Chennai Trekking Club is a 40 thousand member non-profit volunteer based group which organizes hundreds of outdoor, sports, environment and social activities each year during weekday mornings and weekends. All activities are free – expenses are shared equally among participants. Subscribe (Free) to our mailing list to receive regular updates and participate in upcoming activities. Read 1000+ experiences of people who joined us in the various sections on this web site. Get to know us better through testimonials of our volunteers and organizers. Read 300+ media publications about our group. Check out regular updates on activities and CTC in our Facebook Group. Video on 10 years of CTC.
Trekking
Explore the Unexplored! Experienced in map reading and navigation CTC heads out every weekend of the year to mountains and jungles on wilderness treks discovering beautiful new locations while creating our own path. New members typically first go through our 2-weekly Fitness test to assess their level.
Ainthinai Tree Plantations, Maintenance Drives, Terrace Gardening, Organic Farming
CTC’s green wing Ainthinai has planted and nurtured 14 thousand trees in and around Chennai in the past 4 years with a survival rate of 75%. Ainthinai organizes tree plantations and maintenance activities during weekday mornings and weekends sometimes combined with camping out! Learn how to grown your own (organic) food and plants on your rooftop. Ainthinai will teach you how to set up your rooftop garden and grow saplings and veggies.
Running
CTC organizes both short weekday morning runs in the city as well as monthly longer trail runs during weekends in various hills across South India. Check out our daily 10×10 running updates and our Annual Trail Calendar. We participate in a Trail runs in India and abroad and also organize a number of annual marathons including the Chennai Trail Marathon, Jawadhu Hill Ultra and Kodaikanal Hill Ultra
Biking
CTC’s Biking team goes out on regular rides across to beautiful natural locations and hills across South India pitching up tents as the sun sets down. Annually they also plan for longer rides to North India (Himalayas) and abroad (Bhutan, Srilanka, Vietnam). We are strict on discipline and safety.
Swimming
We organize twice-a-week open water swimming near the city (good swimmers only). Every Tuesday and Thursday morning 6-7:30am near Ottiyambakkam. Updates are posted on FB. CTC also organizes two editions of the Chennai Triathlon each year including Sprint, Olympic, Half and Full Iron.
Fitness Test
Every 2 weeks (Wednesday morning) we organize the CTC Fitness test (Free) where we call participants to scale up a small hill in the city to self assess their fitness level and readiness to participate in more challenging weekend treks with our group
Photography
CTC has a large community of photography passionates. They organize regular photography trips to beautiful natural locations across South India as well and photo walks in and around the city. Our photography team also covers major annual sports and environmental awareness events. Refer Annual Events.
Cycling
We do short cycle rides in trails near the city during weekday mornings and weekends as well as MTB (Mountain Biking) rides during weekends every month in beautiful hill trails across South India. Refer our Trail Calendar.
Sustainability Initiatives
As part of its environmental awareness drive CTC engages with communities, corporates and apartment complexes to implement waste segregation at source. Nochikuppam, a 600 family strong fishermen’s hamlet near Marina, has gone zero-waste with our guidance.
Cleanup Drives
Nature is close to our heart! CTC organizes the Chennai Coastal Cleanup, an annual environmental awareness drive for the past 8 years. Since the Chennai Floods we have also done 150+ cleanup drives in the city along Adyar river and beaches. You can find us in Theosophical Society on Wednesday mornings and Srinivasapuram near Foreshore on Friday mornings
Volunteering
Chennai Trekking Club is fully driven by volunteers. All weekly activities and annual events are organized by volunteers. We volunteer in outdoors, sports, environmental and social initiatives.
Social Treks
We take out less privileged children from various orphanages around the city on one day easy hikes spending quality time together and having fun playing in the wild. Are you game?
Social Initiatives
Chennai Trekking Club has done extensive rehabilitation of impacted communities after the Chennai Floods. We provided relief to thousands of families, restored lost livelihood and restored damaged homes, orphanages, government schools. We set up a school cum tuition center in Pulicat catering to hundreds of children of backwards hamlets.
Turtle Walks
Every January to March is the annual Ridley Sea Turtle nesting season along the East coast of India. We organize daily turtle walks with SSTCN to protect the nests and release the little hatchlings back into the ocean.
Camping
CTC organizes regular camping events during weekdays and weekends near the beautiful city outskirts. Everyone, families, ladies, kids participates in community style cooking on the campfire, sleeping under the stars, easy hikes to small nearby hills and LOTS of fun together!
Community Programs
We works with schools and less privileged communities engaging the kids in drawing competitions, recycle workshops and segregation to plants seeds of a sustainable future.
Blood Donation Drives
Chennai Red Knights (CRK) is the blood donation wing of Chennai Trekking Club. CRK has been actively involved in arranging donors for surgeries, emergency requests through volunteer donors and blood camps predominantly for Government hospitals in Chennai.