fest.
Although it is commonly believed that adventure sports are meant for young persons only many middle-aged and retired persons also participated in the fest. Students from different colleges and schools were present in large numbers. While some came in trips organised by their school and colleges, others participated on their own.
A camp fire was organised every evening in which groups from different parts of the State performed folk songs and dances.
Satpura Adventure Sports Club director Vijay Sahu said adventure sports like the commando net teaches a person to climb with ropes or pipes in a case of emergency.
Xtreme Adventure director Puneet Chaturvedi told Viva City that they have organised rock climbing and parasailing in the fest. "Response to parasailing has been phenomenal. People participated more in parasailing than in any other event. The youngest to participate was a three-year-old girl who parasailed with her father. Rock climbing was preferred by the young, as a lot of physical labour is involved. Charges for parasailing were Rs 150 per person and for rock climbing it was Rs 100 per person.
Xtreme Adventures also organises these events separately but the charges are higher as in the fest charges are subsidised, added Chaturvedi.
District Collector Nikunj Shrivastava, who participated in the activities himself, said adventure sports helps one score a victory over fear. These activities bring confidence and teach a person to trust the system. When a person jumps from 110 feet he has to believe in the equipment and the person who is handling the rope. The effects of this trust does not remain just for a temporary period, it remains with him forever. Everyone, who is physically fit and does not have a high blood pressure, should try out adventure sports.
"We are organising these events to develop the interest of citizens in adventure sports. If private participation increases, adventure sports will be organised around the year. Bhopal can attract more tourists and also has the potential of becoming an adventure sports destination," added Shrivastava.
Sidhant Jain, a second-year computer science and engineering student at TIT College, said, "This is the first time I am participating in adventure sports, I am very excited to parasail, some of my friends have done parasailing and they praised it a lot. Such events should be organised more often. Till now I have flown on a hot air balloon. It was a new experience for me and Bhopal looked so beautiful from the height."
IEHE first-year student Sumat Minj said, "I wanted to try bungee jumping for years but the city did not have such facilities earlier. This time, I did not miss the opportunity and the experience was as I expected - marvellous. The adrenaline rush is something that pushes you to do it again and again."
Xtreme Zone Adventure Sports CEO Praveen Krishaniya said this is the second year of its organising adventure sports events in Bhopal. "We have organised bungee jumping at a height of 110 feet," he said.
"There is a misconception among people that adventure sports have a high casualty risk which is not true. In adventure sports there is a calculated risk in which casualty probability is very low; I would even say there is more risk in driving a vehicle than in bungee jumping," said Krishaniya.
Rock climbing
Rock climbing is an adventure sport in which participants climb up natural rock formations or artificial rock walls. The target of the sport is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a route without falling. Rock climbing is similar to scrambling (another activity involving the scaling of hills and similar formations) but climbing is generally differentiated by its sustained use of hands to support the climber's weight as well as to provide balance. In rock climbing a person is not allowed to use his ankles and knees to climb.
Parasailing
In parasailing a parachute goes up with a person that is designed to be towed behind a boat or four-wheel vehicle like a jeep on a flat big ground. A parasail is flown on wide long and motorable beaches or any vast open land like dry lake beds, grounds with no trees or rocks, etc. The passenger snaps into the parasail's comfortable harness, signals the driver of the tow vehicle, takes a few steps and soars into the air! Depending on the length of the tow rope, a parasail can carry one hundreds of feet into the sky. Parasailing is a sport for people from all walks of life. You don't need any prior training to fly in a parasail. The crew on the ground controls the parasail. Since there are no controls to be handled in flight, the flyer is free to enjoy his/her solo flight.
Hot air ballooning
In hot air ballooning, a large balloon is filled with hot air and has a basket under it in which easily 3-4 persons can sit. Attractive aspects of ballooning include the quietness, the lack of a feeling of movement and the bird's-eye view. Since the balloon moves with the wind, the passengers feel absolutely no wind, except for brief periods during the flight when the balloon climbs or descends into air currents of different directions or speed. Most hot air balloon launches are made during the cooler hours of the day, at dawn or two to three hours before sunset.
Bungee jumping
In bungee jumping a person jumps from a tall structure while connected to a large elastic cord. The tall structure is usually a fixed object, such as a building, bridge, jam or crane (as used in the Bhoj fest) but it is also possible to jump from a movable object, such as a hot-air-balloon or helicopter, that has the ability to hover above the ground. The thrill comes as much from the free-falling as from the rebounds. When the person jumps, the cord stretches and the jumper flies upwards again as the cord recoils and continues to oscillate up and down until all the energy is dissipated.
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