About our Trips

The Himalayas are considered the true land of adventure; overwhelming landscape; spectacular views; rich in history, art, tradition; and generous in its innumerable possibilities for “the adventure of a lifetime”.

The Himalayan Outback aims to deliver a complete outdoor experience to the traveler. Our policy of ‘attention to detail’ allows you to enjoy the experience without having to worry about the myriad of details that go into ensuring a safe and smooth expedition. Besides fishing, trekking and rafting (our three areas of specializations), we offer a variety of other activities like, rappelling, trails for birdwatchers, kayaking, wild life excursions and experiencing local culture.

Our attitude is based on admiration for all that the nature has to offer to us. The Himalayan Outback’s goal is to enable our guests to enjoy every aspect of the outing that they take with us. We hope that our love for the outdoors is reflected upon every aspect of your journey in the Himalayas and leaves you with some great memories of “the adventure of a lifetime”.

These expeditions / trips aims at getting you to the most remote and most untouched locations in the Indian Himalayas – we try and have newer areas / venues for our guests every season, so let it be trekking, fishing / fly-fishing or white water rafting, the Himalayan Outback team is constantly working on adding to the already exorbitant list of adventure locations.

Our concept is to pack in, as much as we can within the area you are interested in visiting. These expeditions are highly mobile at times, where one is scheduled to trek for a few kilometers or rafts down a section of river. All of the gear consequently used on these trips is make shift, ensuring that it is the toughest and most compact. Logistics are all important as we carry everything on these expeditions. Camps are established in a pristine meadow in the higher Himalayas or on a faultless sandy beach on the banks of a Himalayan River.

On treks the gear is transported with the help of porters and/or mules, whichever is more appropriate according to the terrain and the amount of equipment! On our white water rafting and fishing expeditions all of the gear is loaded onto one of our raft, after it is packed into large dry bags and strapped on to ensure that nothing gets wet or lost! So the gear moves alongside the expedition team as they proceed down stream. As a result of this we have the ability to setup our campsite almost anywhere we fancy giving our expeditions a lot of flexibility that is essential for outdoor trip.

All of our accommodation is in tents as these trips focus on getting you “away from it all”. We use high quality, all-season dome tents for our guests, as they are the best suited for this kind of an operation. For our trekking and white water rating expeditions, we outfit these tents with Thermarest inflatable mattresses and sleeping bags.

We outfit our large fishing dome tents with camp cots in addition to the mattresses and sleeping bags during our fishing expeditions.

As part of our “minimal impact policy” and in adherence to regulations of the state Forest Department, we provide hygienic “dry pit” toilets as this system is considered to be ideally suited for such an operation.

This toilet is located, away from the river, in a small makeshift tent (enclosure) with a deep hole in the ground and an English style toilet seat on top. The system is considered hygienic and environmentally friendly. At the end of the day the toilet tent is shifted to another location! A bathing enclosure is also set up if one fancies having a shower rather than a swim in the river!

A large awning is erected providing a place where our guests can sit and relax after a fishing session on the river. This is also where breakfast and lunch are served – while dinner is generally served “under the stars” around a bonfire!

The kitchen tent is where the expedition cooks prepare the food. The meals, on these expeditions, are a mixture of Indian and Continental cuisine. Guests need to inform us prior to arrival is they have any dietary restriction and we will be happy to accommodate all such requests.

Camp is much in the old Hemingway style, and invariably, in the middle of nowhere.

It is a matter of fact that the best Mahseer fishing today is only to be found in the remotest of areas – areas only accessible by trekking or rafting. These areas are most lucrative as they are never fished or only fished very seldom.

The Himalayan Outback very seldom fishes the beats that are regularly frequented by most anglers, as due to increasing angling pressure famous beats, like Pancheshwar, seldom live up to their expectations as a result of being “over fished” with multiple angling groups fishing at these beats regularly.

Our mission is to provide our guests with newer, more undiscovered, areas for Mahseer fishing. We maintain that most of the venues we operate on are fished very seldom. Most anglers do not know about these areas as the logistics involved in getting there are rather cumbersome, something only a very few outfits have the resources to undertake.

While fishing for the Mahseer we typically use “float trips”. These trips incorporate the use of our 16-foot rafts in order to be able to access the most lucrative beats of the river. Rafting down a section of river over a few days is by far the best way to take on the Mahseer in the rivers that flow through the Himalayas.

These “float trip” expeditions are self-contained and require close attention to every detail to ensure the smooth running of the expedition.

Each expedition begins and ends at predetermined points. Over a period of time we will fish the section of the river between the two points drifting down, carrying all supplies and gear on our rafts. The gear and supplies are all packed into large dry duffel bags and secured on the boats. These are “expeditions” in the true sense of the word.

Our expeditions have proven their success and resourcefulness over their years with regards to the high quality of fishing and the ability of the members of the expedition to enjoy the most pristine areas in the Himalayan rivers. Our expeditions are organized in such a way as to provide flexibility in the program – something every fishing trip should have – if a beat is producing lucrative fishing we will spend additional time there rather than stick to a predetermined schedule to reach the next beat!

We also offer fishing for the Mahseer in some of the Himalayan reservoirs – by including these lakes and reservoirs we are able to introduce a very different fishing experience and are also able to extend the fishing season. Here too, we set up a base camp on the banks of the lake/reservoir and our fishing guides take anglers in our rafts. This provides our guests with an additional opportunity for trolling for the Mahseer.

