Help Tourism

To revive the old glory of Manas Nationalpark as one of the most diverse areas of the subcontinent – an image that had badly suffered during the times of the Bodos struggle for more autonomy – all available hands were needed. Consequently, when the ecotourism concept for the Manas Maozigendri Area in Bodoland, Assam was drafted the volunteers of the local conservation NGO felt a need not only to welcome visitors to come and see but to actively participate in their work. As a feasible way to achieve this, the visitors have to sign a temporary membership form. The membership system has some basic advantages. The education of tourists, an important component of ecotourism, is well addressed. The guests do not only enjoy the flora and fauna, but also join directly in its conservation. Patrolling on foot, on bicycle, on jeep and sometimes on elephant inside the Nationalpark are part of the tourism package as are monitoring of endangered species – especially the Bengal Florican – in the buffer zone. Instead of big groups that are guided from watchpoint to watchpoint, the visitors are distributed to join small patrolling groups. Thus, the visitors come to see places inside the park that are off the formal routes.
The approach is a new concept of community and tourist participation in conservation and interaction. It will take time to review the success of the model but at least the first groups were very excited about this completely different style of visiting a Nationalpark and being part of the efforts to remove the park of the list of World Heritage in Danger.

The membership form is available for download (200 kb, pdf)