What's on your mind?

Sensitive Tourism

In the past decade the tremendous growth in tourism has put great stress on the habitat and indigenous culture of the local communities in many destinations. It is much easier today to visit a place which was considered remote earlier. In many places, this has led to depletion of resources and long term damage to the local, traditional way of life.

 
The issues involved are quite complex and there are no easy short term solutions to these problems. However a little awareness and sensitivity from visitors goes a long way to reduce the impact on people, culture and nature alike.
 
  • Do not waste water or electricity : Conserving resources by using the least possible amount of non-renewable resources such as water, electricity
  • Do not litter : It takes enormous effort to clean the waste, but a little effort from us can help making and keeping our country clean.
  • Know about your hosts : Informing oneself about the local culture, politics, and economy to be visited
  • Respect your hosts : Anticipating and respecting local cultures, expectations and assumptions
  • Contribute : Contributing to intercultural understanding and tolerance
  • Support local business : Supporting the integrity of local cultures by favoring businesses which conserve cultural heritage and traditional values
  • Purchase local produce : Supporting local economies by purchasing local goods and participating with small, local businesses
  • Trips that support: We encourage our guests to try trips which support the local communities. We request our guests to “step out” for enjoyable experiences through more meaningful connections with local people, and a greater understanding of local culture and hospitality. 
  • Gifts : We advise our guests to buy souvenirs and gifts directly from the artisans ( where possible) or buy from shops owned by local people or government emporiums.
  • Local staff : Local group leaders and guides are engaged on most of our trips, providing employment for local communities. We are committed to developing long-term relationships with our local suppliers, by working closely with them to develop new products/services to ensure that the economic benefit is ongoing.
  • Environment : We work to minimize the environmental impact of our trips. This means making sure local trekking guidelines are followed, no litter is left behind, water sources are environmentally friendly and responsible cooking fuels are used, where applicable. We also have guidelines in place for specific excursions, like trekking and wildlife safari, so awareness is raised on how to protect, fragile environments.
  • Partnerships : We have taken extra care, time and patience to identify our activity partners in each region. We partner with companies working closely with local wildlife and community projects.
  • In future : we will request our guests for a small donation for local development projects. These donations will be collected over a three month period and then sent to a local project selected by our guests.
  • Our office :  We recycle our office paper, toner cartridges and use energy efficient electrical equipment.  We educate staff on how to cut waste. By developing our website and electronic literature, we’re drastically reducing the amount of paper materials we produce. 
 

We admire

“Only after the last tree has been cut down, Only after the last river has been poisoned, Only after the last fish has been caught, Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten" - Prophecy of the Cree Native American Tribe

In this section we will highlight some of the practices, traditions and grass root level initiatives which has enormous relevance to the conservation and protection of natural resources in India.

Dinesh Goswami is not a highly-educated man, but his knowledge of the natural world is unparalleled. He has spent more than a decade helping to protect marine life off the Saurashtra coast.

Goswami’s first rescue operation was about 12 nautical miles from Sutrapada. He received word of an 8.5m long whale shark trapped in a fisherman’s net and quickly rushed to the scene to cut the animal free. Over the years, Goswami has rescued at least 25 sharks by himself and he and his team have been indirectly involved in all 75 rescue operations that have taken place off the Gujarat coast since 2004.

The Krishi Avam Paristhitiki Vikas Sansthan (KRAPAVIS), which literally means "organization for the development of ecology and agriculture/livestock", works with a clear mission: the improvement of ecological, agricultural and animal husbandry practices with a view to ensure sustainable livelihoods for rural and pastoral communities in Rajasthan.

For the last 17 years, KRAPAVIS has been working to revive Rajasthan's ‘Orans’ (sacred village forests), both physically and conceptually. Orans are local micro bio-diversity reserves which harbor the shrine of a local goddess or deity; the majority of these shrines contain sources of water, either small springs or rivulets or a variety of ponds and nadis. The society has so far succeeded to conserve and protect the biodiversity and rural livelihoods in over 100 villages.

The latter was achieved by reconstructing the bio-diversity, as well as engaging the stakeholder/community and building suitable institutions. KRAPAVIS has empowered local communities in order to expand their administrative and managerial abilities. The organization has many years of experience in protecting trees, conserving water, raising saplings in nurseries and planting these in ‘Orans’ and other community conserved areas.

In addition to restoring these sacred forests, KRAPAVIS is working on agricultural and pastoral issues, which directly impact conservation.

The olive ridley sea turtle nests at several sites in the western Indian Ocean, Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Orissa is the most important breeding area for Olive Ridley Sea Turtles in the Indian Ocean along the Bay of Bengal is Orissa. In 1993, biologists from the Orissa Forest Department and the Wildlife Institute of India learned that large scale nesting of olive ridley turtles was taking place near the mouth of the Rushikulya river. This area is the location of one of the largest mass nesting (arribada) sites of olive ridley sea turtles in India. 

The Rushikulya Sea Turtle Protection Committee (RSTPC) plays a pivotal role in saving the sea turtles of the Rushikulya rookery. A group of motivated village boys of Purunabandha village, Ganjam, near the Rushikulya sea turtle rookery have formed this group which has a total membership of 50, mostly from fishing communities. The RSTPC works with technical support from many sea turtle biologists including Dr. Bivash Pandav, Dr. S.K. Dutta, Mr. B.C. Choudhury and Mr. Basudev Tripathy. 

The Bishnoi tribes of Rajasthan were the first environmentalist in the world; they started following a life to protect and conserve the environmental and wildlife in 1485, when the environmentalist saint Guru Jambheshwar made it religiously compulsory to:

 'Not cut green trees' and 'To be compassionate to all living beings.'

The Bishnoi tribes follow a total of 29 strict rules to conserve nature and wildlife, while facing the hardship of life in the Thar Desert

Year: 1730, Venue:Khejadli in Rajasthan :

This sleepy village of Jodhpur district, witnessed an event unparalleled in the history of mankind. It was an event which pioneered the Chipko (Tree Hugging) Movement of 20th century.

Not one, not two, but 363 men, women and children laid down their lives in protest against attempts by the men of Jodhpur King to cut green Khejadli (Prosopis Cinraria) trees. While this massacre was being carried out, the men, women and children kept chanting the wisdom of Guru Jambho Ji’s teaching: "Sar Santey Rookh Rahe To Bhi Sasto Jaan" (If a tree is saved even at the cost of one’s head, it’s worth it).

The village of Mangalajodi is part of the Chilika Lake habitat that is home to more than 300,000 birds from across the globe.

Ten years back, the village was known for its infamous poachers. However, in 1996-1997, members of a conservation group called Wild Orissa began conducting awareness programs in the village. Wild Orissa and the Council of Professional Social Workers (CPSW) supported the group and provided them with small wooden boats to aid patrolling efforts. Furthermore, both the Chilika Development Authority and the Chilika Wildlife Department provided supplementary funds and seasonal jobs.

Their efforts bore fruit and the Sri Sri Mahavir Pakhshi Surakshya Samiti (Bird Protection Committee), driven by reformed poachers, was formed in December 2000. Today, the members of the committee survey and patrol the area daily and keep a close eye out for poachers.

Write to us

Send