There are places we visit on our overseas adventures that challenge our expectations, and Dharavi is certainly one of them.
It is described as “one of Asia’s largest slum settlements”, but Dharavi is so much more than that label suggests. Tucked into the heart of Mumbai, it is a vibrant, densely packed community where homes, workshops, businesses and family life exist side by side. For visitors, a journey through Dharavi offers a very different perspective of Mumbai — one built around people, enterprise, creativity and incredible resilience.
It’s a few hours of our INCREDIBLE INDIA WOMEN ONLY TOUR that totally blows out all preconceptions and leaves us in a surreal daze!
A community built on opportunity
Dharavi’s story is closely linked to migration. Over generations, people from across India arrived in Mumbai looking for work and opportunity. Artisans, potters, leather workers, embroiderers and traders made their homes here, creating the foundations of the diverse community that exists today.
As we wind our way through narrow alleyways throbbing with activity, we learn more about the many family-run enterprises and small businesses that run 24-7.
A remarkable recycling industry
One of the most fascinating aspects of Dharavi is its incredible recycling industry. In the narrow alleyways we often had to step aside to let someone through carrying a massive load on their strong backs.
Locals scour the streets, rubbish dumps and collection points for anything that can be given a second life — plastics, metals, electrical equipment, clothing, furniture and much more. These materials are collected, packed up and lugged into Dharavi, where it is meticulously sorted, processed and recycled, eventually becoming something completely new.
Seeing this process first-hand was a real eye-opener. What we might consider rubbish is, for Dharavians, a valuable resource and a source of income. It’s a powerful reminder that behind the waste we throw away are hard-working people making a living while keeping huge amounts of material out of landfill.
Creating Opportunities for the Next Generation
Dharavi is home to dozens of schools, ranging from municipal and government schools to private and community-run institutions.
What really struck us was the determination of families to give their children a different future. Education is seen as a pathway to opportunity — a chance for the next generation to pursue careers and possibilities that may not have been available to their parents.
Walking through Dharavi, it would be easy to focus only on the challenges. But the schools and children offer another perspective. There is ambition, hope and an enormous desire to learn.
Outside of the classroom, there's no green grass to run around on and no fancy playgrounds, but cricket can be played anywhere!
For us at Roam Travel Adventures, this is one of the most valuable parts of travelling — looking beyond the headlines and stereotypes and seeing the people, communities and stories that make a place what it really is.
Dharavi through a traveller's eyes
Visiting Dharavi isn't about sightseeing in the traditional sense. There are no grand monuments or polished tourist attractions. Instead, it is about seeing another side of Mumbai and meeting the people who live and work here.
We gaze in wonderment at the steep stepladders leading up to someone’s home. A home that has no running water, no bathroom, and little ventilation. A home that may have 1 or 2 rooms and many generations living in it. It’s confronting, humbling and, at times, difficult to comprehend — but it also makes us pause and appreciate just how fortunate many of us are in our own homes.
For Roam Travel Adventures, responsible travel means approaching places like Dharavi with curiosity and respect, rather than treating people's homes as a spectacle.
Supporting the community we have come to learn about
We explore Dharavi in groups of 5, accompanied by a guide who is also a Dharavi resident. Many of our guides are university students with excellent English, giving us the opportunity to learn about the community from someone who knows it personally.
We are also mindful that Dharavi is home to real families and businesses, so photography is always approached respectfully, with permission sought where appropriate.
A significant portion of the tour fee is reinvested into Dharavi through youth development programmes, healthcare and education initiatives.
A changing future
Within an area of approx 2.40²km and a population of over 1M, Dharavi faces serious challenges, including overcrowding, infrastructure and living conditions. It is currently at the centre of a major redevelopment by the Government of Maharashtra's Dharavi Redevelopment Project which aims to improve housing, infrastructure and living conditions while transforming the wider area. The challenge will be balancing better facilities with the livelihoods, businesses and communities that have developed there over generations.
This neighbourhood we have had the pleasure of visiting on our tours, may look very different in the years ahead.
More than a slum
It is also a place of enormous entrepreneurial spirit. Its residents have created businesses, supported families, developed traditional crafts and built a thriving economy within an incredibly constrained urban environment.
It is a place we walk out of feeling drained but exhilarated all at once! And that is what travel is all about: stepping beyond the postcard, looking a little deeper and coming home with a better understanding of the people and places that make our world so fascinating.