He was showing an Orissa not many saw before

If you like to see the animals in freedom inside their habitat,living in the deepest jungle.

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If you wish to realize true adventure trekking in uncontaminated places,but with the safety coming from experience.

Well then come with us in Orissa!!!

This is how Paulo Bosusco,the 55-year-old adventurous Italian with a flowing golden mane,used to draw eager tourists from Europe and United States through his website http://www.orissatrekking.com. Incidentally,Maoists,who have abducted him along with another Italian tourist,claimed that the two foreigners were taken hostage while taking objectionable photographs of tribal women taking bath in a stream.

Originally from Condove in Turin province of Italy,the 6-ft tall and lean Bosusco had been living in Puri for the last 19 years on a multiple-entry tourist visa. People who know him claim that he loved and knew the tribal hinterland of Orissa more than any local did.

Though he did not have a licensed travel agency,he used to function as a tour operator from his one-room office in Puri’s Chakra Tirtha Road. He advertised his skills and experience to get the westerners through the rough and tumble of tribal hinterland before the spirit of adventure led him to the Maoist dragnet in the deep forests of Ganjam-Kandhamal border.

His agency,Orissa Adventurous Trekking,had a small signboard that was almost lost in the sea of travel agency hoardings in Puri,but those who wanted to travel to Orissa hinterland,knew Bosusco was the man to call.

Police officials in Puri say not much loopholes can be picked in Bosusco’s story as he had a valid visa expiring in October 2012. The only grudge that local tour operators have against him is that he was an unauthorised tour operator.

Drawing them to Orissa using his website,Bosusco used to take the eager foreigners on a “unique trekking experience” across rivers,gorges,deep forests and hills in Sundargarh,Malkangiri,Rayagada,Gajapati,Kandhamal,Kalahandi,Koraput,Angul,Cuttack and Puri. His charges were 40 Euros (around Rs 2,100) per person per day for a group of up to five people and 35 Euros (around Rs 1,800) for a group of six to eight people. To go on his trekking expeditions,usually spanning between two and 20 days,people had to meet him in Puri between November and June.

As the photos in his website show,Bosusco indeed took his clients on a wild tour,making them experience the natural beauty of Orissa which even the leaflets of the state’s tourism department could never capture.

He was fluent in Oriya,though with some accent. He understood the business of adventure and tribal tourism well and was very wise in spending money. “He would never tip,which foreigners in Orissa normally do to get better service. If he paid Rs 20 for a Rs 10 soft drink,he expected to be refunded Rs 10. But he never argued or quarrelled…” said Narayan Panda,a small shop owner in Gazalbadi gram panchayat area of Kandhamal’s Daringibadi block. It was at Panda’s shop where Bosusco used to halt for a few hours while returning from Daringibadi. “To save money,he would travel in bus,” Panda added.

People in Kandhamal remember him as a man who is remarkably fit for his age and can trek for hours together without getting tired. “He used to lug backpacks…used to walk in the jungles taking all precautions. He would never drink any water other than the packaged mineral water that he carried with him. If those were exhausted,he would rely on bottled or canned soft drinks,” said Panda.

The other abducted Italian,Claudio Colangelo (60),from Rocca di Papa in Rome province,had arrived in Puri on March 9 with a tourist visa that expired on March 18. Some Italian newspapers described Colangelo,a physician,as someone involved in projects of international solidarity “and social commitment”.

“He travels mostly to try to make a contribution in projects aimed at the restoration of health,working alongside local groups. His desire is to be able to contribute to the health,dignity and education in these villages located in these countries,” an Italian newspaper quoted one of his colleagues as saying.