Help Tourism

“With Volun-Tourism we envision an enlightened and empowered rural India where local communities are able to create conditions to fulfill their aspiration and earn a respectful livelihood without leaving their villages, overcoming barriers of class, cast, gender, ethnicity and religion.” 

The year 2010 has been very special for Help Tourism as the organization completed its 20 years in Responsible Tourism. It was indeed an eventful journey punctuated by joy and sorrow. We salute all the members of the team and extended family of Help Tourism and our guests and partners who gave us support and sustenance. We take this opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to conservation and communities by practicing tourism as the religion of mankind. 

Despite many challenges the organization successfully launched several new initiatives, projects and programmes in 2010. 

The WTD (World Tourism Day) Yatra was a grand success with several very fruitful programmes in Dhaka and Paharpur to connect the heritages of Bangladesh and India. The Indian delegation was lead by internationally famous filmmaker Goutam Ghosh. 

Two Peace Parks were established in 2010: Guru Padmasambhava Peace Park in Ultapani in Manas Biosphere Reserve in Assam and Lalon Fakir Peace Park in Chilapata in North Bengal. 

The annual Nature and Community festival at Chilapata witnessed record attendance of all the local and regional stakeholders. 

The Samsing Jaldhaka Orange Festival  received overwhelming response with more than 5000 participants who presented a spontaneous and spectacular show for two days and mesmerized the audience and guests. 

The ‘Waste-free Destinations’ campaign continued in 2010 with enthusiastic participation of the local grass route NGOs, travel trade, local traders, lodges and home stay operators, Forest department and local administration in Manas Biosphere Reserve in Assam. 

With generous support from the state Forest and Tourism departments, Help Tourism introduced full-fledged nature-based and cultural tours in Tripura. 

We along with our Nagaland team leader Angulie Meyase assisted celebrity birders Bikram Grewal, Sumit Sen, S.Ramakrishnan, Bano Haralu and Government of Nagaland in conducting the first systemic Ornithological survey in Nagaland. 

We also supported the research and photo-documentation projects in Bengal and Northeast India for the publication of the book named Forts and Palaces of India published by Om Books International, written by Amita Baig and designed by Alpana Khare with photographs by Joginder Singh. 

An extensive training programme was organized by us at The Swiss Hotel, Darjeeling for the Project Leaders of nature-based rural tourism initiatives in East and Northeast India. 35 Project Leaders received training on hospitality basics, rural tourism management and operations, community based tourism, adventure tourism, waste management and conservation of natural resources. 

Help Tourism received the prestigious “HSBC-TOFT Wildlife and Tourism Initiative of the Year” award. Our Dihing River Camp was awarded “The Most Innovative Tourism Product” at the 80th TTF (Travel and Tourism Fair) in Kolkata. 

The modern India is emerging as the second largest growing economic power in the world though sadly, despite the strong economic growth, huge domestic capacity and service potential, India still witnesses alarming disparity between the rich and poor and poverty and backwardness in the rural areas where the communities are ready to sprout with even a little encouragement and support. Tourism in general too has still a long way to walk to take a turnaround and recognize Responsible Tourism as a key to reduce the disparity and drive conservation efforts and help communities to establish their ownership on local resources. 

To much to our delight, a new Mantra of Responsible Tourism is increasingly proving its worth as a level maker by poverty alleviation and bringing valuable resources and benefits to the rural communities. Volun-Tourism as it is commonly known is the demonstration of the noble way of sharing and exchanging knowledge and resources between the guests and the hosts and giving maximum back to the people and destination while enjoying an inspirational holiday experience. It opens up the global door through the local window. 

Based on the need of the local communities in the destinations and the various skills possessed by the Volun-Tourists, Help Tourism has introduced well-researched and custom-made Volun-Tourism holidays and projects in several villages in East & Northeast India over the years and has already gained the trust and confidence of the communities. 

Through our projects and tours Volun-Tourists have been able to cut across all geographical, language and cultural barriers and have adopted villages lying adjacent to the Protected areas and Heritage sites – from the mangroves of Sunderbans to the remote mountains in Mishmi hills and Namdapha in Arunachal Pradesh, from the tropical forest of Bengal Dooars and Assam to the high altitude ecosystem in Neora Valley and Sikkim,  by bringing support to various important fields such as education, self-help enterprises, sustainable bio-farming, low cost and pollution free energy, rain water harvesting, medical assistance, small-scale handicraft business, organic food product, waste management, home-hospitality business, wildlife conservation, creation of community buffer forest and biological corridors; documentation of indigenous culture, language and folklores; survey and monitoring of endangered plants and wildlife. 

