About

Bipin Bhosale and Pooja Rani Bhatia are co-founders of Khoj-aao! They love to spend time off the grid, enjoy diverse foods, and travel to offbeat destinations. They're both certified in different levels of Wilderness First Aid, so rest assured you're safe in their hands. Bipin's an avid birder, a SCUBA diver, and a slow travel enthusiast. Pooja's a divemaster, and a trained experiential facilitator. Listen to their journey from growing up in the Western Ghats and the USA respectively, and meeting in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, to now showcasing the outdoors in Goa. Khoj-aao! is a nature-based eco-tourism operator that offers customised outdoor experiences, currently in Goa and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Browse their website Follow them on Instagram Like their Facebook page Get in touch with them for explorations across backyard nature trails, stargazing sessions, overnight camping trips, river boat cruises, and bird watching excursions in Goa. You can choose from half-day, full-day, and multi-day adventures. Khoj-aao! intends to expose the younger generations to the outdoors with their interdisciplinary programs designed to take the classroom outside amid natural surroundings.  The Khoj-aao! Young Explorer Kits are suitable for all ages, and are ideal to bring along for your own independent adventures in the wild. They also organise workshops on topics including, snake awareness, backyard biodiversity, wilderness survival, and local flora/fauna among others. Also mentioned in this episode Amit Shetty - Andaman & Nicobar Islands - Bear Grylls - Bhagwan Mahaveer Wildlife Sanctuary - Birding - Bushcraft - Butterfly - Camping - Camping in the USA - Camping in India - Camp Monk - Damselfly - David Attenborough - Dragonfly - Dry bite (mock bite) - Dudhsagar waterfalls - First response - Flying Fish - Fungi in Goa - Geminids - Grand Canyon - Hiking - Hornbill - International Dark-Sky Association - International Space Station - Jio - Light pollution - Machu Picchu - Machu Picchu Trek - Mergui Archipelago - Mollem - Monsoon - National Historic Site - New species of ant discovered in 2020 - Nupur D'souza - Ohio - Parag Rangnekar - Paul Oxton - Paul Stamets - Pelagic birds - Pleiades - Poisonous vs Venomous - Ranthambore - Romulus Whitaker - Shashikiran - Space debris - Spiti - Stargazing - Starlink - Touch me not - Trail grading - Trail running - Trekking - Western Ghats - White-bellied sea eagle - Wilderness Survival Certification - Yondr Timestamps for reference04:31 Is it fun offering outdoor experiences? 08:55 Returning to similar trails and understanding the flora and fauna 14:41 Bipin and Pooja's introduction to camping 20:57 From camping to Khoj-aao 22:45 Trails in Goa 25:38 Encouraging guests to document their outdoor experiences 27:31 Different experiences offered by Khoj-aao 32:48 Goa is a year-round destination for nature-based experiences 36:25 Stargazing with Khoj-aao and personal experiences with celestial events 49:40 Interacting with like-minded guests, and their experiences in the outdoors 56:43 Uniqueness of the Goan outdoors 01:00:04 Inspiring guests to explore the outdoors on their own 01:04:23 Infrastructure for independent outdoor experiences 01:08:57 The cultural shift to keeping our public spaces clean, and respecting the native ecosystems 01:22:30 Development within local communities 01:33:30 Light Pollution, stargazing, and other experiences with guests 01:41:30 Young Explorers Adventure Kit 01:51:01 Snakes and stuff 01:53:55 Experiences in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands 01:56:06 The beauty of marine life 01:59:30 Wilderness survival 02:13:38 Gears and gadgets in adventure sports and recreation 02:17:57 How Bipin and Pooja met, and the beginning of Khoj-aao 02:23:06 Bipin and Pooja's personal travels, and takeaways from running an eco-conscious travel business ******* Show cover jingle courtesy of Icons8 Music by Nordgroove from Fugue Episode background tunes courtesy of YouTube Audio LibraryAsleep with the Sun by Unicorn Heads First Class by DJ Williams All photographs by Bipin Bhosale, Khoj-aao!, and Pooja Rani Bhatia, unless otherwise stated.