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Amaltari Homestay the best homestay |
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by Ashtha Lamsal | 02-06-2017 14:25
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Conservation can be carried out sustainably if local communities find that their livelihood is inextricably linked with the success of conservation. This is particularly important in the conservation of critical wildlife. The village homestay program in Amaltari in the bufferzone area of Chitwan National Park, Nawalparasi has recently emerged as a viable strategy to involve the local community in biodiversity conservation. The homestay is a form of alternative tourism where visitors get an opportunity to stay families and get first hand cultural and environmental experiences. The revenue generated provides much money to pay food, clothes and other expenses. The program sends a clear message to local people that better protected forests and the presence of wildlife are prerequisites of this program's success. The people of Amaltari village are Tharu and Bote the indigenous community with rich and unique cultural traditions. In the past, their agriculture based subistence lifestyle made local people heavily dependent on the forest has led to it's severe degredation. With the expansion of community forestry program in Nawalparasi, people began to conserve a degraded forestland and created a community forest. They also constructed the water holes, managed the grassland and forest lands which led to increase in wildlife such as One-horned rhinocerous, Bengal tiger, leopard and many bird species. Then the local people were encouraged to start a homestay program in 19th March, 2014. Now, 22 homes provide facilities of homestay program. These houses can hold and serve 88 tourists in a day. Not only this, the homestay programs also manage the jungle safari, jeep driving, bird watching, village tours, elephant safari and fishing activities for the tourists. A culture house managed by the local people serves the cultural show such as famous Tharu dance, Bote cultures to the tourists. The homestay management committee is planning to manage a learning center to the students and tourists and also planning to make a model village by managing social, economic and environmental conditions. Now, they invest certain percentage of the income for agriculture, health, education, conservation and some self income generating trainings and activities such as organic farming, plumbing, cycle repairing, elecrician, beautician etc. This program is al so supported by the bufferzone of Chitwan National Park and also WWF-TAL program. Source: personal communication with Dani Ram Gurau the manager of amaltari homestay program For more details please visit http://www.tharuhomestay.org/ photos:http://www.tharuhomestay.org/ |
 
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5 Comments
thanks for sharing
Posted 06-02-2018 21:54
good report
Posted 06-02-2018 21:54
Wow, looking at the pictures I remembered where I saw the same place!
There is a Russian program called 'Oryol i Reshka' and in one of its series, I saw and heard the same things)
Very interesting.... thank you for sharing
Posted 18-06-2017 23:00
Ashtha, thank you for your report. What an interesting program. I believe this could be the future of tourism. It would be very effective letting tourists to go through some experience in the nature. If they actually get more chances, like planting some plants or feeding animals, it could be more contributing to environment. However, in that case people who just want some tourism might not come.
Posted 04-06-2017 19:07
Hi Ashtha! Thanks for writing about unique topic, animal homestay!
I think what you discribed is really great in a sense that the residents could be economically motivated to preserve their nature. One concern is that there have been some cases that lose the balance and ended up focusing more on creating economic value while sacrificing the nature at the end. Hope this village could maintain this balance and sustain their life with nature:)
Posted 03-06-2017 10:40