With Volun-Tourism we envision an enlightened and empowered rural India where local communities are able to create conditions to fulfill their aspiration and earn a respectful livelihood without leaving their villages, overcoming barriers of class, cast, gender, ethnicity and religion. 

May we declare the mission of Help Tourism for 2011:
RURAL ENLIGHTENMENT THROUGH VOLUN-TOURISM! 

We solicit your blessings, support and participation to help us establish benchmarks in Responsible Tourism and influence rest of the globe with our humble mission. 

We wish you all a great, peaceful and prosperous New Year ahead. 

With deep regards, admiration, appreciation and love. 

Help Tourism Family. 

31st December 2010, India.

The 2010 HSBC – TOFT Wildlife Tourism Awards are intended to:

• Highlight the important work being done by the tourism industry in support of tiger and forest conservation
• Increase awareness of responsible tourism as a force in conservation and habitat renewal
• Reward and encourage best practice operations
• Encourage sustainability in tourism enterprises
• Promote community enterprises and initiatives around Tiger Parks.

Judges comments:

Help Tourism is a fascinating ecotourism business, with both private and NGO aspirations. It supported community owned tourism lodges in many places including Manas National Park with the Bodo tribal leaders. Since 1992 their efforts have reaped rewards and now include such lodges and carefully constructed itineraries in Assam, North Bengal and Arunachal Pradesh. Furthermore they are a unique business, both lodge and tour operators, operating in the conservation and community space, in off the beaten track and more remote regions. This award would highlight their team’s excellent approach to private sector’s partnership with a dedicated mission, in its key destinations.

The Award sponsored by The Blue Yonder includes a prize of INR 25000 towards equipment/services for the benefit of the winning community.

“We are deeply grateful that the continuous conservation efforts of the communities of East Himalaya have been recognized. The Award will be an additional boost for the community tourism movement in Northeast India. Spiritually, and practically as it enables us to fund new conservation and community development activities”, said Asit Biswas, director of Help Tourism after the ceremony.

More information about the Award and the other winners on the TOFT website

TOFT, the Travel Operators for Tigers, is a ‘supply chain’ pressure campaign initiative aimed at a Global collective and inclusive Travel trade response to the tiger crisis in India, and by association, all the forests and wildlife being affected in the Indian subcontinent .

Objectives:

• To advocate and support better tourism practices in wilderness areas, with specific guidelines for operators, service and accommodation providers and visitors. Look out for the TOFT signs and PUG ratings.
• To empower local communities to become involved in wildlife tourism projects and initiate low impact and sustainable development which helps conserves the parks and benefits the communities through employmnet and business opportunities.
• To catalyse initiatives throughthe lodge communty that enhance wildlife conservation and community support, including waste and water management, trade cooperatives, local employment, fair wages and local enterprises and services.

Chilapata Sanctuary, 08th April 2010: Last night when Buada rang me up from Chilapata sometimes past 10 at night, I had just returned from the Northeast Council Tourism Meet at Gangtok where one of the major points of discussion was ‘how can tourism stop climate change’. This was the second discussion this week, as on Sunday at a meeting of the Environment and Forest Ministers of the two nations, Bangladesh & India, I was asked to speak on ‘Sunderbans, tourism and climate change’.

Buada told me that his father Shibjee had passed away. I rushed to Chilapata today morning and found several people from different communities (Oraon, Munda, Kora, Karjee, Rabha, Mech, Bihari, Nepali, Bengali and Rajbongshi) were present at the funeral. An old man was sitting in front of Buada’s house and was continuously crying and saying: “Shibjee first came to our house more than 50 years back and my father looked after both of us as brothers.”

In a small village near Samastipur in Bihar, Shibjee was born. His father passed away in his young age, and his uncles claimed his mother of having mental problems and chased her away with her two sons, the other elder to Shibjee. The uncles took away the land and the mother with two sons took shelter at a Brahmin’s house at Samastipur. The elder brother went as a child labour to Samastipur Jute Mill and the mother with the younger son worked for the Brahmin at his house.

