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Are Tea House Treks of benefit to the Himalayan Regions?
The Attraction
About 130million years ago in the
Cretaceous period the continental plate of India began moving north and collided into, and ultimately slide under, the Asian plate resulting in the
uplifting of the huge and old compressed Tethys Sea floor. This formed one of
the newest mountain ranges on the planet, the Himalaya, and this uplifting is
continuing to this day. Evidence of this 60million year old activity is found
in the exposed twisted rock strata indicating the immense pressure that
resulted in the buckling and folding and in the presence of fossilized
brachiopods, skeletal fish and corals which point to the oceanic origins of the
Himalaya. Seashells from the Tethys Sea bed have been raised to near the summit
of Everest during this process.
The peoples living to the north and to the
south of the great white divide believe the Himalaya to be the abode of the
gods, the residence of the deities of India and Tibet. Thus it is that the
Himalaya are held to be holy by the native people. Religious views attribute
the celestial heights of the peaks to the axis
mundi, a symbolic link between the spiritual and secular realms in a
joining of heaven and earth resulting in the belief in a mountainous landscape populated
by mythical creatures, treasure and monastic settlements; a mystical and
spiritual environment filled with inexplicable power.
The stunning beauty of the Hima’ al-aya,
the abode of snow (Sanskrit) is evident to all who caste their eyes on the South
Asia Highland giants, stretching from Afghanistan to Myanmar. The range of
mountains includes the Hindu Kush, the Karakoram and the Himalaya ranges.
To
the north of the South Asia Highlands is the high Central Asia region which
includes the Pamirs, the mountain states of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and the
Tibetan Plateau. This geographic wonder is home to all fourteen of the worlds
8,000metre peaks, the deepest canyon, the Kali Gandaki Gorge and remote gorges,
the Tsangpo Gorge is so remote it has only recently been discovered[1].
It is not suprising that such a spectacular
and significant geographical feature with ancient beliefs rooted in a
mountainous landscape populated by mythical creatures, treasure and monastic
settlements, a mystical environment filled with inexplicable powers, has always
been such a great attraction for tourists and travellers.
The Beginning
Early travelers left no written account of
their journeys, it was not until the early pilgrims and devotees began their
search for the legendary places described in the holy Indian and Tibet texts that
there was a quest for religious awakening and exploration. Many centuries later
the Jesuit priests were urged on by their own religious conviction, others who
followed went for other reasons, for conquest, as traders some even went in
search of geographical knowledge. Early Europeans first leant about these
mountains when Alexander the Great crossed the Hindu Kush with his army in
about 325 BC, other notable explorers arrived, Hsuan Tsang (Chinese) in 629 AD,
Genghis Khan from the 13th Century, Marco Polo’s traveled in the
Hindu Kush and the Pamirs in 1273 AD. In 1590 Father Anthony, a Jesuit priest
included a map in his descriptions of the Himalaya and his travels through them.
Over the following 500 years the information that has become available could
not have been vaguely imaginable by the early travelers looking for new and
better sustainable opportunities, knowledge and inspiration[2].
From the work of the Great Trigonometrical
Survey of the 1800s to the internet of today those with a quest for adventure
have the Himalaya at their finger tips. But in today’s world is it a quest for
adventure, is it developing sustainable livelihoods for those remote
communities or is it blatant commercialism?
The first trekker in Nepal was Bill Tilman,
who somehow obtained permission from the Maharaja in 1949 to make several treks
in the Kali Gandaki, Helambu and Everest regions. The large international
expedition era and the quest for the 8,000m summits started with Maurice
Herzog, who led a French expedition to Annapurna in 1950.
During King Tribhuvan's visits to India, he
met Boris Lissnnivich, a Russian ballet dancer who was running a club in
Calcutta. Boris convinced the king that people would like to visit Nepal and
would actually pay for the experience. Soon a few wealthy Europeans flew to Kathmandu's
Gaucher ('cowfield') airport from India in an Indian Airlines Dakota. Boris accommodated
them in his new establishment, the Royal Hotel. The ‘adventurers’ were charmed
by Boris and the exotic Kingdom of Nepal. Thus Nepali tourism was born. The
Royal Hotel and its Yak and Yeti bar went on to become the meeting place for travelers
and climbers from the 1950s until 1971, when the Royal Hotel was closed[3].
