The Outdoors Man

The founder of Aquaterra Adventures explains how the seeds for the company were sown, the challenges of creating guidelines for adventure tourism, and the importance of staying fit

- Shail Desai

From our vantage point, a short hop from Byasi village in Uttarakhand, we can see the Ganga silently rounding a bend before continuing downstream to Rishikesh. For more than three decades, Vaibhav Kala, 53, has admired this view and the many avatars of the river. This is where he first arrived, fresh out of college from St Stephen's in Delhi, in 1992 to work as a river guide with tour operator Himalayan River Runners, setting aside a conventional career to chase a life outdoors.

It was a time when adventure tourism was a cottage industry. The market was restricted to a few players. Gear was hard to find, and infrastructure was poor. Besides, when it came to Indian travellers, there were few takers for a holiday that put them outside their comfort zone.

However, Kala had experienced the magic of nature and wanted others to have a taste of it. He was aware of the ingredients required to curate a trip that was not just thrilling, but also safe. Launching Aquaterra Adventures in 1995 was the easy bit. Surviving the vagaries of the industry and setting the standard for adventure travel in India has demanded the patience of a mountain climber.

"Take me back and I'll do it all over again. It's been challenging, but what a ride this has been," Kala says, warming up with a cup of tea on a cloudy morning at Atali Ganga, Aquaterra's base for most expeditions in Uttarakhand.

Last year Aquaterra recycled 1.5 million litres of water at Atali Ganga and there's a constant effort to eliminate the use of single-use plastic

Aquaterra Adventures offers everything from river rafting, trekking and hiking to multi-day expeditions across the Indian Himalaya as well as abroad. From a handful of members scouted locally from around Rishikesh, Aquaterra's team has today expanded to 80. Last year, the Delhi-based company registered an annual turnover of $1.5 million.