Bhopali Trekkers

Bhopali Trekkers is an adventure group based in Bhopal. Its aim and puprose is to promote adventure activities like trekking, camping, bike-touring, off-road motor sports, mountaineering, fishing. Although it is based in Bhopal but anyone from anywhere can join it. The group carries on integral part of Bhopal's culture which was Shikar or hunting game in olden days to a new modified form which is compatible with today's legal system and ethical values. Bhopalis in the past both the noble and commoner enjoyed going out on hunt trips on vintage jeeps fully loaded with men and material. They would usually look out for small-medium size hunt like average size deer. The choice of weapon was rifle of 30 caliber because of its long range and reliability. However; shotgun was also used in hunting birds like titar(portridge). The striking difference between the hunt played in USA/ Canada and the one played in Bhopal was the duration of the day. In Bhopal it usually was played during the night time as opposed to day time hunting in USA. Click the link to join us on WhatsApp - Bhopali Trekkers WhatsApp Group link

Trekking & Camping as the name sounds is a leisure activity where a person goes to a nice exotic location and stays in ad-hoc stay such as tent, tarp, RV etc. It is done to relax and soothes one's mind which may have been exhausted by the routine busy and stressful life. Camping, picnic, outdoor, fishing, hunting are all similar activities whose basis is on spending time in nature. Professional camping is required by trade caravans, militaries, adventurists and travellers where a trained person or staff took care of choosing, pitching, packing up of the camp. In India, National Cadet Corps (NCC) trains young students in this subject. Trekking on the other hand is traversing of wild land by foot or transport done for few days. Trekking requires physical and mental fitness, Knowledge of the terrain, navigation skill, camping, food preparation, teamwork and discipline. In India, there are many trekking and camping destinations such as Himalayan region of Ladakh, JK, Himachal, Uttarkhand, Sikkim and regional places like Pachmarhi and Mandaw in MP. Mahabaleshwar, Khandala in Maharashtra. Jaisalmer's sandy dunes are also one of the well known place for these activities.

Requirements for a good picnic-man (trekker)

A good trekker first of all has to be adaptive, coordial and cooperative. Since in a picnic group everyone has to do his part of the work in order to get the things done smoothly. A person can be a good cook in the team whereas another can be a good firewood collector and another can be a good tent pitcher or a water collector or a jeep driver. Therefore, these skils are necessary such as cooking, wood cutting by axe or knife, tent setup, water collection, off road driving. For advance level outdooring, one needs to have knowledge of navigational systems such as GPS or compass-map, basic first-aid and know-how to protect from dangers of wild such as snakes, scorpions, insects, wild animals, weather.

Equipments needed

Basic equipments required for a good picnic in wild are tarp or tent for shelter, something to make up for a comfy bed that can be foam sheet or a bedroll, few ropes, axe and knives, fire igniter/ lighter / matchstick, bagpack, protective shoes and clothes, water containers, food cooking utensils, medicines and first aid kit, transport such as jeep, bikes, horses, mules etc.

friends needed for picnic

To gather like-minded cooperating, well behaved friends for the trip is more important than any piece of equipment. To do so one can start a blog of hobby on world wide web or a WhatsApp group or blog it here on parcha24.com. One also needs to consider that people always join the ones who are respectable, well behaved, cooperative and open minded.

Fishing and Bird Watching

Bird watching is a great hobby and an outdoor activity. Especially in India where there is lot of species of birds plus migratory birds too which can be seen in specific time of the year. Places to visit for bird wathcing can be any wild, isolated place close to a pond, river, lake or any other water body. Near Bhopal, Ratapani wildlife santuary and areas close to Kolar dam are great for bird watching.

Fishing is another outdoor hobby which requires a lot of patience. Fishing all over the world is done in so many different ways that it is practically impossible to list them all, however to still put up are fishing by fishing-rods, nets, harpoon, pipe-trap etc. In Bhopal, fish found are Sambal, Baam(elk), Rehu, Gangawar, Katla, mongur etc.

Transport

Jeeps/ Trucks are first thing that come to mind when travelling off-road with a group. a good jeep must have powerful engine and 4x4 system to get it moving in difficult terrain as snow, mud, shallow-waters, sand and bolder. Various options are there for jeeps or trucks if one is in India like Maruti Gypsy, Mahindra Scorpio (4x4) or the Force Gurkha which is best amongst all. If one is going for vintage jeeps like willys/ford, CB Jeeps, Kaesar or alike they should seriously inspect the fitness of the vehicle given the "jugaar-ones" freqeuntly break down under stress. Any Engine which is good and working with proper gearbox and power delivery system can work for "jugaar-ones". But these are not recommended for off-roading. The most important aspect of any vehicle is its durablity, reliability and that should be looked for when choosing it. Also, one should take jungle groove standard width tyres and NOT RADIAL ones for off-road with a spare stepny tyre (atleast one). A winch or military rope atleast 40 feet long wrapped on the bumper for immediate use. For fuel storage use, plastic jerry cans (ones that comes with engine oil) and NOT METAL ones as they might leak due to rust and is very heavy having jammed lids. If there are more than one jeep keep communication radio set Baofeng walkie talki for communications, it comes under legal limit for radio. Also keep with you, M-Seal and other sticky material to repair brake lines, radiator base upon breakage. If possible, keep a portable gas welding spray gun as well. Break lines, radiator base, crown from gearbox to drive shaft are most prone items to breakage. Crown needs welding and cannot be fixed by adhesive or wounding of wire. Also keep ruck-sack (bori) for collecting wood, food items etc along a spade, sharpened axe and knifes.

Improvised(jugaar) Jeeps

For vintage pre-paired jeeps first thing to be ensured is good chassis and body, one with no rust or saline affects. Next is to check the Engine-gearbox-power delivery system is all synced, any inconsistency in this will cost very high. People sometime put front wheel powered engines like Nissan or Suzuki on read powered gearbox, shafts which kills the performance of the entire vehicle on road, let aside off-road. Therefore, the Engine and Gearbox should be matching for the power delivery system whether it is front wheel or rear wheel. Also, a jeep is not made to run on high speeds as its risky and dangerous given the structure of the jeep. Therefore, power should be invested in torque rather than the speed by deploying a close gear ratio. High torque gearboxes have their first gears much larger to the gear on flywheel shaft coming from the engine side. 4.07-3.6 : 1 is good torque ratio of first gear. Similarly in 4 wheel mode 1.7 : 1 for high mode and 3.6 : 1 for low mode is good. Lt-95 of land rover is strong and speedy both for a jeep. NGT 520 is easily available which can be a good subtitute for strong gearboxes like Lt-95. Click link for more on automobile science