As a former Gurkha Officer and Military
Attaché at the British Embassy in Kathmandu Jimmy Roberts had spent many years
of his life walking the hills of Nepal. By 1965 he developed his idea to
provide tents together with Sherpas, to guide and cook, to make Nepal and the
Himalaya available to a wider community. In 1965 he took a group of ladies up
the Kali Gandaki and founded Mountain Travel, the first of Nepal's trekking
companies and the inspiration for the adventure travel industry[4].
As early as 1980, Karna Sakya of the Nepal
Nature Conservation Society (NTNC) proposed a multi-use recreation area
designed to carefully integrate tourism, basic rural development, and
environmental protection. In the years that followed, environmental problems in
Nepal received much national and international attention, and the Nepalese
Government expanded its plans of action to include numerous environmental
studies and specific investment projects. Even so, controversy still exists
over the magnitude and cost of natural resource degradation and the efficiency
of different styles of tourist developmental approaches.
Eventually launched
in 1986, the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) is the largest
undertaking of NTNC, it was also the first Conservation Area and largest
protected area in Nepal. In order to achieve its intended objectives, NTNC,
through ACAP, launched various activities through the ‘integrated conservation
and development’ approach under following thematic areas:-[5]
·
Natural resource conservation
·
Alternative energy promotion
·
Conservation education and extension
·
Gender and social inclusion
·
Community infrastructure development
·
Agriculture and
livestock management
·
Sustainable tourism
management
·
Heritage conservation
·
Health sector support
·
Research and
documentation
·
Meeting the
Expectations of Today
Large scale commercial trekking was first
established in Nepal and Nepal still remains at the forefront of the trekking
industry. However, can this industry still be called an ‘adventure’ industry
and is it ‘sustainable’? Adventure surely means going into the unknown where
the outcome of your ‘adventure’ travels cannot be guaranteed. It is now
possible to complete your virtual trek on your home computer using Google Earth
and other software; there are endless guide books, maps, internet trek
briefings and itineraries available. Along the way there are signposts, guides
and helpful villagers all willing to point out the trail and there are more
trekking agents and trekking shops in Kathmandu that you can shake a trekking
pole at and all to help you find the most suitable option to meet your every
requirement and to 99% guarantee that you achieve your objectives and meet your
expectations. Add to all of that, on the popular trails, you can now generally
rely on arriving at a lodge each night, to be provided with good quality meals,
beer and spirits, a comfortable bed, a fire and even attached bathrooms. A
briefing will fully inform you of the ‘pleasures and dangers’ of the following
day’s trek. So where is the adventure? Is the adventure not one of the very
ingredients that entice people to visit the Himalaya regions? And is all this
sustainable? In a bid to provide the ‘best’ and to become commercially viable
and financially sustainable trekking agents are providing better equipment, you
can even use tables and chairs beyond Camp 1 on Everest these days, solar
lighting is ‘common place’, hot showers are ‘expected’, attached bathrooms
‘preferred’, an internet service and many other modern facilities are now almost
‘essential’ to entice the trekker to ‘book with us’ and ‘to stay in our lodge’.
All this comes at a cost; money can be made, and lost, but the environment, at
altitude, that takes years to recover from abuse. In these days of global
warming and climate change the ‘abode of snow’ is being reduced rapidly, add
that environmental change to the potential damage caused by thousands of trekkers
filing up the same narrow trail, camping or staying at the same location, the
rubbish generated, even if collected round the back of lodges it gets spread
around by the chuffs, yaks and the wind, the constant buzz of the helicopters
and the second reason to visit the Himalaya is diminishing, the scenic splendor
and tranquility.
