Why Indiahikes Started the Hiking Club

Indiahikes started the Hiking Club in 2015 to evolve the term “trekking”. We believe all children should trek. In our experience as a trekking organization, we see adults imbibe lessons from outdoors on a daily basis. Children are much more receptive to the world in their growing years. It is the perfect time to inculcate valuable lessons from trekking which are likely to stay with them through their life.

Why start Hiking Club in your school?

You can see a marked difference between children that have been exposed to outdoor sports and those that haven’t.  Outdoors have a plethora of learnings to offer children. It can induce a sense of independence, leadership and make them see the value of  a team. For example, activities like pitching a tent, exploring an alternate trail (with the guidance of our trek leader), climbing tricky patches or boulders are great for team building. They also help in giving a child a sense of his/her own capabilities and help develop them.

Indiahikes tries to ensure it leaves the trails in a BETTER way than we find them in. At the beginning of each trek,  an eco-bag is issued to each student. These bags are meant for picking up litter strewn on trails. This would, by the end, reinforce the need to be environment-friendly and importance of waste management to children.

Ultimately, you may see shy children turning into outspoken and enthusiastic individuals. Leadership qualities may come from unexpected corners of your classroom. Children are also bound to have heightened awareness and responsibility towards nature.

How does Hiking Club function?

Indiahikes will take children on trekking trips around your city, either for a day or over a weekend, as per your choice. We truly believe that children can get closer to nature as compared to adults and we strive to make children realize the importance of what lies around them. We have identified many trekking locations around Bangalore, Delhi, Ooty and many other cities where we take children. These treks do not require advanced technical skills and they are all child-safe. Indiahikes will be responsible for children’s safety on these trips.

Indiahikes sends it best trained trek leader on treks and hikes.Our trek leader is Certified Wilderness First Aid Responder with experience in high altitude as well. We implement high levels of Safety and Evacuation strategies for all our high altitude treks- we maintain the same standards for our local treks also. We make sure that children are in safe hands and any sort of emergency is well attended to. We try to be friends with children so that there is a mutual level of understanding rather than being authoritative.  We want learning to be a fun process.

Schools also have the benefit of conducting hiking club activities within the school campus. During these activities, children can watch movies about the world of mountains. They will interact with mountaineers, from whom they can listen to exciting first-hand experiences. They learn to read maps and GPS systems, and do some interesting activities related to hiking/trekking. Children can read articles and stories of different treks a expeditions in order to  get an idea of what treks include and how it is done. Different locations have different ways of trekking which students can be made aware of through different sources.

The benefits are many, but we wish to focus on the transformation of children.

To start Hiking Club in your school, write to 

Izzat : izzat@indiahikes.com