Adventurous Kashmir – Enjoy Ultimate Adventure Activities in Kashmir

by Disha Joshi SEO

From the earliest records, Kashmir Himalaya has been revered as the abode of gods and since the time Aryans migrated this far from the plains sometime between 2500 and 1500 BC, the valley and its mountains have been held in awe, while explored by the great travelers, Islamic teachers & scholars, great kings, travel writers and the adventures. Kashmir’s mountain passes and main trails had been known to traders and pilgrims for many centuries but it was not until 16th century when the earliest sketches were compiled by Mughal and at later state during 19th century more area as for as central Asia were explored by the explorers and adventures while making Kashmir as its base. If we see the beginning of adventure tourism in Kashmir, it started by the turn of 20th century when the cart roads were constructed into the valley, by this time trekking and mountaineering were well under its way and it was very common on part of British when they used to come to Kashmir on annual vacations to take a trek in Lidder or Sindh Valleys and from Srinagar to Gilgit or to Leh which they used to cover in about 14 stages to engage themselves in to the sports like trekking, skiing, polo, hunting, fishing or angling during their holidays.

In present day times the natural beauty and abundance of outdoor activities attract a large number of adventure enthusiastic and fitness oriented people to actively participate in mountain, water and aero sports such as trekking, skiing, ski touring, climbing, kayaking, white water rafting, mountain biking, Para sailing and Para gliding etc. The vast and endless scope of adventure tourism in the J&K state is largely because of its diverse topography and climate of its each region, from foot hills of Jammu region to lush green valleys of Kashmir with snow covered mountain and white water rivers and the moon land Ladakh with some of the best mountain peaks for mountaineering sport offers an opportunity to an adventure lover to act and go for his choice of adventure activity, this is the area where Kashmir have an edge over pleasure tourism as this segment of tourism is growing very fast in the places which offer the adventure oriented activities have been introduced and with this changing scenario in the adventure world, the department of Kashmir tourism has developed some new areas which are having great potential in adventure tourism in Kashmir.

Adventure tourism and adventure sports along with Eco tourism is growing by leaps & bounds in the western counties and Europe and one can say that they are in a close relation with each other.

The department of tourism in Kashmir is doing some good work by developing old and new areas for adventure tourism & sport to be at par or even ahead of other adventure tourism destinations in the world; they have identified different types of adventure tours and requirements needed for managing them and managing these adventure tourism destinations and at the same time are looking for the potential selling the adventure tours. While developing the new places with adventure activities, in the year 2008, after a gap of almost 60 years, the tourism department has brought one of the old tourist attractive event of Kashmir to the fore, that is the game of Polo Sport, which was once an event of great importance in Kashmir, by bringing back this polo sport in the heart of Srinagar city and restoring its glory, this princely sport is now bound to become one of the prime interests of the tourists who are visiting Kashmir.

If given the right incentives, adventure tourism can become the primary export-oriented industry of J&K state. The low input and the high returns nature of this industry can make it self-sufficient for a resources starved state and if due care and attention is given to this industry it can work wonders for the state’s economy and development.

Author:
Disha Joshi SEO executive and article writer & loves to share traveling experience with others. Article writing at a leading travel company that offer Pahalgam Gulmarg Packages. Get complete tour package at www.kashmirtourpackage.org