When big expeditions and trekking began in Nepal, climate change hadn’t been heard of, rubbish disposal, was up to a point recognized, but at that time there wasn’t the modern packaging that there is today, plastic, polystyrene, a proliferation of glass bottles and jars and there was certainly no understanding as to how quickly the ‘adventure’ industry would boom and thus the potential damage to the environment it would create. In many of the world’s developing countries there is an attitude of ‘live for today and we’ll worry about tomorrow when it comes’, but, in modern times tomorrow comes very quickly and man-kind, not just in the developing countries gets caught on the hop. Nepal and ACAP tried to do the right thing developing the facilities around Annapurna to encourage trekkers, to provide local employment and to conserve the environment, but the earning potential was quickly recognised in other areas of Nepal especially in the shadows of the world’s greatest mountains. With no strictly monitored development plans, the ability to ‘persuade’ people to change their minds or to look the other way, the so called tourism development took off. Trekking agents were letting their groups camp anywhere, the local communities received little benefit , in fact just the opposite as their water supply was often polluted, their grazing land left full of rubbish with the evidence of toilet tents being obvious, and their own natural resources were getting plundered. The first step down the ladder to environmental catastrophe had been taken. Before long those people, or organizations involved in tourism quickly saw the potential of developing the ‘tea-house’ model of trekking and sadly this development excluded environmental awareness, local employment opportunities and benefits to the local community from the influx of tourist money through the tea-houses; the main benefactors to gain from many of the lodges are the people from outside the direct locality.
Nepal’s tourism industry is acutely aware of
the situation it now finds itself in, however, the dye has been caste and to
try to turn the clock back is virtually impossible. With such rampant tourism
development of the last three decades, two of which saw civil unrest in the
country, it has been very difficult for those in power to keep not only to the
plans but to develop plans in line with the rapid demand both from the tourists
and from those individuals and communities who interact with the trekkers and who,
in return, expect a quick financial boost to their economy.
The Value of Hindsight
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, a luxury and
something we can rarely benefit from in terms of a nations development
strategy. But can other countries who wish to develop
their Himalaya tourism learn from Nepal? Can all of the issues mentioned be
better managed to maintain the feeling of adventure and to make tourism a
sustainable industry?
In the modern world life seems to be, in
the main, controlled by money and time. A person in a high paying job probably
has not got the time flexibility, a lower paid job means saving longer and
harder. Trekkers have the constraints of budgets that are not always flexible,
time off work that is not always flexible and often expectations that trekkers
don’t see as being flexible. In all the trekking industry has been forced to
work to a formula that provides the trekker client with the maximum chance to
achieve his or her expectations and this in turn means working to a time
schedule, with costs being fixed and routes clearly defined. Trekking is now a
‘regular’ holiday activity as is golf, skiing and beach holidays and it is
accessible to those who have not necessarily had any outdoor experience.
Included in the ‘expectation’ equation are the elements of risk assessment,
income generation and sustainability. Everybody involved in the trekking
industry, as in every other walk of life, has expectations, safety, and value
for money, adequate food and accommodation, financial income and a sustainable
future.
If we unpack these we are faced with
certain conclusions, we need to prescribe a set itinerary so we are in control
of potential problems along the way, we need to provide appropriate food and
accommodation to meet the clients perception of value for money and to minimize
‘health risk’, cleanliness, hygiene and water all need to be of a good
standard, that means a good substantially built lodge whose staff are well
trained, where the cupboards are well stocked and with variety of food stuff, a
unit where a standard is maintained and where a system can be held accountable.
A camping alternative could often be prohibitively expensive and possibly too
time consuming, there are environment issues on popular routes and the variety
of food are, out of necessity, reduced. The agents need to be cost effective but
at the same time keeping their prices in line with the competition and meeting
union standards for Nepali wages. Those providing a service, the staff and
lodge owners expect appropriate financial compensation for their contributions
and they hope to develop their income generating abilities into a sustainable
future.
In Nepal those high profile areas like
Annapurna and Everest and areas with a domestic flight service or good road
network are those areas most developed.
