Help Tourism

The Outlook Traveller Magazine’s February 2008 edition highlighted “the best tourism initiatives in India”. And we are proud that our community tourism initiatives have been recognized as well:

More often than not tourism ends up being about large tour operators making profits. Help Tourism, which operates tours in Bengal, Assam, Arunachal and a few other Northeastern states, is one tour operator which has tried to change that by involving local communities in tourism initiatives. Communities are involved in the entire range of tours operated by Help Toursim – from wildlife tours to culturual and heritage tours. The greatest impact has been in the area of ecotourism. Help Tourism has worked with villagers in Buxa Tiger Reserve, Garumara National Park, at Bhalopahar in the Dalma forest range – helping them set up wildlife lodges. The most successful of those projects has been the Sunderbans Jungle Camp on Bali Island – which has provided local poachers-turned-conservationists with a livelihood, and has set an example for sustainable development in this fragile delta. Help Tourism has also set up the Association for Conservation and Tourism (www.actnowornever.org) through which they share their expertise in responsible tourism with others.”

We ourselves could not have described our vision and mission better. Thanks a lot, Outlook Traveller.

Partha Desarkar Visited Neora Valley & posted an excited post on the Outlook Traveller Travelogue.

Stress bursting at Neora Valley

As the sun went down over the mountains, electric lights of Lava and Rishyap were shining like twinkling stars on mountains far away. The Jungle Camp of Kolakham in the Neora Valley at the fringe of the National Park plunged into darkness without having electricity. We were happy that the beauty of the splendid, still unexplored and densely forested wore a virgin look in kerosene lamps and campfire light. We had sought out the place exactly for this reason to be away from crowd, noise, smog and pollution.

We were in North Bengal, close to Darjeeling and Kalimpong, two hill stations of renown yet as if thousands of miles from both. Our Mahindra Scorpio ran along a road that is no road but stones and ditches.

Read the full article of the Outlook Traveller Travelogue