Archive for the ‘Expeditions’ Category

Help Tourism :: Review 2009

Friday, January 1st, 2010

Review 2009

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.

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Buzz This
Vote on DZone
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Kick It on DotNetKicks.com
Shout it
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

Chautare: A travel magazine for East and Northeast India

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009
Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Buzz This
Vote on DZone
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Kick It on DotNetKicks.com
Shout it
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

the GREEN circuit

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

greencircuitlogo_orange The Green Circuit is an initiative started  in February 2009. It tries to bring together some of the best ‘responsible’ products in the sub-continent together in a circuit, which can then be offered to travellers all around the world. The idea is to make this information known using each others websites and the promotions that we all individualy do, creating a mass awareness of responsible practices, and also generating business for all involved.

It is aimed to become a win win situation where ‘responsible’ operators and products hand hold, share, learn, link (which are all responsible practices in itself) to the betterment of the whole.

With an aim to also make the trip “greener”, we will also support by providing information and service support to connect to these products using train and ground travel. The products are also convieniently developed around international airport, so that access is easy.

Nepal: the Tamang Heritage Trail

17 days, heritage sightseeing, moderate trekking, jungle safari
from £ 675 per person

langtang3 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.
Read more…

Eastern Himalaya: Red Panda Tea and Elephant Trail

22 days, culture, wildlife and tea gardens
from INR 67,000 per pax nett

chilapata-forest-drive 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.
Read more…

East India: Orissa Odyssey

15 Days Kolkata – Visakhapatnam
from 980 Euros per person

smilingboys 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
Read more…

South India – The Malabar Holidays

14 days, culture, spice tour, beaches, homestays
from 815 USD net per person

rivernilatrip21-26-183 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.
Read more…

Follow the GREEN circuit on this interactive map:


View Green Circuit, Indian Subcontinent in a larger map

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Buzz This
Vote on DZone
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Kick It on DotNetKicks.com
Shout it
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

The Elephant Safari in East Arunachal

Friday, March 7th, 2008

The Great Indian Elephant Safari in Eastern Arunachal Pradesh When we set up a new project like the Great Indian Elephant Safari in a remote area like Eastern Arunachal Pradesh, we are always a bit fidgety when it finally goes live. Receiving a feedback like the one from Leslie than feels like balm:

“The trip with Raj was amazing, more than anything we could have hoped for. Raj is an amazing man, I am so grateful you put us together. I am so glad the 2 people that backed out did so, the trip could never have happened the way it did if they had been there.
The [Pangsau] pass was closed when we got in the area, but we were able to visit with the Commanding Officer of the Indian Army Rifles that control the check points & he phoned ahead. At each check point, soldiers met us with tea & wanted to visit. The road was a mess which made it all the more memorable so John , Raj, & me were going to hike to the pass the last 5 miles. But several Indian soldiers went back & got the stuck vehicle out & we went on getting stuck several more times but managed each time with the help of an Indian soldier that went up with us.
Everyone was so very interested in John’s dad having been in the area during WW2, the adventure just never stopped. The elephants were great, I could have stayed with them for days, took lots of notes & got more info on elephant management from Raj & the mahouts than could ever be found on the internet.”

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Buzz This
Vote on DZone
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Kick It on DotNetKicks.com
Shout it
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

Barta Expedition, Arunachal Pradesh

Monday, November 20th, 2006

IN SEARCH OF BARTA WHEN THE BAMBOO FLOWERS
Text by Tanmoy Ghosh.

In search of Barta

Leporiang – an obscure and picturesque village in the Papum Pare district, bounded by East Kameng District in the west and the state of Assam in the south, is roughly 180 kms from Itanagar .The village is dominated by the wonderful Nyishi tribe who prefers to live in isolation, and has proudly retained most of their original cultural and religious traditions and self-sustaining lifestyle. Lush green valleys, lofty mountains, virgin rain forest and numerous snow-fed streams and rivers have made this small village a Nature’s bounty.

Help Tourism and ACT, in association with the Itanagar-based Duyu Tours had organized a series of expeditions in Leporiang area for filming the Gregarious flowering of Bamboo on behalf of Discovery Channel/Animal Planet. The filming was a great success, and the film entitled “When the Bamboo Flowers”, was telecast by Discovery Channel, all over the world on the 12th November, 2006-thanks to Mr.Gaddi, the then C.O of Leoporiang Circle, Nabam Hanyia-the Secretary of the Gaon Bura Committee, all the Gaon Buras of Leoporiang Circle, Nabam Radhe- a community leader and his team, and the local villagers.

The expeditions had not only revealed many interesting aspects of the Nyshi tradition and the legends associated with the flowering of Bamboos, but also helped us in gaining understanding about their social custom and community life. The outstanding conservation initiatives of the local Gaon Buras(GB) to stop hunting deserves appreciation and support.

Few surveys were conducted while the filming-expedition was in progress, and it was found that the Leoporiang circle is extra-ordinarily rich in various species of Medicinal Plants and Bamboos, Butterfly, Insects, Bird life and Herpetic fauna. It was during the survey and filming that our team came to know about an unknown species of Pit Viper, locally known as BARTA. Few research-expeditions were, later organized by ACT with noted Herpetologists Mr.Kedar Bhide and Mr.Ashok Captain as leaders, and Mr. Sishir Adhikary and Mr. Duyu Tamo as Field Coordinators. The survey has further substantiated the assumption that BARTA could be a new species of Pit Viper- first ever recorded in the Indian Sub-continent. Confirmation from the expert scientists is expected soon.

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Buzz This
Vote on DZone
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Kick It on DotNetKicks.com
Shout it
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)