There are regularly placed lodges offering very good service and
facilities, these are in the main sustainable. However, in Nepal everything
rests on the political situation and the level of taxes imposed by the
authorities, trekking permits, TIMS, Conservation Area Permits, Special Area
Permits and for some related activities, filming, liaison office permits and
licenses. The changing weather pattern is also a major consideration, bad
weather with low cloud means domestic flights can’t take place, over the last
few seasons this problem has been on the increase due to climate change. If the
balance is not right then trekkers and adventure seekers will chose other
destinations. In Nepal there are many other communities that wish to develop
sustainable tourism but don’t have good accessibility for trekkers. No matter
how much an area is promoted little will happen until the access route is
perceived to be regular and reliable – delays caused by the weather or other transport
issues are no longer an option that the modern trekker views as ‘adventure’ but
more as a disruption to a perceived ‘guaranteed’ outcome . Initially,
exploration of new areas and the advertising of the potential it has to offer
are done as a result of several days trekking and exploration with full
expedition type logistical support. This is often more expensive in terms of
man-power and time as well as financial cost. For the remaining remote areas of
Nepal, at present, these are in general out of the question based on the time factor
alone.
However, such predictability can have a
counter and negative effect on the indigenous community and the environment.
Many groups of trekkers going to the same lodge(s) along the same trail have an
impact on the environment. Trails get damaged and then in the monsoon time
collapse unless properly constructed – a managed walk way. Hundreds of trekkers
in a season produce a large amount of rubbish that needs to be disposed of
human waste is a major consideration especially at altitude – a managed system
for disposal. The local environment can suffer as a result of the over use by
the trekking staff – staff need educating and proper accommodation and food
facilities need to be provided – by the lodge? Above all the trekker of the 21st
Century demands acceptable modern standards, facilities and time keeping.
The Future
Mistakes are not always a bad thing, but not
learning from them is. A lot can be learned from Nepal’s experiences by other
Himalayan regions who might want to develop a sustainable adventure tourism
industry. Nepal is world famous for its mountainous trekking routes, but now,
as a result of not only being the first country to develop trekking, civil
unrest lasting two decades and the more recent disasters involving tourists, tourism
in other neighbouring Himalayan regions are slowly beginning to take off and
Nepal’s supremacy is being challenged. Development is always a fine balance
between the environment and the local communities who want all the modern
facilities, a locally developed income generating industry, health and
education services without which there will be a slow bleeding of the
population to the centres of perceived wealth and opportunity. Sustainable tourism
takes time and without a stringent monitoring system this is always going to be
a battle with those who will embrace whatever it requires to achieve their
expectations, sadly including corruption and turning a blind eye to the law and
local impact resulting from of their actions.
As I see it there are two distinct areas to be
reviewed:-
·
Those areas that are totally remote
and away from any form of habitation, and,
·
Those areas that embrace local
communities.
Above all, the integrity of the environment
and the communities has to be maintained in both situations.
Initially the key to any area wishing to
become a trekker tourist destination is the need to consider accessibility.
That said and done, then I proposes to look at the remote areas first. For
example the likes of the Chadar trek in Zanskar and the Himachal Pradesh area
in India.