While fishing for Trout in the Himalayas, both in the smaller rivers and lakes, we usually set up a base camp and anglers are driven up and down the beats in our vehicles. Some of the remoter lakes and streams are only accessible by a trek, mostly a short one, for which we make adequate arrangements with porters and/or mules to carry all the gear up to the beats. Our goal is to try to find spots that are not frequented by the average angler thus providing our guests with “the adventure of a lifetime”.

Whatever you might want to pursue, be it fly-fishing, spinning or any other technique, we have the guides and resources to organize it for you. If you are interested in a fishing trip on any river in the Indian Himalayas, even if it is not mentioned in our list of expeditions, we will gladly work with you and customize an expedition that would meet the requirements of you and your fellow anglers.

An expedition is lead by one of our senior guides, who is very familiar with the venue having spent numerous hours researching the location. All of our guides meet the professional Safety and First Aid standards of the industry. The tourism authority of the state certifies all river guides.

On all our expeditions we have a complete staff, which includes an assortment of guides, cooks, drivers, and camp staff (the number depends on the size and length of the expedition), some of who are local to the area.

The bulk of our staff (including all guides) is certified in providing basic First Aid and CPR.

Misty Dhillon leads all the fishing trips; he has been guiding fishing and fly-fishing expeditions since 1998, focusing on the Mahseer and the Trout through rivers in the Indian Himalayas. Through his fishing career, Misty and his guests have had several Mahseer over twenty pounds in the Himalayan Rivers on spinning including his personal best fifty-five pound Mahseer. Fly-fishing from the Himalayan Mahseer is his specialization; he is responsible for the creation of some of the most effective flies and fly-fishing techniques for taking these fish. Misty has also written several articles on Mahseer fishing.

Our team of company and local Fishing Guides escort all trips and expeditions. All guides that we engage, for a particular expedition, are familiar with the respective areas and have detailed knowledge of the rivers or lakes where you will be fishing. All company Fishing Guides speak English though some of the local Fishing Guides may not be conversant in English.

Our River Guides have a minimum of three years of river running experience. All River Guides are licensed by the Tourism Department and are trained in CPR and First Aid, besides having intimate knowledge of the rivers these trips are run on.

Some of our River Guides are passionate kayakers too; some of them have kayaked expensively in the rivers of India and Nepal.

The company’s philosophy is based on a high regard for the quality of gear we use on our expeditions, we believe that it should be of the best quality and well maintained in order to provide our guest with the highest possible standard in terms of safety and quality.

All of our fishing, trekking and white water equipment is state of the art, and regularly maintained.

Mahseer fishing requires a large amount of specialized tackle, all of which is impossible to obtain in a short period of time - different lures and flies for various rivers is required as feeding and behavioral patterns differ vastly from river to river. Specialized trebles and fly hooks - even the terminal tackle and rings should be of the highest possible standard. Indeed, more Mahseer are lost to tackle failure than due to any other reason.

In order to save you the hassle of shopping for every bit of tackle before coming on one of our expeditions we make available a lot of specialized gear that is required in order to make these expeditions successful.

The Himalayan Outback provides all the tackle needed to go after the Mahseer on our trips – both on fly and on spinning.

Our inventory consists of a number of rods and reels – both spinning and fly-fishing (Daiwa, Shakespeare Ugly Sticks, Cabela’s, Zebco, Penn, Shimano, Abu Garcia, Loomis and others).

We also provide the terminal tackle, fly lines, leaders/tippets etc. Live bait and paste baits are also available during the trip.

A complete armory of tackle is carried on these trips so that we do not leave any thing to chance - including hundreds of lures and flies.

Waders are not needed on these rivers, as the water is 11 to 15 Celsius, though felt sole booties or shoes are recommended.

Fly-fishing gear: We have an assortment of #8 weight rods for fly-fishing for the Mahseer - these rods are loaded with sinking fly lines and 150 yards of 20 lbs backing.

You may bring along flies you think will work. We generally carry a vast collection of streamers and a lot of material for tying flies in the event we do fall short of anything.

Hyside rafts, which we use, are a benchmark in the commercial rafting circuits throughout the world. These rafts have proven their “tough as nails” reputation even in Himalayan rivers; they are amongst the finest in the industry today. The life jackets (buoyancy aid), helmets and all the other specialized river equipment are of the highest standard and are all imported from the US based company, Northwest River Supplies (NRS).

In order to maintain our high standards of safety, the guides check the river gear meticulously before each expedition.

Our cooks specialize in a variety of Indian and continental cuisine. All meals are freshly prepared and server buffet style. We encourage our guests to inform us, prior to coming for the expedition, if they have any dietary restriction. All fruit and vegetables, on these trips, are washed thoroughly in potassium permanganate.

On morning fishing session we usually have the breakfast served at the beat for the anglers. Packed lunches are provided for any angler who doesn’t want to take a break from fishing!

For dinner our cooks organize barbeques which is served around a bonfire, under the stars!

We will surprise you with freshly baked breads, cakes and pies – even in these remote locations.

You are welcome to try your hand at cooking – should you be so inclined.

We provide mineral water on all our expeditions.

We adhere to all environmental guidelines during our expeditions – we request all our guests to help keep this fragile habitat clean and undisturbed so that the sport, which these rivers provide, could be enjoyed by future generations.