Safari in Bhutan?
In a major initiative, the department of forests (DoF) is looking into promoting eco-tourism in the country’s major parks and sanctuaries.
This means opening up more routes to tourists and Bhutanese to explore Bhutan’s wildlife like never before. “We have protected our natural resources and will continue to do so but the only difference is making it more economically sustainable,” said forests director, Karma Dukpa.
According to the plan, wildlife lovers can look forward to elephant rides to see the tiger in Manas or a glimpse of exotic birds and other flora and fauna in the well-preserved parks of Bhutan. The plan will also allow for families to go on camping and hiking trips to virgin forests on well-planned packages.
Though it may sound like the Bhutanese version of the African big cat safari, the DoF initiative will take a more conservation and eco-friendly approach.
“We won’t open up core areas of our parks like breeding grounds, feeding grounds, migration routes and water drinking sources of the animals,” said Karma Dukpa. “It will also provide Bhutanese with an alternative holiday plan because, in spite of our enormous ecological beauty, we tend to know areas like Bangkok more then our own country,” said Dukpa.
The project may allow people a closer look at the habitat of varied animals species like tiger, blue sheep, Himalayan bear, snow leopard, red pandas in the higher climes.
Other animals are leopard, wild dog, sambar, barking deer, goral, marmot, rhinos, buffalos, tigers, leopard, gaurs, bears, elephants and several species of deer, golden langur, capped langur, pygmy hog and hispid hare in the lower climes. There are also others such as wild boars, pygmy hog and hornbill. This is in addition to already 770 species of bird and 5,400 species of flowers.
Bhutan has around 9 parks and sanctuaries with the biggest being the Jigme Dorji National Park in north-western Bhutan with an area of 4,329 sq km.
The new plan will also aim to set up a new system of park management to deal with the reality of tourism. “As of now, our only job is to issue trek permits to tour companies but, under the new system, we ourselves will set up tour packages with fixed rates which tour companies can avail,” said an official.
The new system will also allow park staff and the department to deal with matters like garbage, waste management, camp site development, new tracks and trails and viewpoints. The plan will not entail any large-scale building but small cozy cottages or guesthouses may be set up to house tourists.
The plan will also look at involving the local community in terms of letting them also make a living out of the revenue being generated. The locals, besides looking after guesthouses, would also be allowed to present programmes or set up small local eco friendly attractions. For funding the entire project, DoF may look at collaborating with the tourism companies or other funders. The project once approved will need a detailed project report and proper mapping and survey of all the parks will have to be done.
———-
>> Read the original story by Kuensel
Tags: Eco-tourism