Tourism Breaking News
Flying Konkan Devgad Zipline is the first of its kind adventure sport activity along the coastal region of India, was launched and thrown open to public earlier this year. Co-founded by IT engineers turned entrepreneurs, siblings Vaishnavi Joil & Srikant Joil introduces coastal ziplining to the Indian population as a unique adventure activity along the coast, offering breathtaking views of the pristine coast, and thrilling break from the niche ‘water sports’ category.
Over the past decade, the popularity of adventure sports tourism has seen an upward trend among tourists of all age groups and backgrounds. Among them all, ziplining is one of the most popular, safe and adventurous activity so far, for those seeking an adrenaline rush but in a comparatively safer set-up, while taking in the natural beauty of the destination. And while India currently has several ziplining options, including popular locations in Rishikesh and some in Rajasthan, Goa and even in Maharashtra, the Indian coast has so far remained isolated to ziplining. But Flying Konkan Zipline is changing all of that!
A true labor of love, the Flying Konkan Zipline was conceptualized as a curious idea in 2016, and finally took shape and materialized in January 2021, after years of meticulous research, planning, permissions, paper work and several trials. However, the pandemic and the lockdown in 2020, was a pivotal point in the way the venture would shape out eventually. Speaking about the journey and the vision, Vaishnavi Joil, Co-Founder, Flying Konkan Devgad ZIpline, said, “Devgad has been our family native and we have spent several summer vacations as children, relishing in the mangoes and exploring the beach. However, during the lockdown when we moved here to work out of our family home, I became acutely aware of the lack of opportunities for the youth and the high rate of unemployment. Also, the fact that although equally picturesque when compared to some of Konkan’s popular tourist destinations, Devgad had not witnessed any tourist flux unlike its neighboring towns of Malvan and Ratnagiri. While we were already working on the zipline idea, we decided to make it count for the local community and worked around a plan to offer training and employment for the local youth as well as rope in local women to curate a wholesome tourist experience, needed to put Devgad on the tourist map. In line with this, we have envisioned a lot of new offerings under Flying Konkan and the zipline is just the first of several such initiatives.”
Devgad is a quaint little beautiful beach town, along the picturesque Konkan coastline, and the Zipline offers breathtaking views of the beach and the seas. Perched at a height of about 280 meters from sea level and with a total length of 1885 meters, Flying Konkan Zipline is a state of the art set up, that boasts of wire rope made of Usha-Martin steel and has 12 mm of thickness. The landing point height is 40ft from ground, and is accessed through a special steel ramp made for landing with staircase installed on it. Apart from this, all over safety gear is made using internationally accepted brands that have been known for superior quality and safety standards. The Harness, Pully, Joco and sling used are sourced from World’s leading Mountaineering equipment manufacturing brand, PETZL. The carabiner used are from Madrock, Edelweiss and PETZL brands, while the safety gear and helmets mandatory for all participants, are from the Zip rider brand.
Apart from Zipline, Flying Konkan also plans to launch a surfing school to further enhance the reach of water sports beyond just a form of entertainment. Through the surfing school, she also aims to provide skills and employment to local youth who can become instructors and volunteers.
