A Tryst With Nature

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ECOTOURISM HOTSPOTS OF INDIA

NORTH

The Northern region, blessed with natural beauty and the grandeur of the Himalayas boasts of some famous eco tourist hotspots like The Great Himalayan National Park, the entire Himalayan Mountain Range, Tsomoriri Wetland Conservation Reserve in Ladakh, Nandadevi Biosphere Reserve in Uttarakhand among other untapped regions. As the whole country grows to be a prime attraction for ecotourism, there are special itineraries created by tour operators who constantly overcome challenges to promote responsible tourism.

Seema Bhatt, an independent consultant (based in India) has been working on issues related to ecotourism, biodiversity and climate change across the Asia region. She has worked on various projects in Sikkim, Ladakh, Nepal and Bhutan in order to raise awareness about the environment. Expressing her opinion on the state of responsible tourism in the country, she opines, “The concept of eco tourism has been around for 10 years and we have also seen some initiatives but the work is only restricted to certain areas. Due to lack of of knowledge among people and a standard policy by the government it is yet to become a widespread phenomenon. Nothing has been adopted across the board that can benefit the tourism sector.”

Talking about the ecotourism initiatives, she mentions about a recent homestay project undertaken by the Snow Leopard Conservancy, a non government organisation dedicated to preserve the Ladakhi wildlife in Leh Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir. In the past, snow leopards used to kill many of the domestic animals, and since the people were dependent on these domestic animals, they tried to kill the snow leopard to preserve their livestock. To counter this, a system was set up in order to generate income for the villagers in Hemis National Park, famous for its wildlife.