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Curtain Call Adventures have made media appearances time and again, and we feel proud in getting featured or mentioned by Travel related websites and magazines. Here you will find select publishing houses and top blogger’s take on their experience with us.
Julie Kagti, a designer from Assam, is making this possible through 'Curtain Call Adventures. Vacationers usually fall into two groups — those looking for the familiar holiday experience, sightseeing, tropical beaches and sands, and the other lot wanting to take the road less travelled.
Julie is the founder and curator of Curtain Call Adventures, a tourism initiative started in 2017 to make travel more accessible for visitors to interact, immerse themselves and understand local community projects in this space, especially in the northeast of India.
Julie Kagti spent her childhood in the tea plantations of Assam, embedded in the semi-tropical forests of the Brahmaputra valley. She still fondly remembers her holidays while growing up, accompanying her father through the states of the Northeast.
"Tourists come to the Northeast and see waterfalls, rhinos and sunsets. But no one visits the local villages or walks into the forests," says Julie Kagti, Founder of Curtain Call Adventures, who is changing this perspective, one trip at a time. Julie brings travellers to learn and experience one of the most well-preserved traditions of the island's vibrant community—its unique, ancient pottery-making practice without a potter's wheel.
The Northeast is a world of unexplored activities, notes Assam’s Julie Kagti. But its potential often goes unrecognised. After a fulfilling stint in the textile industry, Julie started ‘Curtain Call Adventures’ which specialises in packages that unearth the beauties of the Northeast.
On realising that people are forgetting all about Northeast India's hidden crafts, Assam’s Julie Kagti founded ‘Curtain Call Adventures’ for travellers who want to immerse themselves in the region's culture
With rising interest in community experiences across the country, a lot of travel organisers have started offering curated cultural tours that narrate seldom told stories about the local communities.
With Love For India: Julie Kagti, Founder of Curtain Call Adventures
“I felt the need to offer discerning travellers a richer experience through visits to local villages”
Julie Kagti
Founder of Curtain Call Adventures
Tourism in Sohra has to look beyond waterfalls and tap into its rich culture, root bridges and adventure sports if it has to sustain itself," said boutique tour operator Julie Kagti.
Julie Kagti founder of Curtain Call Adventures: “Momos: dumplings with stuffing usually minced red meat served with a chutney made of charred onions, chillies and tomato.
I am someone with so many interests. I like craft. I have spent a lot of my working years in that field. Textile and craft are a big part of my childhood and also of my being. I promote textile and craft in my tours. I have a travel company, so obviously, I love travelling. For me, travel is about the little markets, villages … I like to see how people live
Julie reached out to Indian Experiences as a result of our social media. She told us that she was doing tours in Assam and we arranged to have a chat. I was intrigued enough to venture up to Assam to meet her (no hardship to be fair it was an area I had wanted to discover more of for some time) and very quickly realised that she is exactly the kind of person running exactly the kind of company that Indian Experiences was devised for.
“Voluntary based vacation to help in any area of interest – remote education, environment projects, waste management, farming and craft projects are great ways to connect one’s interest and benefit the environment. These can be done solo, with friends or as a family. A great way to connect children to nature, heritage and make them conscious responsible global citizens.”
Assamese farmers dot the horizon, harvesting rice crops so they can plant mustard greens as autumn comes to an end. Waves of amber paddy fields sway goodbye to us as we leave Guwahati and the yellow-billed egrets that keep a watchful eye over the land...
Though Tezpur is the closest airport to Ziro, it’s not well connected and flight timings are erratic. The best way to reach Ziro is to fly to Guwahati and then get to Ziro by road (450 km/approx. 12 hr northeast). Private or shared taxis can be booked from the city. Visitors need an Inner Line Permit to enter Arunachal Pradesh.
Curated tours, like those offered by Curtain Call Adventures (curtaincalladventures.com), who the writer travelled with, arrange accommodation, travel, permits, and local culinary experiences.
Manipur was once a prosperous Tibeto-Burman kingdom that became part of India in 1949, but suffered for decades due to separatist unrest. In recent times, with the return of peace, it has opened up in a small way to tourism. I am exploring the state on a trip organised by Julie Kagti of Curtain Call Adventures, which helps travellers discover India’s relatively unexplored north-east. Hailing from Assam, Kagti is a textile designer.
Julie and her team at Curtain Call use their insider’s insights and local network to craft trips built around special interests like tribal textiles, local cuisine or performing arts. Even the general interest tours curated by Curtain Call are not the run of the mill sightseeing tours that just aim at visiting the main landmarks of a destination.’
Curtain Call Adventures was featured in an article, Travel with a Twist, in Deccan Herald. On your next vacation , take the road less travelled, or connect with culture. Prachi Jose suggests a few offbeat travel ideas…
“I want to share this unique holiday experience with everyone who has wanted to do this but didn’t know where to find it. Curtaincall Adventures is name by which her tours go. It is an unique experience and she says she named her curated tours Curtain Call Adventures because she relates it with how actors bow after the last act and curtain falls, this may just be our last chance to see north east’s culture as is before modernity takes over their way of life”…..
“Actually joys of travelling with her, yes she travels with you on tour or facilitates expert experienced local guides to accompany you who she feels will enhance your experience more, that’s how she has been marinating sanctity of how she envisions it all, so the joy of travelling with her is she even takes you shopping for she knows the best places to find unique things at a bargain”….
“The Apatanis are traditionally animists and they worship nature,” explains Julie Kagti pointing to the religious Donyi-Polo flags — a red sun emblazoned on a white background — fluttering outside several houses. Kagti is the owner of Curtain Call Adventures, which curates small-group culture-focussed trips to Northeast India
The first thing most people would notice about Imphal, Manipur’s capital city, is that it seems to be overrun with shabby, worn down buildings, traffic and dusty streets. And the city often becomes the mirror for the state. But if you have flown over the picturesque Loktak Lake, you’d know there’s more to this sleepy state than meets the eye. And there’s more to the city as well.
The author travelled with Curtain Call Adventures (www. curtaincalladventures.com), which organises curated journeys to the north east of India.
Julie Kagti of ‘Curtain Call Adventures’, has come a long way since starting her business in 2016. Her venture focuses on creating localised travel experiences for people in the Northeast region. She promotes a more wholesome way of travelling by including local art, culture, and guides in your travel experience.
Manipur is an underrated gem in Northeast India offering everything from adventure travel (e.g. a canoe ride inside Keibul Lamjao National Park, the world’s only floating wildlife park) to sampling tribal cuisines to exploring the state’s vast textile heritage. “The Meitei community is known for the finest silk gauze with abstract floral patterns hand-woven by the women around Bishnapur district,” says Julie Kagti, Founder, Curtain Call Adventures, a boutique travel company that curates cultural trips to the Northeast (curtaincalladventures.com). She also recommends visiting villages of the Rongmei community who use back-strap looms and create intricate patterns without tracing or marking, just using patterns passed on from mothers to daughters.
Check out our curated sample itinearies in the Discover More section
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