30 Aug, 2024
Abhirup Paul launched Eka Experiences at the worst possible time for the travel industry—in the first year of the pandemic. “And starting a travel company nowadays, in a competitive market, is not a wise decision—unless you do it in a thoughtful manner,” Abhirup tells In Vogue Life. “Which is why our focus mostly is on providing authentic local experiences.” Indeed, the aim behind Eka is to offer guests curated holidays they will remember for the rest of their lives, from family-friendly leisure tours and guided village heritage walks to adventures and challenging multi-day camping holidays in the wilderness, in Ladakh, Nepal, Kashmir and Sikkim. Here, Abhirup takes us through Eka’s journey.
HIDDEN HIMALAYAS
Eka was mostly born out of a need to design well-crafted and curated itineraries, with a specific focus on the Himalayas. It was also born out of our curiosity to explore some of the lesser-trodden, and lesser-known, destinations in this region, those that have the potential to provide authentic local experiences.
A HOLIDAY TO SAVOUR
We wanted to adopt a personalised approach, getting to know the client or guest first, and then designing the itinerary as per what they want. So, that’s one way by which we tried to differentiate ourselves. Another is the service we provide keeping in mind the tenets of responsible tourism, and doing it in such a way that we always prioritise quality over quantity. Once we started getting our first clients and guests, we converted them and ensured that they had the time of their life. Since then, through word of mouth and references, we have grown.
KEEPING IT LOCAL
We have made ourselves unique in this very competitive space by promoting responsible travel in some of these very unique and less crowded destinations. We take people to villages, and to remote places that are still unexplored. We blend the natural and the cultural, and we try to include an adventure element in some of our leisure tours and road trips. So, it’s not just a relaxing holiday, it can be an active holiday as well. And we keep it local, enabling people to stay in locally-owned homestays (only if they prefer it, because not everybody does), employing local guides and purchasing local.
IN THE LAP OF NATURE
What attracts our guests most is the tranquillity of being in the midst of nature. Gurez Valley, in North Kashmir, is slowly becoming popular, and then there’s Dzongu Valley in North Sikkim. On the Kupwara side in Kashmir, there are a lot of beautiful places, while in Ladakh you have the Siachen base, once restricted but now open to the public. Another beautiful place is the Changtang region, close to Tibet in the Southern Ladakh area. On the eastern frontier of Arunachal Pradesh, you have the Dong Valley, and the Siyom and Siang valleys—in Dong Valley, you can catch the first sunrise in India, which is another unique experience that we provide. Another is the nomadic trail, where you get to see some of the semi-nomadic communities, including the Changpa tribe in Ladakh, the guardians of the Pashmina goats, from where the Pashmina wool comes from. And all of these are on our website.
CREATING MEMORIES THAT LAST
Experiential travel in India is here to stay. Travellers and visitors are seeking more experiences rather than just ticking off a destination from the bucket list. An immersive experience in a homestay with the locals is what they are after, for they want to connect with the place and its people.
AT YOUR OWN PACE
When it comes to scheduling experiential travel, people attach more importance to freedom, flexibility, and the uniqueness of how they explore a place, rather just than going from Point A to Point B, which is a standardised approach that tour operators follow. They want to live like a local or, rather, explore like a local at least, to ensure that they experience the place in the most authentic manner possible.
SERVICE ABOVE ALL
We would like to continue curating experiences for our guests, but we would really like to explore new places and grow in a sustainable manner, always ensuring we keep quality over quantity instead of scaling too fast. We always want to be a service company rather than a ‘product’, by ensuring we give the best service, and are trusted as a brand name in the experiential travel space. #Ekaexperiencestravelcompany, #authenticlocaltravelexperiences, #curatedhimalayanitineraries, #responsibletourismindia, #experientialtravelinladakh, #familyfriendlyadventuretours, #villageheritagewalks
