Go ZNMD and Beyond With Your BFFs! 14 Adventure Sports to Experience Without Stepping Out of India!

Let's face it.

We've all been there.

Movies like Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (ZNMD) always leave us wondering if we could ever undertake an adventure with our best buddies. And if we could, what would it feel like?

Before you go ahead make sure you subscribe to my youtube channel HERE - youtube.com/khiskabanda

and follow me on instagram here - https://www.instagram.com/khiskabanda/

for everything related to travel,adventure and new experiences .

As the yearning for such a fantasy grows on you, you start researching. But before you even come close to finalising such a trip, the sky-rocketting flight tickets to Spain shatter all your Bollywood dreams!

Well, fret not! Because I am here to tell you that you can undertake all the adventures that the trio of ZNMD undertakes in the exotic lands of Spain, without stepping foot out of India?

So buckle up and let's go on a ride to explore the adventure sports in India.

1. Scuba Diving (Rs 3500 - Rs 7000)

Scuba diving has got to be the first on your list to check off with your friends. With a country like India with such a vast coastline,it is no surprise that scuba diving can be done at many spots. Most associate scuba diving with Andamans, which can be pretty heavy on the pocket, however there are better, cheaper alternatives in the mainland!

I have travelled to most of the coastline of India and found at least 4 places where you can experience scuba-diving – Goa, Murudeshwar, Pondicherry and Vizag.

I did scuba-diving once in Goa and once in Vizag and the experience has been surreal.

Here is a video of me doing it in Goa, next to a shipwreck.

2. Skydiving (Rs 25,000 - Rs 35,000)

The king of adventures, Skydiving gives you the ultimate taste of adventure. If your groups of friend are a bunch of adrenaline junkies, then you have to give this one a try! While you can't do solo skydive in India,without getting a licence and a training first,you can always do skydive tied to a instructor (tandem skydive) which is the next-best thing.

Free-falling in the sky with a speed of over 150 kmph is an experience, the gravity of which you can understand only when you are actually doing it. I did my tandem skydive at Skyhigh Aligarh, but now, there are places opening up in South India,like Mysore ,Pondicherry, etc. that you might want to check out.

Here's the video of me skydiving -

P.s Here's what your first skydive experience would feel like -

Before we move on to the next few adventurees you can undertake in India, let me tell you that you can participate in Bull run for absolutely free! If you've been chased by a bull or dogs even once in your life, then there! You've already experience the thrill of bull racing! Well, that's the best that you can get in India.

Now that we are done with the adventure sports in Znmd,let's see what more India has to offer.

3. Paragliding (Rs 1,500 - Rs 3,500 for tandem flight and around Rs 35,000 for solo pilot course)

Skydiving's closest relative,paragliding is different in a way that your skytime is much more than that of skydive due to a larger parachute and you take off with your glider open.

This is one of the most well known adventure sports in India and can be done easily in nearly all famous hill stations in India, with the most famous being Bir Billing in Himachal pradesh.

While learning to do a solo skydive in India might still be tough, for those who want more adventure can start with learning how to paraglide on their own.

Believe me, once you have the reigns of your paraglider all to yourself, paragliding is a different experience altogether. Bir Billing is one of the best places to learn paragliding in India.

Here's a video of me solo gliding after doing a pilot course for 15 days.

4. Flyboarding (Rs 3500 - Rs 5500)

Remember the movie Bang Bang? If yes, then you would have definitely loved the scene where Hritik Roshan flies out of the water using a flyboard, all while looking supremely badass.

You can experience flyboarding in India as well, and this could be closest you can feel of flying like our beloved Iron Man!

I flyboarded at Flyboard India in Goa and here is a video of how it feels like -

5 . Rafting (Rs 300 - Rs 1500,depending on the distance)

I am not gonna talk much about it, because honestly speaking, if you have heard of the word adventure in India you know about rafting.

Here's a video of Thor Rafting in Rishikesh - one of the safest and most fun place to do the adventure at -

6. Hot air ballooning ( Rs 10,000 - Rs 12,000 per person)

Let's face it, atleast once you would have thought of proposing your significant other on an hot air balloon (even if you never ever had a significant other).

While the experience of hot air ballooning has been enjoyed from quiet a long time now, even now it hasn't lost its charm.

The feeling of floating in the sky in a cinematic balloon has a movie like feel to it.

It can be done at many places in India as well like Jaipur,Goa,etc.

Here's a video of me doing it with Tiger Balloon safaris in Goa -

7. Wake-boarding (Rs 1500 - Rs 3000)

This is one of the recently introduced adventure sports in India, and I am glad that it is finally in our country.

Wake-boarding is when you are tied to a board and stand up on it holding a rope attached to moving a boat, whilst the force of the boat drags you. It's somewhat like surfing without waves.

And although it might seem easy to look at,it's actually quiet tough to stand on the board and maintain your balance,which I was not able to do even once during my 20 minutes of adventure at Tehri Lake, Uttrakhand.

Here's the video -

8. Surfing (Rs 1000 - Rs 2000 per lesson)

This adventure sports is a Hollywood classic for sure. And it was always my dream to try it once.I mean, who wouldn't want to feel how riding on waves is actually like.

While surfing has existed in India from a long time now,it was mostly limited to a very few individuals.

However, recently a small number of good surfing schools have popped up in coastal areas,like Pondicherry(Kallialay Surf School),Udupi(Shaka Surf Club)and clubs in Chennai ,Kovalam ,etc. and you can ride your first wave only after a week of training.

I took a week-worth of lessons at Aloha surf school in South Goa (Agonda Beach) and while I did ride some waves, I won't deny that I was mostly falling into the ocean.

But nonetheless, the experience was extremely fun!

Here's a video of me trying to surf

and a picture

9. Bungee Jumping (Rs 3000 - Rs 5500)

Chances are that if you think of adventure sports, bungee jumping is the first that pops up in your mind. The thought of free-falling upside down attached only to a rope gives most of us the chills. However, you do it you feel like you are on top of the world in that second that you're making the ultimate plunge.

Bungee Jumping could also be a great way to prepare for sky diving!

I did bungee twice once at Jumpin Heights in Rishikesh and once at District Gravity Hyderabad. Here's a video of the latter -

10. Paramotoring (Rs 3000 - Rs 10,000 depending on flight time)

Paramotoring is simply paragliding with an attached motor, is a sport that allows you to take off from ground instead of a height.

Most of the commercial paramotoring is done on a three-wheeled vehicle (called as trike) where the handler sits in front controlling the glider and you sit on the back seat.

Once it takes off,it feels like you are sitting on a flying car. This sport is also spreading to various adventure hubs in India,and I personally did it at Flyboy Aviation Gurgaon. Here's how it is:

11. Zip-lining (Rs 100 - Rs 3000)

Many might argue that zip-lining is not too adventurous since most of us have undertaken it as kids! But what if I tell you there is a zip-line which is mostly covered in clouds? While on my way to Cherrapunji from Shillong, I found a beautiful zip-line, between two mountains with a huge drop. While I was zipping my way through, I was enveloped by dense clouds. Considering that this area is mostly cloudy, you are most likely to be in a same condition as well. You'll feel like you are flying in the middle of nowhere!