Astungkara Way in Air India’s Namaste.ai: “Hiking in Bali Beyond the Tourist Map”

Jun 30
4 min read

We are deeply moved and grateful to find ourselves featured in Namaste.ai, Air India's inflight magazine, in the June 2026 issue, reaching travellers in the air between India and Bali and beyond.

The article, titled "Restoring an Ecosystem" (pages 15-17), was written by acclaimed Indian travel writer and author Shivya Nath, who joined us for a two-day walk and cultural immersion through the remote farming villages of Bali. Shivya has spent years exploring how travel can shift from placing an "invisible burden" on places and communities, towards regenerating their natural and cultural resources. We are honoured that she chose to tell this story through her experience with Astungkara Way.

Thank you, Shivya, for your beautiful writing, your openness to walk with us, and for sharing the soul of Bali with Air India's readers around the world.

What the Article is About: Hiking in Bali the Authentic Way

Shivya's piece opens with a scene many of our pilgrims will recognise: waking up in a sprawling, multigenerational Balinese family home to birdsong from the organic farm outside, the scent of hand-pressed coconut oil from the kitchen, and a warm cacao drink from their guide, Gede. It is the kind of authentic Bali experience that is increasingly rare, and the very reason Astungkara Way exists.

Away from Bali's crowded beaches and viral hotspots, Shivya joined us for an 18km walk through remote villages, far beyond the usual tourist circuit. Until then, her interactions with Balinese people had been mostly superficial: hotel staff, café workers, cab drivers, shopkeepers. Walking with us, she met the island's elders and culture-keepers, stayed with a 39-member family across generations, chatted with rice and marigold farmers, and had real conversations with Balinese guides about what tourism and social media have done to their ways of life.

Bali is one of the most visited islands in the world, yet most visitors never step foot in a rice farmer's home, never learn how coconut oil is pressed by hand, never sit with an elder and hear about the ways tourism has changed their village. Our walking trails exist to bridge that gap.

Hiking Through Rice Paddies and Bamboo Forests

One of the best things to do in Bali, and one of the most overlooked, is simply to walk. Not through the streets of Seminyak or the boutiques of Ubud, but through living rice terraces, family food forests, and bamboo groves that most visitors never see.

Shivya describes walking under candy blue skies and tropical palms, alongside young green rice paddies and on the edges of shared irrigation canals. She learned how Bali's Tri Hita Karana philosophy weaves together people, nature, and the divine. When she spotted ducks wading through a rice paddy, the philosophy felt alive. The family food forest gave way to a magical bamboo grove: an old wooden bridge over gushing water, moss-covered rocks, and secluded niches with stone statues of Lord Buddha. Not yoga studios for tourists. Spaces for meditation used by the villagers themselves.

This is the Bali rice terrace walk in its truest form: not a photo stop, but a journey into a living agricultural system.

Why Regenerative Travel Matters for Bali

Bali's beauty is fragile. Mass tourism has disrupted centuries-old balances: between farmers and their land, between communities and their culture, between the island's ecosystems and the people who depend on them.

Shivya writes about how Balinese rice growers once had a beautiful symbiotic relationship with ducks, who ate pests and fertilised the fields naturally. Tourism broke that rhythm across much of the island. By partnering with farmer cooperatives, Astungkara Way works to restore it: offering training, financial support, and market access to help farmers revert to climate-resilient heritage rice varieties, reintroduce ducks into their fields, and compost rice straw instead of burning it. The walking trails do more than show travellers Bali. They actively contribute to restoring its fragile ecosystem.

Regenerative travel in Bali is not a trend. It is a necessity. When you walk the Astungkara Trail, you are not a tourist consuming a landscape. You are a participant in its restoration.

The Promise of Paradise

Shivya's walk through the untrodden heart of Bali ended with a water purification ceremony in a river and cave waterfall. She left with a reflection that captures what we work toward every day:

"Regeneration is a conscious effort to revive a forgotten way of life, one that honours the relationship between place, people, and planet. And, therefore, keeps the promise of 'paradise' alive."

We are not selling paradise. We are working to protect it, restore it, and share it in a way that leaves it better than we found it.

Experience Bali's Best-Kept Secret

If you are planning a trip to Bali and looking for experiences beyond the usual: beyond the beach clubs, the yoga retreats, the rice terrace selfie spots, we invite you to walk with us.

Whether you are looking for the best hiking trail in Bali, a Bali wellness experience that goes deeper than a spa, or simply one of the most authentic things to do in Bali that most travellers never discover, the Astungkara Trail is waiting for you.

Shivya flew to Bali on Air India's non-stop service from Delhi. We warmly welcome every traveller, from India and across the world, to discover this side of the island.

Explore our trails and book your programme at astungkaraway.com

Article: "Restoring an Ecosystem" by Shivya Nath, Namaste.ai (Air India's inflight magazine), June 2026, pages 15-17.

Shivya Nath is the author of Rootless and Restless (Penguin Random House).