How GutsyTribe became popular in treks, camping & international trips:

Learn from Mounika P.

It’s well said; People don’t take trips, trips take people. And if the trip organizer
is “Gutsy Tribe” fun with adventure is usually what happens instead of your
plans. Let’s not forget that all of this falls in your budget too! So a big hurrah to
that! Gutsy Tribe based out of Bangalore is a budgeted adventure trip organizer
for international & local (India) based locations.

Today we got an opportunity to interview Gutsytribe group’s Founder Ms.

Mounika Pothenini. A self-motivated & passionate traveler, Mounika is a full-
time professional in adventure & travel industry who is known to provide
amazing offbeat experiences, it is river rafting, scuba diving, mountain treks,
bag pack trips etc. Her love for nature not only changed her to become a
professional adventure traveler, as she also holds the Renewable Engineering
degree, her future plans include building solar energy projects for rural
electrification. She is currently promoting ecotourism in India.
Let’s here in her own words her journey from scratch of building this big group
“The Gutsy Tribe”

1) How was your life before being the Founder of Gutsy Tribe? Tell us
more about it. What was that “kick” in your past to choose a life as an
event entrepreneur?
Life is not about survival but living it. I wanted to do things that matter to me
the most, the things that I am passionate about and live life to the fullest.It is not
easy being an entrepreneur, I have had my piece of ups & downs & have learnt
many things. The positive side of it is, many doors were opened for me after
choosing this line.

2) You keep organising lot of treks in & around Bangalore like Coorg,
Ooty, Kudremukh etc. Describe us the beauty of each of these treks & how
are each one of them different from the rest?
One has to trek these peaks to see the real beauty than just get a glimpse at
viewpoints. Walking through wild life trails give adrenaline, build endurance,
engage you physically and mentally, you happen to socialize with like-minded
people & finally it keeps you away from all the possible distractions of your
life. These treks cater to the Adventure souls to rejuvenate in natural streams,
waterfalls, camp outdoors and soak in the fresh air.

3) How do you plan & manage the local permits, logistics & staff for all the
above treks?
The prime most important thing in organizing any trek is to make friends with
the locals of that area. Local forest permission is always mandatory to organize
trek in any part of India. Once we made relations with the locals of that region,
the balance coordination in terms of permissions & logistics is the by-product of
how strong we build the relation. For the trekkers, our team is quite
knowledgeable

4) Scuba diving & river rafting require special courage. How do you get the
motivation high amongst the participants?
We first try to motivate people. Its nothing wrong to enjoy looking at the
surface of the sea, except that when you finally see what’s going on underwater,
you realize you have been missing the whole point of sea, and it’s also true that
everyone has their firsts in life. We just give them that extra push to stretch
themselves beyond their comfort zone.

5) You have been organizing a lot of international backpack trips for

Egypt, Israel, Jordan etc How do you manage the logistics, accommodation,
international permits for the trip? It would be requiring lot of
coordination?
Building trust, transparency in business relationships with the local
representatives of the country is of prime most importance. We hold strong
relations with locals of Egypt, Israel & Jordan. Our groups co-coordinators
always accompany the tours for example, they had been to this place close to 18
times while conducting trips. This shows that people who plan their bag pack
trips with us are always in safe hands & under expert guidance throughout their
journey. As for us, their is only one thing that matters the most i.e Customer
Satisfaction.

6) Ideally how much are people ready to spend for an international bag
pack trip? Accordingly, how do you ensure they get the best experience in
their budgeted amount?
People are spending around 3-4 lakhs for Euro trips and Easily around 1 lakh
for other international trips. The trips that we host are quite budgeted which
offer offbeat local experience. We tailor the Package to experience as much as
local culture, activities and cuisine than staying at 5-star hotels.

7) Tell us more about Masai Mara Wild-Life Safari backpack trip

Masai Mara is the bucket list trip for all Adventure and wildlife lovers. We host
photography workshops, do about 5 full day safaris, lunch in jungle, quite
affordable camp stay options for backpackers and cottage stays with all
facilities. Our organizers are quite experienced and ensure to get us a glimpse of
big 5 Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Rhino and Wild Buffalo. Most of our trips are
eco-friendly and our organizers give knowledge about different species, rare
birds and also teach wildlife ethics on how to behave in the ecosystem.

8) What is your contingency plan in case a rescue has to be done during the
water sports activity?
We explain the guidelines to follow before they pursue the activity and how to
use the gear to rescue if something happens. Apart from this a Raft guide is
included in every group

9) What are your major upcoming adventure trekking events for the
audience to be tuned in for?

We have come up with Adventure camps in Bangalore for the families,

Corporates and friend’s groups to come along to experience the outdoors
camping, Adventure games & mystery races, different themed events
throughout the year. We are going to host nature workshops and exciting
adventure sports for school children and do certifications. We are hosting aero
sports like paramotoring in Bangalore regularly.

We have Everest base camp and many more Himalayan circuit treks planned
this year. We commit to bring the offbeat experiences to serve our clients.

Thank you Mounika for answering questions for Townscript’s audience.

This blog was originally published on https://blog.townscript.com/gutsytribe-
became-popular-in-treks-camping-international-trips/