Dekho Apna Desh: Arunachal officials, Tour operators reach Ladakh
On the first day the team was briefed about how to get acclimatized to the new weather condition .
LADAKH- Eight officials and five registered tour operators from Arunachal Pradesh reached Ladakh on an exposure/study tour under the programme of Dekho Apna Desh.
The objective of this tour have firsthand experience of sustainable and responsible tourism practices like homestays, farm stays and community based Tourism Activities in rural Ladakh and it’s helping sustainable tourism.
On the first day the team was briefed about how to get acclimatized to the new weather condition .
on the 2nd and third day of the tour the team had the privilege of meeting Mr Sonam wangchuk and visited HIAL(Himalayan institute of alternative learning )on integrated approach to sustainable Tourism roadmap; community participation on rural development;Farm stay initiative for rural empowerment ; and eco -friendly practices on conservation of environment, Energy and water etc.
His wife Smti Geetanjali J Angmo briefed the team about various initiatives of HIAL.
The team also had a meeting with All Ladakh Tour operators association(ALTOA) and representatives from Hotel and Bike Association. Both the team exchanged views and ideas on challenges and opportunities on promoting sustainable and responsible Tourism.
ALTOA had shared some of the initiatives under taken by them :-1. Imposing environmental fees on Tourists to identify the environmental damage caused due to mass tourist inflow , Iimposing ceiling limit of maximum 35nos of Room per hotel and owner to give equal opportunity to new entrant hotel entrepreneurs.
fixing limits of maximum 2 nos of cab per taxi owner, this will give equal access to new and young entrepreneurs. in the meeting a meeting with the Phyang Councillor Mr. Chetah alongwith 2 village heads was discussed on various initiatives of farm stay and sustainable Tourism.
Meanwhile on 3rd day the team visited Likir village which is famous for clay pottery and other Art form such as painting, wood curving ,weaving etc. The team exchanged views and ideas about practical functioning of their respective Homestay’s with the local tourism stakeholders, women SHGs, Artist community etc at.
The teams (Both host and Guest) took this opportunity to share the assistance provided by their respective government.
The very charming councillor namely Smanla Dorjee Nurboo councilor from Suspol the Arunachal team on a round tour of the Likir monastery/Klu-Kkhyil Gompa. Later the team drived to Hemis sukpachan experiencing the rural life. #HIAL has been working to support the villager at Hemis.
The team trekked to the most scenic and isolated village of Ladakh called TAR. 03 hours trekking beside the pristine nature and ingenious nature of irrigation all along the trail, river flowing along the route and rocky mountains and crossing multiple wooden bridges build by the villagers.
The village community comprises of 13 families is dependent on Tourism hosting the guest as their turn comes.A visit to Aryan Valley called Dah Hanu village was explored where the community participation in promoting community based Tourism. and sustainable tourism. A local school teacher Mr Morup Namgyal took the initiative in promoting the village Dah Hanu as tourism destination.
Meanwhile the team under DAD drived to Pangong- Tso Lake where the popular movie The 03 idiots was shooted and later experience the stay is at Nature’s Nest camps site at, Merak village where the temperature at night at minus 02 degree . The. team got to understand about the camp management for visiting guestt.
The tour was supported by NotOnMap which is a social driven initiative promoting sustainable and responsible tourism across rural communities in India through Kailash Expeditions,Leh.
