Indian Himalayas trekking vacation
Highlights
Old Delhi | Khali Estate | Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary | Binsar villages | Saryu and Pindar valleys | Pindar villages of Kati and Dhurr | Saryu villages of Jhuni, Khal Jhuni and Supi | Jakuni Bhugiyal |
Travel Team
If you'd like to chat about this vacation or need help finding one we're very happy to help. The Travel Team.
Toll free 1-866-821-6866 Calling from outside the US? rosy@responsibletravel.comDeparture information
Responsible tourism
As the pioneers of responsible tourism, we screen every trip so you can travel knowing your vacation will help support conservation and local people.
We have won numerous awards for our approach to community tourism. We work with our partner communities in many ways to promote sustainable environmental practices, providing training and, where necessary, funding to help them. We have a network of regional coordinators who help local communities and ensure that training is relevant and fulfilling. We encourage all guesthouses to use green energy supplies, by installing solar panels for water heating and using solar lamps inside. We ask guests to use water filtered by their hosts to avoid bringing in unnecessary plastic bottles. We train local guides to identify local birds and animals, and encourage communities to see wildlife as a precious asset rather than a nuisance. Evidence is growing in Binsar that wildlife numbers are increasing, and the leopard is now seen far more frequently than in the past. We have also encouraged communities to dispose of household rubbish in sustainable ways, and guides have been into local schools to promote this.Our itineraries include travel by rail as much as possible, with connecting journeys using local taxi services.
The Impacts of this Trip
Our style of community tourism is a true partnership with the host communities, and led to our winning Best for the Local Economy in the 2013 World Responsible Tourism Awards. Together with the communities, we build the guesthouses and the necessary infrastructure to provide memorable guest experiences. We train local people to be guides or cooks, and ensure that a village committee is formed to administer the enterprise and to ensure equitable distribution of income. We have brought over voluntary language teachers to teach English and, more recently, French. We encourage villages to give financial assistance throughout the communities according to need, and we make sure that anyone working for the enterprises is paid a fair wage. We are also instituting a system of independent audit to monitor the enterprises and the benefits they bring. Guests are seen as bringing real benefits, and so are welcomed warmly. We provide our guests with comprehensive background information that helps them to understand the communities and appreciate their cultures. Our local guides are encouraged to take guests to local artisans and markets, something which is much appreciated.
We also have a Charitable Trust, which has worked with the communities on projects such as bag and soap making; this has brought in vital extra income, and helped stem outward migration from villages to cities.
We have won numerous awards for our approach to community tourism. We work with our partner communities in many ways to promote sustainable environmental practices, providing training and, where necessary, funding to help them. We have a network of regional coordinators who help local communities and ensure that training is relevant and fulfilling. We encourage all guesthouses to use green energy supplies, by installing solar panels for water heating and using solar lamps inside. We ask guests to use water filtered by their hosts to avoid bringing in unnecessary plastic bottles. We train local guides to identify local birds and animals, and encourage communities to see wildlife as a precious asset rather than a nuisance. Evidence is growing in Binsar that wildlife numbers are increasing, and the leopard is now seen far more frequently than in the past. We have also encouraged communities to dispose of household rubbish in sustainable ways, and guides have been into local schools to promote this.Our itineraries include travel by rail as much as possible, with connecting journeys using local taxi services.
The Impacts of this Trip
Our style of community tourism is a true partnership with the host communities, and led to our winning Best for the Local Economy in the 2013 World Responsible Tourism Awards. Together with the communities, we build the guesthouses and the necessary infrastructure to provide memorable guest experiences. We train local people to be guides or cooks, and ensure that a village committee is formed to administer the enterprise and to ensure equitable distribution of income. We have brought over voluntary language teachers to teach English and, more recently, French. We encourage villages to give financial assistance throughout the communities according to need, and we make sure that anyone working for the enterprises is paid a fair wage. We are also instituting a system of independent audit to monitor the enterprises and the benefits they bring. Guests are seen as bringing real benefits, and so are welcomed warmly. We provide our guests with comprehensive background information that helps them to understand the communities and appreciate their cultures. Our local guides are encouraged to take guests to local artisans and markets, something which is much appreciated.
We also have a Charitable Trust, which has worked with the communities on projects such as bag and soap making; this has brought in vital extra income, and helped stem outward migration from villages to cities.
2 Reviews of Indian Himalayas trekking vacation
Reviewed on 05 Nov 2018 by Kathie Sherman
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?
Seeing the Himalayas.
2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?
Be sure you're in shape for the sometimes steep hiking.
3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Not particularly.
4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?
4/5; disappointed in lack of interaction with villagers. Your literature read as though this would be a component of our trip. It really wasn't.
Read the operator's response here:
Question 3 - We respect the feedbacks shared by guests and will work to improve our briefing, which is done before guests start their village walks. We will
stress more on explaining about the community involvement and the benefit sharing system that the villages follow since last 14 years and how they use this
income for the benefit of the wider community. We started this first project in Binsar Wild life Sanctuary in 2004 . There have been positive impacts on
forests and wild animals, after the involvement of local villages inside the Sanctuary in Tourism activities, as shared with us by the Forest department. This is
very encouraging for us and we will also include this information as a part of the briefing.
Question 4 - We will discuss this with our guides, as this aspect of being able to interact with village communities and being able to closely witness village life,
is the focus of our work and the vacations that we offer. The village communities of the Binsar Sanctuary are engaged in our project for two
principal reasons. The first is to receive a secondary income stream from low impact tourism to supplement their meagre living from agriculture. The
second is to receive guests and through the hospitality given, so enjoy the cultural exchange that their visits bring to the villages.There is no third party in the
way of direct contact between guests and their village hosts and the guides, who accompany guests, are also from these or adjoining villages.
We would be pleased to share any details that guests might like to know about our work to understand these aspects better.
Thank you again for sharing these feedbacks. They will help us immensely to improve aspects which need our attention.
Best regards
Manisha Pande
Reviewed on 08 Nov 2017 by Anna Smith
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?
All of the walking in the Himalayas and staying in the small villages and meeting the villagers. The views from all the villages and well as the views while walking.
2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?
Bring a warm layer of clothes for the Jaikuni camp.
3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Definitely! Talking to our guides, who may have to had to leave the Himalayas for work in the crowded cities, this type of tourism was working for them. The
villagers on the village committees were keen to demonstrate how welcome we were. All of the food cooked for us was sourced locally.
4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?
Brilliant, I would recommend it for those who love walking and those that are happy to stay in basic accommodation. We felt very healthy after the 16 days
trip.
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