Both areas are remote and require several
hours drive from the central community before reaching the start of the
trekking. Once on the trail there are little or no communities and very few
inhabitants living along the way. The initial and obvious pressure point is
that of disembarkation/embarkation from/to the transport and this is where a
great deal of environment damage will occur. Consideration must be given to
parking facilities along with toilets and garbage disposal points, the latter
to serve as a collection point for departing groups in which to deposit their
trek generated rubbish. This facility should have an accountable and paid
member of staff who controls a garbage deposit refund scheme and garbage issues
along that particular trek. It would, I believe be a great shame to develop
such a remote trek into a ‘Lodge trek’, once the lodges come then comes the
supply train with their associated problems, then the power supply with
unsightly solar panels, wind turbines, power lines and masts, pylons etc. And
there is no turning back from this point. Additional staff are then required
and before long the chain of development removes this trek from the ‘remote’
category, the very reason why the trekkers went there in the first place. It
will not be too long before the new road and climate change completely modifies
the Chadar without the pollution created from regular trekking groups. However,
where considered appropriate, a good lodge could be constructed at the road
head in a situation where the length of the drive might dictate that the first/last
night is spent at the road head vicinity. The Chadar Trek specifically lacks a
variation of camping locations so all groups tend to camp on the same beach or
at the same cave. Rubbish is already a big issue with the ground being covered
with old tins, plastic bags and bottles and the space for pitching a toilet
tent is very restricted. It be worth considering situating some form of toilet
facility, I don’t mean by building a toilet block but by possibly having a
platform with appropriately spaced holes over which visiting groups could pitch
their own toilet tent, the product of which then goes into a ‘blue barrel’ underneath
the hole, the barrel could then be sealed and evacuated for example, once a
week at the height of the season, after all waste would be in a frozen solid
state at the height of the Chadar trekking season! By implementing a few cost
effective and appropriate facilities the pristine beauty of these areas could
be preserved with virtually no environmental damage while still generating a
sustainable tourism related industry. The same could be said for Batal,
although there are basic facilities available at the start of any trek going
into this area these could be improved before the area around the small tea
house becomes unmanageable.
It is not possible to turn the clock back, so,
to reduce future negative environmental impact organizations like the Trekking
Agents Association of Nepal (TAAN) and the IMF in India must implement vigorous
educational plans to promote environmentally sustainable tourism via the many
trekking agents working in uninhabited trekking regions. The Agents need to
manage their own clients and in particular the local trekking staff to be
environmentally responsible. Finally the local administration should take on
the responsibility to providing environmentally friends waste disposal sites
and incinerators. In India’s Himalaya trekking staff training is also essential
before the point of no return i reached. I’m sure many readers will be aware of
the rural road development plans that are engulfing the higher remote regions
of the Himalaya, these roads are in the main built to deliver supplies, not
necessarily for the movement of the local population. They are not always
carefully planned or their development monitored, again causing negative
environmental impact and again once the damage has been do there is no stepping
back from the line.
To consider those trekking routes where communities
exist along the way
The environmental impact of building a
lodge, without appropriate consideration and planning can be devastating. The
ground the ‘new’ lodge is to be constructed on will have no doubt previously
been used for grazing or basic agricultural purposes, the stone used for the
actual building will have to be quarried from another area destroying the
surface vegetation of that location resulting in not only the removal of large
quantities of stone but also the very fabric of vegetation that helps reduce
erosion. The internal finishing requires
an enormous amount of timber, often taken from the local forests or flown in by
helicopter, which in turn creates other environmental issues. Then there is the
water source, plastic pipes and rubbish disposal. The lodge operators and staff
are often brought in from outside the area so little of the generated income
goes directly into the local community; food and provisions are again brought
in from the main centers of communication. The trekkers bring with them noise
pollution, light pollution and all the other negative aspects of introducing a
large number of people into a previously sparsely populated and pristine area,
all potentially disturbing for the local wildlife. It is
estimated that an average trekking group of 15 people generates about 15kgs of
non-biodegradable and non-burnable garbage in 10 days of trekking, producing
tons of garbage in the mountain regions annually.
To keep
the tea house services up to the trekkers’ expectations the owners are always
under pressure to provide additional services – showers, battery charging,
electric lights, reliable cooking even the provision of alcohol and bottled
drinking water and of course healthy and varied food. Thankfully many tea
houses are now turning to gas for heating water and cooking and solar or local
hydro power for the supply of electricity. Sadly in the remote, difficult and
expensive to reach trekking areas all these services create an environmental
impact. What happens to all the old solar batteries at the end of their
serviceable life, the glass beer and wine bottles, the plastic mineral water
bottles, not to mention the deforestation as wood is cut to heat (not to cook
on) the tea houses? Several of the national parks in Nepal are implementing
policies restricting the cutting of wood and the ‘import’ of glass and soon
plastic, however, busy tea houses have other issues to contend with including
that of human waste, at altitude ‘brown toilets’ are not functional, the
disposal of packaging, often plastic and waste food. There are also morale
issues, during the busy season does the lodge owner rent all rooms out for high
paying foreign trekkers or does he keep some to one side for the porter and
trek staff. If facilities are not available for the trek staff then they will
be forced to sleep ‘wild’ thus additional pollution and environment impact will
be witnessed. In the Everest region of Nepal there are several porter shelters
which are operated by local committees, in some areas ‘wild’ camping and the
cutting of local wood is now banned. Many tea houses use temporary seasonal
staff, often child labour, brought in from other areas, in many cases
by-passing local labour that would probably be more expensive. Of course most
of the provisions are transported in from the town or in Nepal, Kathmandu.
