For those of us living in the city, this is not just a great idea, it’s critical. We have all come from nature, we instinctively know it and belong in it, but our urban spaces often dull these connections and instinct. By now we even have tomes of research that connects our well-being to being out there, connected with nature, though of course deep in our hearts we’ve know that forever, haven’t we?
A weekend spent camping out there offers a lovely opportunity to spend a couple of days finding this connection again.
Here’s a few great reasons.
Disconnect.
Our heads are perpetually abuzz, given the lives we live, schedules we follow and to do lists we chase day in and day out. A quick camping getaway is a great way to slow down, reduce the interrupts that drive life, and enable fresh thinking.
Be in the sun
Vitamin-D deficiency is assuming epidemic proportions these days. In recent times, the sun has been much maligned, and we forget that all the energy we have and use derives from it! We are, in some ways, mere bits of the sun, and it’s critical for us to spend some time out there soaking it up. An outdoors weekend at a campsite affords a lot of time out there, and helps recalibrate your climate-friendliness and adaptability 🙂
Campsites are in places where you can explore the outdoors in multitudes of ways – there’s boulders to climb, lakes, fields, treks to do and even farming if you want to try your hand at that.
Be there, out in the sun a bit!
Spend time together
No TV, no internet, no classes to attend, chores to finish, none of the myriad distractions that the city around you provides. You spend a lot of quality time with the family, or friends, or building a bond with the team. You face challenges together on a trek, you burn some meat trying to barbecue it over the fire, you sit around for long hours exchanging thoughts, jokes, stories and generally shooting the breeze around the campfire. This is probably the most amazing aspect of a camping trip and we feel delighted to see it happen again and again at our campsites.
Understand a different world
We live in fairly make-believe urban spaces. Milk comes from plastic packets delivered at your doorstep, and vegetables appear magically in large heaps at supermarkets. The connect with where these come from, the effort that goes into them, and the realization of how much processing and packaging actually take away from fresh food is a very precious takeaway – especially for the kids.
And in places such as these, you observe the birds a lot more, you understand to respect wildlife, their behaviour, needs and how we can, and should co-exist with them without getting into exterminator mode.
Sleep in a tent!
This is a must-do- experience if you’ve always wondered what camping feels like. It’s not about the sleep quality – it’s about the fact that you’re in a “room” with a mere canvas skin, under the stars, and practically on the earth (except for a little softer mud pack and a few mats that we add to make it comfortable). It’s a great lesson in how little we really need 🙂
History
The places we live in are old, irrespective of what we know about the past of the cities we gave names and tags to more recently. Places out of town still let you explore the past – often with living remnants. From  our campsites, you can go check out the awe-inspiring Madhugiri Fort, Namada Chilume, peek into the gold mining around Bangalore, discover where and when the Marathas made incursions and left behind traces that live on even today!
Easy, Quick, Affordable!
For your first taste of camping, an overnighter’s plenty. A place about a 100-150 km from town also let’s you head out early on Saturday morning, drive there quickly, and spend a whole weekend in the outdoors. Thankfully, places around Bangalore are beautiful in every direction, there’s hills, forests, farms and the weather’s relatively benign. There’s also a lot of variety in terms of terrain, activity, food and history. It’s the quickest, easiest getaway you can do on a whim over a regular weekend, and often costs less than a movie, a trip to the mall and dinner outside!