Not long when Shibjee went to work at Ranchi, from where he managed to go to Calcutta. A long part of his life as he told his son Bua (Ganesh Sah) that he served a doctor at his house in Chittagong. In the year 1949 and the early 1950s, East Bengal was undergoing the process of becoming East Pakistan, and the Pakistan constitution was being formed on the basis of Islam. This created riots in East Bengal, West Bengal, Assam, Bihar and several parts of the subcontinent.
This made Shibjee flee Chittagong in 1954 and come and take shelter in Mathura Tea Estate, one of the first established tea estates of Dooars. The rise of the industrial revolution in United Kingdom in the 18th & 19th centuries, that was the time when the English sailed continents in search of new grounds for entrepreneurship, and started to create tea estates in India, mainly East. As a result, large forested landscapes had to be alternated with tea plantations. This is when they needed labours. The Barraiks were instrumental in bringing thousands of labourers from their state of Bihar and adjoining areas, who were made to work hard in these plantations at the present area Mathura next to Chilapata Sanctuary. In the process, the Barraiks became Rajas or Landlords of the area and owned large land areas, elephants, arms and people.

Chilapata had seen kings in the past and the fort ruins next to Bania River remain silent witness to the glorious past. As per historians, the ruins belong to the Gupta age and are often referred to the mythology of Nal Raja of Nal-Damiyanti. Several others believe that this fort belonged to Naranarayan, the King of Coochbehar and some argue that the area belonged to his General Chilla Rai, who was a great warrior and administrator. Today, the ruins are almost hidden in the forests of Chilapata Sanctuary, where the fort is inhabited by our wilder part of the ecology which includes everything from elephants to pythons, both very commonly sited.

Shibjee started his livelihood by selling chana masala in and around Mathura. He gradually started venturing in the forests carrying snack food to be sold to the mahalders and their party, who were engaged in timber extraction. This was a continuation of the imperialistic British policy of earning revenue from their empire areas rich in natural resources. Timber and Tea industries were then at its best in the Bengal Dooars areas and brought generous returns for hardworking Shibjee. The turning point came in when he and his Nepali friend were trampled by a wild elephant in the forest. His Nepali friend died, but he survived with severe injuries. The timber merchants and their people rushed him to the Alipurdual hospital and after weeks of struggle he survived. He was no more capable of walking around to sell his snacks. The Timber Merchants then built him a small shed at present Chilapata More, where his son Bua (Ganesh Sah) still lives with his family, from where Shibjee sold food and sweets often patronized by Timber Merchants and Forest officials coming for short stay at the Chilapata Forest Bungalow.

The Chilapata Forest Bungalow, which was a major transit Bungalow for government officers in the past, a must stopover from Coochbehar through the Dooars in those good old days when the unbroken forests along the Bhutan foothills were abundant with wildlife. The old log book describes the presence of Tigers, Panthers and several other celebrity wildlife which were easily sighted. The other day Chilapata Jungle Camp had some guests, one of the elderly ladies was the wife of a retired Conservator Forests, who had stayed here more than thirty years back. She described that the bungalow was surrounded by forests and had a water body in front, which attracted wild animals throughout the day. Several retired and present forest officials called Buada on his mobile and conveyed their message on the demise of his father Shibjee.

Ganesh Sah, Buada as he is popularly called in the area was brought up in the forest among the timber extraction business. His skills, intelligence and upbringing soon made him a Man Friday to the illegal timber trade lobby. He gradually became a threat to the local Forest Department. In the mid and late 1990s, a community based tourism movement was started by Help Tourism with the West Bengal Forest Department in North Bengal, both Hills & Dooars, a process to achieve protection of forest resources through tourism. The then Minister for Forests, Mr.Jogesh Burman himself, a strong believer of this movement aggressively used the tool for the forest fringe villagers. Buada, became a part of this movement with enthusiasm from the Minister and DFO.
He took a loan from the local bank and started with a tourism infrastructure in the fringe of the forests, behind the Chilapata Forest Bungalow in the name of Shibjee Green India Tourist Cottage. This became a project in isolation and there was hardly any market linkage. Buada was disturbed with the increasing bank interest and approached the Minister again, who suggested him to contact Help Tourism. In the meanwhile Help Tourism was already supporting a wildlife researcher, Subhodeep from Alipurduar on forgs & toads. He along with guidance and support of Zoological Survey of India scientist, Kaushik Deuti encountered upon a new species of frog at Chilapata.

Hence, Help Tourism took up the responsibility to be involved with Chilapata Sanctuary, the green corridor between Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary and Buxa Tiger Reserve. With the help of Wildlife III of West Bengal Forest Department, 29 local youths from different communities were trained as ‘ecoguides’. A yearly ecotourism festival was started with fixed date celebration from 15th to 17th September. Buada was given the support to complete the infrastructure, local people were trained to provide services and bank debts were cleared through a partnership, keeping the ownership of Buada intact. Branding of the infrastructure was brought intune as ‘Chilapata Jungle Camp’. Conservation networking with adjoining Bhutan and Manas Biosphere Reserve has been started.
The Chilapata Initiative is being taken forward to be the core between Assam-Bengal and Bhutan-Bengal Conservation Tourism relations. The rewind of the imperialistic deeds are not possible, but to bring back community ownership and responsibility for their natural resources is of course the goal, which in turn will help to slow the ‘Climate Change phenomenon’.
- Raj Basu, Help Tourism

Review 2009

Dear All,

Namaskar and greetings of the New Year!