Is there a way forward?
Looking at the positive side of tea house
trekking these services add a little more comfort for the trekkers and thus
attract a certain percentage of the trekking population who would not otherwise
visit these remote areas if they had to camp. Local income is being generated
and local communities are being not only empowered, but, provided with a source
of income; but this must be sustainable
and of course there can be certain positive advantages as a result of being
exposed to foreigners. All the trekkers and mountaineers who visit Nepal
expected to see a good and clean environment, if Nepal loses that on trekking
routes together with the very real impact of climate change on snow and glacier
melt in the Himalaya then what will the trekkers come to see? Will they
continue to travel to Nepal or even the Himalaya?
The development of new trekking areas and new
tea houses must in future be strictly monitored in a corruption free way. Maybe
one way to develop awareness is for all new developers to submit an
environmental risk assessment to the authorities before work begins. Any
negative impact should be addressed through the developers implementing
environmentally positive proposals – planting trees to landscape and protect
the locality, terracing to manage the soil removed for levelling purposes,
environmentally friendly waste disposal plans, landscaping quarry sites rather
than leaving large exposed areas of broken stone.
Alternatives with added value
There are less intrusive ways to accommodate
trekkers in areas that have existing communities. The Home-stay scheme is
designed to introduce trekkers into a community, to provide direct financial
reward and to develop income generating possibilities for the residents. Small
community vegetable plots can be developed that supply the local home stay
facilities, certain areas have other natural resources that could be developed,
fruit cultivation or side treks that offer the trekker the opportunity to stay
in a location for slightly longer. The local family would provide a real
cultural element to the trekker’s experience that they would otherwise miss.
Training would be required in all aspects of customer care and this in turn would
lift the living standards of the community, improve health and in time would
bring other advantages to the locality. Although there would be a need for
structural development this would not be on the same scale as mega lodge
building. It goes without saying all this would need to be strictly monitored
and those found ignoring the local planning and agreed terms of development
would face heavy fines.
Summary
Any region wishing to look at developing a
sustainable trekking and tourism industry should take the advantage of
hindsight and study similar areas and countries, such as Nepal, who have
already been through the process. They should consider the positive aspects of
development and reject the negative implications. Consideration must be given
as to why trekkers should visit a specific region and great care must be taken
to preserve those trekker expectations, clean unspoilt environments, an
adventurous and safe experience. In general trekkers only have a limited time
to spend on their chosen activity and route, and that is what they have chosen
to do, they do not want to spend additional time holed up due to transport
issues, weather is beyond the control of the tourism industry, but a certain
amount of predictability and accountability must be included in the planning
process. Although trekkers are often viewed by the local population as being
wealthy, and perhaps they are compared to the villagers that they might
encounter, they should not be seen as the cash cow, and as a result permits,
fees, entry passes, transport costs or accommodation and food tariffs should
not be set at an extortionately high level.
A high percentage of tourism numbers are
generated annually as a result of return clients, destroy the very reason that
they choose to visit a certain region of the Himalaya and you destroy the
sustainability and longevity of that industry. All development must be in total
harmony with the locality and community in which the development is proposed to take place.
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._O._M._Roberts
[5] http://www.ntnc.org.np/sites/default/files/ACAP_Achievements_Factsheet.pdf
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