Active & Adventure

India and Sri Lanka are often overlooked for active and adventure holidays, but this region offers some of the most breathtaking and exhilarating experiences in mountain climbing, white water rafting and zip-lining. On two feet it can be as easy as a walk through one of India’s busy bazaars or as vigorous as a day’s hike in the foothills, or a two week high altitude trek in the Himalayas! If you really want to take it easy, enjoy a private helicopter ride that gets you close to Mt Everest or glide over the fabled Rajasthan desert, on a romantic hot air balloon ride. On two wheels, you could discover the best mountain biking in Nepal, or take in the sights of Sri Lanka’s ancient citadels, coastal towns and villages. For something a little more intense, a multi-day mountain motor bike trip through the jungles of Central India, the steep mountain trails of the Spiti Valley or through the deserts of Rajasthan and the mountain passes of Ladakh. Alternatively join a desert safari trail of Gujarat or the Thar Desert on camel or horseback, camping under the stars and experiencing authentic village hospitality and the true beauty of India’s rural heartland.

Local Interactions

We know that meeting interesting locals, especially on your first trip to a new country is not easy, so we’ve saved you the awkwardness of approaching strangers directly, and presented here our collection of favorite experiences that will help you meet locals while traveling. Take your pick from farmers, village tribesmen, top chefs and home cooks, tea and cinnamon planters, historians, naturalists and conservationists, activists, artists, priests or just the very spiritually inclined. We are humbled to call each of these personalitiesour own friends, so you’re in the friendliest and most engaging company. You’ll learn first-hand their cultures, traditions, crafts and every-day life. Get to know how they work and play, celebrate or mourn, and of course you have the choice of doing this over a cup of tea or a full delicious home cooked meal. Our local interactions are curated to put you at complete ease, and allows you to see a different kind of beauty. Walking through the tea plantations or rice paddies is a unique and personal experience, when it’s your local hosts’ backyard. Experience the many styles of Indian fashion, Sri Lankan hospitality or Burmese kindness, and by doing so you’ll understand their culture a little better.

Arts & Crafts

Each of our carefully selected arts and crafts experiences are hosted by an expert; scholar, curator, historian, artist, artisan or writer who will be your guide, lecturer or dinner companion. Get to know the spirit and identity of the Himalayan kingdom by experiencing a festival of dance in thanks to the Gods for a successful harvest, or the centuries old folk songs of nomadic dessert tribes. Discover the Tibetan culture of Thanka painting in Nepal or Dharasmala, experience the intricately beautuful embroidery and tie dye found among the dessert tribes of Gujarat and Rajasthan. All our experiences in art and craft connect you to fascinating local artisans that are keeping millennia old culture of arts and craft alive in hands-on interactive activities that showcase the very best of the region’s art from past to present:  the beautiful hand woven silk sarees of Benares, the Pashminas of Kashmir, poetic miniature Moghul paintings, elaborate Dravidian stone carved temples of southern India and Rajasthan’s blue pottery. Take in the incredible tribal art of Central India’s Warli, Gond and Bhil tribes. Some of the earliest examples of Indian art date back to 5500 BC, like silk weaving and block printing in Jaipur – in fact, India has one of the richest textile traditions in the world with styles that vary drastically in each of its regions, and it will be our pleasure to introduce you to these.

NGOs

If you want to give back to a community while on holiday, we have a selection of opportunities that allow you to do good through your travels, and in turn benefit local communities by travelling with respect for local culture, economy and environment. Similar to our selection of Local Interactions, our experiences with NGOs allow you to engage with interesting and insightful local personalities, which could range from having a cup of chai at a corner shop, visiting local schools, understanding local wildlife conservation better, or rebuilding towns affected by natural disasters. Some of the tours here simply work with hosts in impoverished setting; a tuk-tuk rides with a local driver allow you to support local business, walks in local towns with residents that get you close to the heart of a community project, and visits to rural schools and interactions with students help you understand their needs or planting of new trees in villages. Each of the organizations we work with are reputed and registered, so monetary donations are guaranteed to help each cause. A lot more is to be gained by giving back, whichever way you may chose, like friendships, cross-cultural learning, and life changing experiences that we hope will shift how you live, travel, and give back in the future.

Culinary

Over the years, we have uncovered the best in fragrant and colorful market tours, hands-on interactive cookery lessons, and private tastings with top local experts. Our selected culinary experiences will not only help hone your culinary skills but, we hope, offer real insight into a place and its people as we share with you a true insider’s guide to the region’s best culinary experiences. Perfect that Indian curry spice blend or embark on market visits and walking street food tours; there’s a dizzying number of exciting and unforgettable culinary experiences in the region. A trip to India and Sri Lanka in particular is a sensory overload at any given meal time of the day; from cooking over a wood fire in an Indian village, or a Sri Lankan cooking lesson amidst paddy fields, the art of butter tea making against the stillness of a rural Himalayan village setting, we can satisfy your gastronomic hunger!

Walking Tours

Our selection of insider trails have been tried and tested and promise to broaden your horizons. You’ll see destinations up close, with time to linger and learn. The walking tours that we integrate into our itineraries are led by passionate locals who will bring the streets alive with their stories – gone are the days of boring, by rote guiding, the future is with immersive and engaging storytellers who curate walks with your specific interests in mind. Our walking tours, be they in bustling urban centres, historic by-lanes, food alleys or in remote villages, will always be exclusive for you, and will go at your pace. Whichever tour you decide to go with, you can be assured of rich encounters, engaging hosts, eye opening experiences which bring to life local traditions, religion, art, music and history. This combined with the warmth and hospitality of local people. will leave you with a deeper understanding of the destination and the local way of life.