Year 2009 was indeed a very special for Help Tourism and its partners. Despite the economic down turn all over the world, the organization was able to sustain and strengthen its community tourism movements in East Himalaya where the celebration of life never ends!

Several new projects have been initiated with few more in the pipeline. Few new and exciting trips and circuits such as Butterfly tour in Northeast India, Cultural Festival tour in the Northeast India, Padmasambhava Trail in Western Manas with the heritage circuit of Gouripur and North Bengal extension, ‘Holi Water & Caves’ trail and Areylungchok Dzongri Round Trek from Tashiding, Gangyap and Labdang villages in West Sikkim have been launched. A ‘Heritage Home Stay’ project has been introduced in Ballavpur Danga, Shantiniketan. A special festival trip has been launched on the occasion of the 4^th Pangsau Pass Winter Festival – scheduled from 20^th to 22^nd January 2010 at Nampong, Eastern Arunachal Pradesh. Help Tourism is the Tourism Partner of this unique and colourful cultural extravaganza which takes place every year on the same dates. As a part of the festival, a special vintage car rally named ‘Stilwell Road-Pangsau Pass Car Rally’ with WWII vehicles and motor bikes has been organized jointly by Help Tourism and North East Motor Sports Association.

In 2009 Help Tourism was entrusted with the responsibility for drawing the National Ecotourism Policy framework for Bhutan by His Majesty’s Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Conservation Division and Ugyen Wangchuck institute for Conservation and Environment(UWICE) and 03 rural tourism project of East & Northeast India Business Plan by UNDP & GOI-DOT. The projects will continue in 2010.

‘Green Circuit’ – a unique partnership initiative of five best responsible tourism organizations from India and Nepal was launched from the International Centre for Responsible Tourism’s (ICRT) stand at the World Travel Market (WTM), London to support community-run projects through cross-cultural tours, expeditions and hands-on conservation-volunteering programmes.

The website of Travel To Care – a platform based in India that supports and promotes responsible tourism projects and initiatives in India & the rest of Asia was also launched at WTM. Help Tourism is a proud member of this platform.

As a part of our Mission 2009-10, four PEACE PARKs have been established in some of the crucially important landscapes in the region – in partnership with local communities, to spread the message of cross-border peace, cross-border friendship, cultural exchange and cooperation through tourism.

As a part of our conservation mandates, several biological and species monitoring surveys were organized by our expert resource persons in the protected areas of Tripura, Nagaland, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and North Bengal. The Chilapata Toad & Frog Festival was successfully organized to raise awareness about the importance of protection of lesser-fauna and amphibian species of Chilapata Wildlife Sanctuary and surrounding villages in North Bengal.

The World Tourism Day was observed and celebrated with two major launching programmes: ‘Green Riders’ – a project conceived by a local association named Barefoot to support and empower 50 rickshaw pullers through green tourism in Puri sea beach in Orissa and ‘Kurseong Ecotourism & Heritage Park’ – a joint initiative of Himalayan Ecotourism Welfare Society, West Bengal Tourism and Darjeeling Himalayan Railway(DHR).

As advisor and partner of the initiatives, Help Tourism was present at the launching programmes marked with colourful cultural performances and workshops.

In recognition to its contribution to sustainable development through community-based tourism, Help Tourism received few prestigious national and international awards in 2009.To name a few: TTF Awards, CNBC-Awaaz Award, Wild Asia’s Responsible Tourism Award. We dedicate this to our partner communities, our tourism partners, our patrons-guests-friends-well wishers and the members of our extended family.

But then, the year did not end with all such good and happy moments only. Despite many new achievements and towering performances the country also witnessed devastating calamities, communal conflicts, rising corruption, alarming climate change, loss of biodiversity, shameless politics, dwindling wildlife, reckless consumerism, saddening violence.

The New Year calls for more responsible action from the citizens of India and the world, more responsibilities from the tourism and other industries before it gets too late!

Our mission – ‘Tourism for Peace’ thus continues in 2010!

With love, regards and appreciation,

Help Tourism Family
January 1, 2010.