Access
to Adventure - - -›
Adventure Activities
in India - - -› Water
Sports in India
Water Sports in India
Water
babies rejoice. India is a land of pulsating coastlines, golden beaches and
swift rivers and thus can offer you every kind of water sport you can desire.
The Himalayas offer you some of the toughest and most exciting river runs in
the world. River sports in the rapids are the most popular, throughout the summers
and can really get your adrenaline pumping. The innumerable fresh water streams
and lakes in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh are ideal
for angling and trout fishing. The coastal regions provide excellent opportunities
for water sports like water skiing, wind surfing, yatching, snorkelling and
scuba diving.
Further South you can enjoy water adventures along both the west and the east
coasts of India. The islands of Andaman and Nicobar in the Bay of Bengal and
Lakshadweep in the Indian Ocean are virtually untouched and are some of the
best spots for scuba diving and snorkelling. The beaches of Goa and Kerala also
offer other sporting opportunities like water skiing, wind surfing and sailing.
The West coast offers sailing in Mumbai, Goa and the lakes around Pune.
The best months for water sports are October and March.
White water rafting
For the white water rafting enthusiast, the early stages of the Ganga offer
the exhilarating Alakananda and Bhagirathi rivers. The Indus snaking through
Ladakh and the Zanskar and Chenab in Kashmir are very different river running
experiences. Other rivers like the Sutlej, Beas (in Himachal Pradesh), Teetsa
(in Sikkim), and Yamuna also offer sporting challenges.
The best season for river rafting is from April to September. The most popular
stretch for this sport is on the Ganges, near Rishikesh in Uttaranchal.
Scuba Diving
Best
season for diving: December to April
The 2 main destinations in India which have scuba diving activities as well
as courses in the sport are the Andamans and Lakshadweep.
The Andamans have some fascinating underwater marine life, varieties of colourful
fishes, ship wrecks and exotic coral reefs. The best way to explore this is
scuba diving. The coastal water surrounding these islands is the abode of one
of the richest coral reef ecosystem is the world. Many of the islands are surrounded
by fringing reefs, often several hundred metres wide and separated from the
shore by a lagoon of similar width. There are also steeply sloping reef walls,
and coral pinnacles or knolls.
Island Water Sports is a private water sports operator at Port Blair providing
Speed Boats, Jet Skies, Tube Ride, Wake Board Ride, Knee Board Ride, etc. The
Andaman Water Sports Complex at Port Blair is a unique water ports centre run
by The Directorate of tourism. It offers adventure water sports like Sailing,
Skiing, Para-Sailing (subject to wind/weather conditions), water scooters and
speedboats. Trips for coral and shipwreck viewing are operated from here.
Angling and Fishing
There
are opportunities for anglers in Bhalukpung in Assam. The river Jia Bhoroli,
Kapili and Manas are the best places for Golden Mahseer angling since the days
of the British.
The Jia Bhoroli of Assam has a long and glorious history of Mahseer angling
The state of Himachal Pradesh with its many snow-fed rivers are an angler's
haven. The upper reaches of the river Beas in the Kullu valley are also great
for this sport. The picturesque Kangra valley has several spots that offer mahaseer-
river carp.
Trout Fishing: 1st November to 31st January
In Kashmir, trout fishing is a lucrative business and the ideal season is from
April to October. The British introduced the brown and rainbow trout to the
streams of Kashmir, where they have thrived. Only artificial flies are allowed
and each licence entitles the angler to keep six fish a day, none being shorter
than 7.5 cm. The common rivers for fishing here are Sindh & Wangat.
Sailing
For those who love sailing, yachting and wind-surfing, there are facilities
in Goa as well as at Kovalam beach in Kerala. Mumbai, too, has several opportunities
for sailing and other water sports.
Access
to Adventure
- - -› About
Himalayas - - -› People
& Tribes of Himalayas
People & Tribes of Himalayas
The
population, settlement, and economic patterns within the Himalayas have been
greatly influenced by the variations in topography and climate, which impose
harsh living conditions and tend to restrict movement and communication. People
living in remote, isolated valleys have generally preserved their cultural identities.
However, improvements in transportation and communication, particularly satellite
television programs from Europe and the United States, are bringing access from
the outside world to remote valleys. These outside influences are affecting
traditional social and cultural structure.
Nearly 40 million people inhabit the Himalayas. Generally, Hindus of Indian
heritage are dominant in the Sub-Himalayas and the Middle Himalayan valleys
from eastern Kashmir to Nepal. To the north Tibetan Buddhists inhabit the Great
Himalayas from Ladakh to northeast India.
In central Nepal, in an area between about 1830 and 2440 m (between about 6000
and 8000 ft), the Indian and Tibetan cultures have intermingled, producing a
combination of Indian and Tibetan traits. The eastern Himalayas in India and
nearby areas of eastern Bhutan are inhabited by animistic people whose culture
is similar to those living in northern Myanmar and Yunnan province in China.
People of western Kashmir are Muslims and have a culture similar to the inhabitants
of Afghanistan and Iran.
The economy of the Himalayas as a whole is poor with low per capita income.
Much of the Himalayas area is characterized by a very low economic growth rate
combined with a high rate of population growth, which contributes to stagnation
in the already low level of per capita gross national product. Most of the population
is dependent on agriculture, primarily subsistence agriculture; modern industries
are lacking.
Mineral resources are limited. The Himalayas has major hydroelectric potential,
but the development of hydroelectric resources requires outside capital investment.
The skilled labor needed to organize and manage development of natural resources
is also limited due to low literacy rates. Most of the Himalayan communities
face malnutrition, a shortage of safe drinking water, and poor health services
and education systems.
Agricultural land is concentrated in the Tarai plain and in the valleys of the
Middle Himalayas. Patches of agricultural land have also been carved out in
the mountainous forested areas. Rice is the principal crop in eastern Tarai
and the well-watered valleys. Corn is also an important rain-fed crop on the
hillsides.
Other cereal crops are wheat, millet, barley, and buckwheat. Sugarcane, tea,
oilseeds, and potatoes are other major crops. Food production in the Himalayas
has not kept up with the population growth.
The
major industries include processing food grains, making vegetable oil, refining
sugar, and brewing beer. Fruit processing is also important. A wide variety
of fruits are grown in each of the major zones of the Himalayas, and making
fruit juices is a major industry in Nepal, Bhutan, and in the Indian Himalayas.
Since 1950 tourism has emerged as a major growth industry in the Himalayas.
Nearly 1 million visitors come to the Himalayas each year for mountain trekking,
wildlife viewing, and pilgrimages to major Hindu and Buddhist sacred places.
The number of foreign visitors has increased in recent years, as organized treks
to the icy summits of the Great Himalayas have become popular. While tourism
is important to the local economy, it has had an adverse impact on regions where
tourist numbers exceed the capacity of recreational areas.
Historically, all transport in the Himalayas has been by porters and pack animals.
Porters and pack animals are still important, but the construction of major
roads and the development of air routes have changed the traditional transportation
pattern.
Major urban centers such as Kathmandu, Simla, and Srinagar, as well as important
tourist destinations, are served by airlines. Railways link Simla and Darjiling,
but in most of the Himalayas there are no railroads. The bulk of goods from
the Himalayas, as well as goods destined for places within the Himalayas, generally
come to Indian railheads, located in the Tarai, by road. The pack animals and
porters transport goods from road heads to the interior and back.
Copyright©,
Access
to Adventure. All Rights Reserved
Golden Triangle