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Swetha Kannan

A growing number of holidaymakers are shunning must-visit lists or rigid itineraries. It's more about exploring and discovering offbeat experiences.

Get ready to experience the charm of new-age travel, as nature's unbound, unspoiled terrain greets you. And there is plenty of outdoor activity and adventure too.

With more people breaking away from conventional travelling, offbeat options are here to stay.

"The change is due to media coverage of unusual places, and adventure TV channels where people see real action. Treks, camping and rafting expeditions are getting bigger than ever before," says Vaibhav Kala, Founder-Director of Delhi-based Aquaterra Adventures.

"It's also a lifestyle statement now to have rock-climbed, rappelled or rafted," says Navin Pangti of Himalayan Village, an eco-retreat in the sylvan valleys of Uttaranchal.

If adventure tourism excites the outdoor-bound, eco-tourism has its share of takers too. Eco-tourism is all about not leaving one's footprints behind, while unravelling nature's mystery.

But eco-tourism is much more than just sightseeing. Mingling with the locals and creating a bond is part of the experience. Travellers learn about new cultures and lifestyles, thus breaking the mythical rural-urban divide.

"The local community and its culture is a `product' for an eco-tourist. And both parties try not to disturb the peace," says Pangti. "We also want to retail products made by villagers and self-help groups, to help motivate the local artisans. We want to create a web of interdependency between our organisation and the villagers, so that both benefit."

Eco-retreats and camps range from cosy cottages in the middle of pine forests to fully equipped Swiss-style tents at dizzying heights. And those who run these properties want to offer much more than `a hotel and room'.

These community-based retreats have something for every kind of traveller — families, professionals, businesspersons, backpackers, students or corporates. "Most of our clients are weekend travellers looking for a peaceful place to do their own thing. They don't want a fixed itinerary. They just walk around the jungle, go for village walks, chat by the bonfire, read books, fly kites or play cricket with the village kids. But corporate groups have an itinerary in the form of adventure activities, soft treks and village walks," says Pangti.

"The absence of television and telephone is a delightful experience for them. Even doing nothing in some remote place is part of holidaying for a modern traveller."

Run-of-the-mill locales are generally avoided, and relatively less charted places are explored. "Every year you will find new destinations opening up. Travel is getting re-defined or going back to its original meaning — you travel to a new place to break the pattern you are caught in by living in the same place," says Rajesh Ojha of Banjara Camps and Retreats, which organises outings in the Himalayan valleys of Kinnaur, Sangla and Spiti.

Aquaterra Adventures chooses locations ranging from Ladakh Zanskar in the north to remote Arunachal Pradesh in the east — "places where no one but the die-hard tourist used to go to, even eight years ago," says Kala.

Taking the spirit of holidaying a step further is Soulitudes, a company that aims to fuse culture and tradition with travel. Ram Badrinathan, its co-founder, cites the Advait Utsav they organised in 2004 where noted Dhrupad singer Uday Bhawalkar performed in the midst of the Bhandavgarh jungles. "We had an early morning concert where the sun rose with Raag Lalit followed by bhajans. No mikes. Just his voice, the tanpura and the pakhawaj (accompaniments). In the evening, amidst candlelight, he sang Raag Yaman. It was quite something," he says.

Although in its infancy, offbeat tourism promises bright prospects. Says Kala, "It is getting big enough for people to talk and write about; it'll hit the roof in five years."

Picture by Sarvesh

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