Our work is totally focused on sustainable livelihood promoting through our Eco-Tourism for the conservation of the ecosystem, indigenous village lifestyle, and traditional farming methods. We are situated in the most beautiful part of South Konkan, amidst the Western Ghats and the Coast, surrounded by plateaus, rainforests, rivers, valleys and a very self-sufficient coastline.
Merely calling it Sustainable Tourism, I would rather say it is a process, in support to the sustainable lifestyle pattern of the indigenous people, living in the remote Eco Sensitive parts of the Western Ghats, “surrounded by abundance and sustained by traditions.”
It unfolds diverse varieties of the traditional food culture, farming patterns, fishing patterns, like different seasonal shades of the nature that we observe here. We are here to maintain and carry forward our authentic lifestyle through our traditional methods whereby building communities.
Our work location is situated in the interior parts, in between the mountain ranges of the Western ghats of Sahyadri and the coastal regions of South Konkan.
Being a local Konkani youth, with concern to language and culture as because of the similar thought process of the people. People here are Nature Conservatives. Nature has always been worshipped as sacred, hence there weren’t any hardships faced.
We believe in our ‘Sushegaad’ way of living, which we count as the economics of our happiness!
However, the more difficult thing faced was to make people who are getting influenced by the modern western culture understand the importance of the traditional basic minimalist way of living and to keep the impact of modernization away from our ecologically flourished forests.
We practice Community based tourism, uplifting existing indigenous communities of farmers, fishermen and the local producers of our region. Whereby benefitting many lives at present at core level.
For example:
- Through the ‘Mangrove Safari activity’, we by providing eco-system related information to the local fishermen community is leading towards Mangrove Conservation. Whereby people like Wadekar Kaka, and Aaba Parab are earning their livelihood through nature conservation.
- Through our model project ‘Mangar Farm stay’, farmers like Balu Parab provides the tourists the minimal and authentic farmers lifestyle, through farm visits, farming volunteering, guiding through his spice farms and much more. He also produces indigenous varieties of rice called ‘Sorti’ and ‘Kharo Mundgo’, which he uses it for self throughout the year and even sells the rice, spices and fruits earning a livelihood out of sustainable farming technique.
Our ideology is to uplift the existing farmers and build a community of experienced indigenous local people. By this we plan to expand our community with the people who would come volunteer, experience and live this lifestyle with the aim of Going back to the roots, is how we would benefit more and building a community based on minimalism and happiness.
We have been working in this field since 2018, it’s been 4 years now.
Sustainable tourism in the long run may not be sustainable but the traditions, the natural resources, the livelihood stays. Emphasizing on lesser use of carbon and switching to traditional methods of farming and conserving all that we have now for our future self is a start towards sustainability for a longer period of time.
By the fast pace of the modern society the man is harnessed by the materialistic wants and greed of the system forgetting the roots to his culture and true self. However, by living the minimal by only taking from nature which is needful enough for the survival of mankind regards to food, shelter and living eco sensibly conserving the nature, would cost very minimal comparatively.
The terms of happiness to be counted should be in the little things that happen around us, the magical life nature has with every changing season, the festivities we celebrate with the different seasonal phases of nature, rejoicing sunshine light with a dash of thunder and a starry peaceful night!
We have been using social media platforms named YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook, followed by lacs of subscribers, who are well aware of our Eco Tourism based model. This has connected us with many genuine tourists who have been either in Nature Conservation related fields or keen towards working towards the same.
Speaking of innovations, the mode of transport used by our team is based on the available resources from the locals in the vicinity, there has not been and will not be in the future, purchase for any vehicle just for tourism related concern. We have been making use of the available resources concerning lowering carbon emission and a mode of earning to the locals too.
Connecting youth from various rural areas for volunteering and experiencing the life from the students of the nature, our very own farmers and the indigenous communities. Learning, inculcating the habit of lifestyle and shifting towards sustainable way of life.
Surviving with lesser wants and monetary greed and focusing on the needful for survival.
We have even arranged workshops where identities from various fields such as farming, fishing, and wildlife were invited to share their part of experience to the youth so that they could select their interest on the basis of their capabilities and work on it.
‘Mein akela hi tha magar, Log saath aate gaye aur Karwaan banta gaya!’
Building a community living totally nature dependent for the survival of the self with taking the needful for living and whereby giving back to the nature with her preservation. As like our ancestors lived 50 years ago, I plan going back to roots one step at a time for the upliftment of community sustainably and conserving the traditional methods and authentic way of life.
‘Bharat’, India is enriched with many diverse ecologies from the mountain ranges of the Sahyadri to the Himalaya, and people have been living camouflaged all these years, however they are now running more towards the modernization and wants of the materialistic world.
Its now the time to save our traditions and hold onto our roots and conserve all that we have inherited in terms of knowledge, traditions, culture, ethics and authenticity, for all that may be lost in the coming generations.
Its now time to break the modern greed chain and fill in the generational gaps with our authentic values of minimalist life.