What Happens When a Place Gets 'Discovered'

In 2018, Chitkul was a quiet village at the last point on the India-Tibet road. By 2023, it had cafes serving avocado toast, a parking crisis, and a garbage problem that the 700 residents couldn't manage.

We watched the same thing happen to Kasol, Tosh, Malana, and now it's starting in Jibhi. The pattern is always the same: someone posts a reel, a hundred thousand people watch it, and within two seasons the place is unrecognizable.

This is why Before Maps exists. Not to gatekeep places - that's impossible and arrogant. But to model a different way of visiting them. Small groups. Local homestays instead of new hotels. Application-based so we can have honest conversations about expectations.

We also have a policy that not every scouted place becomes a journey. Some villages have told us directly: 'We don't want tourists.' We respect that. We write it up as a field note, we don't name the village, and we move on.

The alternative - treating every beautiful place as content to be consumed - is how we lose the places that matter most.