Footprints on the Mountainside

The Tourism ministry insists that they want to promote adventure tourism in India. Like cultural tourism, etc. Basically what they want is more tourists.

There are fancy initiatives and Incredible India and what-nots. Yet, how much attention is paid to actually facilitating tourism? How much attention is paid to ensure that the tourists come? Sure, tourists come. India has been a hotspot for travellers for thousands of years. But, if we want more, what do we do to ensure that the people who we invite are able to come and have a good experience?

What we have in the name of tourism is fancy packages. Sure. That is one element of tourism. Yet, somewhere down the line, we forget that we are actually inviting people to experience the country. We have invited them. They are our guests.

Seth Godin shared an experience in a visa office and talks about several, really easy to manage things that could make the experience more inviting. Not just inviting, it could translate into better revenue from more tourists, convenient airline bookings, welcoming interaction…. I can empathise with this post so much. How many of us really enjoy conversing with a person behind thick glass, waiting in a place with inadequate seating that is in disrepair……. would we want to do business with such people? Perhaps…. if we needed the product. But tourism is not a need. It is a dream we are selling. Could selling dreams become more interesting in a condusive environment that says we are interested in you?

When I set up Wide Aware, I had a talk with my CA, who needed to know the nature of business for figuring out tax and things. It was a rude awakening to know that the Tourism Ministry’s invite for people to provide adventure services hasn’t made it to the Tax Office. There IS no category for adventure services. It was a pain figuring out “what we were”. We are not travel agents, we do training, but we are not consultants - we do outbound training and fun programmes as well, We do outdoor education, but we are not an educational institution…….. If the memo had made the journey to the  Tax office, it would be a simple matter of “adventure services”. So, we want to promote adventure tourism, but of course, there is no adventure service provider in India. Really! Please bring your own rafting guide with you. We have the rivers. And yeah, travel agents conduct wildlife tours.

Rafting reminds me…. the river rafting that we do uses water from the dam at Bhire for the rapids. There have been numerous attempts over the years to try and bring some kind of predictability to it, so that the adventure tourism that the tourism ministry wants can happen. Nah! The dam officials don’t work in the tourism ministry, therefore it is not their problem. Thus, there is no way of knowing if water will be available, or you refund your bookings until the rafting run starts. Granted, the water is released almost everyday, but try explaining to a tourist waiting with gear ready that “oops! You get a refund - remember the cancellation clause that refers to events beyond our control?”

Last year, Amita wrote about a similar problem she had with Brightlands resort in Matheran. The hotel had overbooked, and she didn’t get the room she had booked. She took a refund, and when she called up the hotel owner, he told her that refunds were against their policy!!! There needs to be some kind of a regulation for this. I am not speaking of consumer courts, but enough issues in consumer courts reflecting in your licence.

There are tourists, there are locations, there are providers. What needs to be done is making that confluence easy and enjoyable.

Leaving for Pench today. Haven’t been there before. It is Wide Aware’s first Wildlife tour to this Tiger Reserve, and we are filled with apprehension and excitement. We have organized this tour at expense, as we have no experience of this region to be offering services. It is a nail-biting time as we wait for the train to arrive, and our journey to start.

Many thoughts cross my mind. Nervous “what if” ones as well as fanciful flights of my imagination. We want to see tigers the most, as it is supposed to be the highlight of this reserve, but we are also anticipating a fantastic time among trees, birds, wild dogs, herbivores like bison, deer… My hyperactive mind serially visualizes all available options including a boring trip with no sightings, people collapsing in the extreme heat of the region in this season, superb sightings, but getting lost in the jungles, a tiger attack, evenings of star gazing…. My mind knows no limits. I even found myself idly thinking about a campfire evening – The temperatures out there are going to be prime heat stroke material – campfire!!!??

This happens to me with every new tour I begin. My mind goes into an imagination expedition. All the years of experience and their accumulated wisdom are inapplicable to these fantasies, and I am free to be a completely ignorant child on these flights of fancy. However bizarre, it may sound, but the girl who has spent 12 years in the wilderness one way or the other still gets fits of nail-biting, particularly when on a new tour with clients.

We are well equipped with a camera, another camera, a third camera, binoculars, field reference guides, notebooks, small pouches we are planning to gift participants to put their rubbish in so as not to litter, a book on astronomy for the nights (I am a perpetual beginner, with my reliably forgetful memory), snacks for moments of hunger, a first-aid kit, and lots of things besides. A friend even joked that the only thing left out is a pack of diapers in case we see a tiger from really close.

So, I have vented my jitters, reviewed my preparations, and it is now time to leave for the much awaited tour. Bye folks, wish us luck. I should be back soon with tictures and an account of the trip, maybe backed by a short video or something.

Ta-ta!

I just got a call from a woman who had heard that we conduct wildlife tours to Pench. Her son had told her, and he absolutely wanted to go. He wouldn’t listen, and she called me up to find out more about what her son was so eager to get into.

Always eager to speak with parents encouraging their kids to an adventurous existence, I was at my warm and welcoming best in the beginning, but to my dismay, she didn’t really want to know anything about the tour at all! Not even where it was going!

Instead, her biggest worry was danger. She wanted a guarantee that “nothing will happen to my son”. I patiently explained that while no one can foresee what may or not happen, in the 12 years or so that I have been working in this profession, I have not had casualties or even a serious need to apply all the first-aid training that we so religiously keep up to date. This is tours we conduct for clients, we save our stunts for personal outings

This was not good enough to convince her, and she wanted an idea of how dangerous it actually was. I said that wild tigers are dangerous animals, but we are well protected on horseback and in our jeeps. We have experienced forest rangers with tranquilizing guns for emergencies to guide and look out for us.

She wanted statistics, which I didn’t have. The only thing I could say in favour of the tour was that I have not heard of deaths or dangerous attacks from man-eaters on the tour we are planning. The whole thing was less dangerous than commuting by bike in Mumbai’s heavy traffic (which, incidently her son does).

She then wanted an assurance that the facilities were good and that her son was sensitive to insect bites, so no insects should be around and that he should have the facility to call home every evening, or whenever he wished. She also wanted assurances about the quality of food, and to know if it was ‘tested’ (whatever that means). The last thing she requested was that her son not share rooms with people who snore, as he is a light sleeper

We TASTE the food and it is yummy - just perfect after a long day in the wild. I am not going to bother to vent my irritation about the snoring.

I was dumbfounded! This is a man who has a job and owns a motorcycle that he rides to work - not a baby! It is a tour he wants to join desperately. Surely he is aware that insects are present in jungles and a wide variety of repellents exist. Furthermore, his mother is so worried about his comfort, that she needs a guarantee of him not being tortured by the tiny things! Her son actually gave her the number so that she could call and find out!!!

I think it is important for a person to step out of his comfort zone in order to expand his personal experience and knowledge, whether in a corporate office, or in the wild. There is a big difference in a known and calculated potential risk and reckless behaviour, and it must not be equated either.

Even more than that, I feel that if we over-protect our loved ones, we handicap them by glorifying limitations that can easily be overcome. A little independence in a grown-up son is a virtue that will help him stand as your support when you grow old.

Of course, I couldn’t tell her that, so I made polite noises and suggested that perhaps her son might be able to survive such a dangerous experience, because of his own capabilities and put down the phone.

Then, knowing that the woman would never risk reading such a dangerous site, I came hare to rant