Adventure travel in India is growing fast. That’s something we’re genuinely proud to have been part of, having watched this industry evolve from a niche pursuit in the 1990s to a mainstream movement today.
But growth brings pressure points. And some of them are starting to show.
Deccan Chronicle reached out to our founder, Vaibhav Kala, to talk about where the industry stands: on safety, on regulation, on climate and on the culture of risk that social media is quietly amplifying. The full interview is worth reading, but we wanted to share our perspective here directly.
On social media and risk
The “just go for it” energy online looks inspiring. In practice, it’s sending underprepared people into situations that demand real fitness, experience and judgment. Adventure travel has to be matched to the individual — their ability, their aptitude, their fitness. That conversation doesn’t happen in a caption.
We’re not anti-enthusiasm. We’re pro-preparedness. Those two things should go together, and right now they often don’t.
On regulation
The standards broadly exist. Enforcement is the gap. States need to license guides and operators, and ideally, no license should mean no operation. That’s not an unreasonable bar. It’s the minimum required to protect both travellers and the destinations they’re visiting.
We’ve always held ourselves to this standard internally, even when it wasn’t required externally. It’s the only way we know how to operate.
On climate
This is the one that’s changed the most in 30 years. The Himalayas we operate in today are measurably different from the ones we started in. Weather windows have shifted. Conditions are less predictable. Every expedition now requires tighter weather monitoring, backup resources, evacuation-ready guides and a Plan B built in from the start , not improvised when things go sideways.
Operators who aren’t accounting for this are running expeditions on assumptions that no longer hold.
On what responsible adventure actually looks like
Leave No Trace is the foundation. Take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints. Beyond that, it means investing in gear, in guide training, in safety systems — and absorbing that cost rather than passing the risk onto guests through cheaper, thinner operations.
We also recently launched Treks For All, an initiative making adventure experiences accessible to persons with disabilities. Responsible travel means expanding who gets to participate, not just protecting where they go.
Three decades in, our philosophy hasn’t changed: preserve the destination, protect the people, keep safety non-negotiable. The industry is catching up to that thinking. We hope it gets there faster.
Read the full interview with Vaibhav Kala in Deccan Chronicle, reported by Reshmi AR.
