When Shantanu Pandit and Akshay Shah are introduced as renowned outdoor instructors, the first thought would be to extract the most out of them on surviving in wilderness. But while they teach and train about safety and survival tactics, they are keen safe keepers of the environment, the flora and fauna and the life that supports them. Surviving and staying safe is important when out in the wild, but it is equally important that we take care of nature’s safety, they say. Shantanu Pandit and Akshay Shah have over three decades of experience on outdoor education, adventure and training experience at NOLS, Hanifl Outdoor Centre and Woodstock School Mussoorie.
In the city to talk about ‘safety and precautions in the wild on treks and climbs’, the duo was honest in admitting that they haven’t seen much of Hyderabad and the surroundings. Safety and Risk Management in the outdoors, requires a proactive professional passion, independent thinking and creative action to organise safe, authentic outdoor and adventure experiences. While the talk threw light on aspects of safety and risk management related to activities and practices in the outdoors, adventure and wilderness environments, it also discussed ways of striking a judicious and rewarding balance between the risk of loss and the benefit of gain for the activities provided to participants.
“Whatever be your surrounding, safety of life and safety of the environment is a common top notch matter,” says Shantanu Pandit who also conducts various treks and climbs for individual groups and corporates as a tool to teach team-building exercises.
Outdoor, the duo, is a combination of technical skill and nature observation. They emphasise the need to have the concept of a leader. “However, issues crop up when a picnicker who had probably explored the place once decides to led the group without being properly equipped to assist,” adds, Akshay Shah. Shantanu and Akshay feel the issue arises from the fact that as human beings, our interaction with nature is diminishing everyday. “Outdoor, nature, conservation isn’t only about saving the tigers and lakes. When we go out picnicking to enjoy nature, we are polluting it not just by littering but also by killing ants, insects, destroying the grass as we walk on them. Do we really watch out for insects? We don’t. We just walk away. Do we jump a step to avoid killing a caterpillar or a strange looking insect? Most people usually ask for tourist spots, beautiful scenery. My point is when you are in a new place everything is meant to be a ‘scenery’. We should stop picking only the popular places and start paying attention to new surroundings, then even the size and colour of birds and bushes will look different and beautiful and we will learn to respect our environment better,” says Akshay Shah.
As experts, the two stress on the need to build a healthy interaction with nature which in turn will contribute to nature’s safety. The first step towards this is to know the negative impact we make when we step into a naturally endowed environment.
“Hyderabad as adventure seekers is young so there is a lot of potential to learn and proceed. The outdoor adventure groups like GHAC and Save the rocks society are doing a very good job at educating and protecting nature at the same time while being a part of the open environment,” says Shantanu Pandit.
Best trek in India
Frozen River Trek
An ancient route along the frozen Zanskar River is a six day trek. It connects the villages of the Zanskar Valley with the village of Chilling which lies on the road to Leh (Ladakh, India). Best time to trek is late January and early February when the conditions are coldest and the frozen river can be used as a pathway. The average temperature there will be -10 C temperatures during the day and may fall as low as -20 to -25 C at night. The trek can be difficult in places where the river is not completely frozen over and a new path must be forged over the snow laden banks. It is certainly a once in a lifetime experience.
One of the best destination for rock climbing
Savanadurga, Karnataka
This is considered to be one of Asia’s largest monoliths. The rocky terrain of Savanadurga offers one of the best opportunities for rock climbers. Rappelling too is good here. There are two trekking paths to the top, the Billigudda trek, which is more difficult due to the steep, smooth rock patches, and the Karigudda trek, which is relatively easier. Both treks have marked trails, and require professional climbing equipment.
