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 4th Pangsau Pass Winter Festival – scheduled from 20th to 22nd 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.
About 150 years ago, Nepal fought Tibet over salt, and some of the biggest areas where this war took place is in the Langtang Region of Nepal, wherein lies the third most popular trekking trail in Nepal. This area is connected to Tibet and the trails in this region were used by traders from Tibet bartering in Salt and mountain goats for meat (changra) with foodstuffs from the south. Developed by the Tourism for Rural Poverty Alleviation Program, the “Tamang Heritage Trail” is the newly developed tourism product, off the beaten track, which highlights an ancient lifestyle combining it with picturesque scenery and healing baths in natural hot springs.
East Himalaya is a part of one of the EIGHT HOTTEST BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOTS of the world. This is a part of the Indo-Burma region. Other then India, the East Himalaya touches the countries of Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, China, Myanmar and Bangladesh. Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and West Bengal occupies more than 100,000 sq. kms of East Himalaya approx. which is about 25% of the Indian Himalaya. This shows a major portion of the Himalaya is existent in the East. Similarly, the whole of Nepal and Bhutan are a part of the East Himalaya.
An epic adventure through timeless India; stretching from the bustle of India’s renown cultural capital Kolkata, through vast tracts of pastoral plains and palm-fringed paddies, to dense mangroves and tranquil boat rides twisting though the tangled mangrove forest of Bhitarkanika National Park. From natural wonders to the irrepressible man-made marvels of ancient India’s earliest temples at Bhubaneshwar and Konark to the sea swept coastal town of Puri, one of India’s Char Dhams (four holy hotspots of Hinduism). Cruise along Chilika Lake, Asia’s largest salt lake lagoon and camp under a starlit sky
Malabar was once a British Principality of India. After Independence, Malabar as a state was no longer recognized and the region was divided to form the northern part of what is today called Kerala. Though Malabar has no geographical boundaries, no presence on a map of India, it still exists as a state of mind: laid-back, slow, to live and let live. This is the spirit we capture in this package that begins with Cochin and goes along backwaters, River Nila, Mountains of Wayanad, and ends at the virgin beaches of Kannur in Malabar region.
