Periyar Tiger Reserve homestay accommodation, India
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
We use solar energy for heating water. We use terra-cotta tiles to moderate the temperature and help us avoid the use of heater. We try to avoid using plastic in our property. We have a wormicompost unit for waste food items and use organic fertilizer for our garden. We encourage our guests to use paper bags and follow eco tourism principles.
Since Periyar is known for its wildlife, conservation awareness is given maximum priority. We are actively involved in the Clean Green Kumily Project, which involves awareness classes on cleanliness and planting of trees and flowering plants at the road sides. We advise our guests not to carry plastic items when they are going on forest bound activities. We have a variety of books in our reading room about the wildlife at our locality. We believe that this awareness will help our guests appreciate the importance of preserving them.
Community
So far we’ve been able to employ local villagers, a source of income for the tribal community by promoting their handicrafts and also provide livelihood for the tribal guides by encouraging our guest to participate in the forest activities. We buy raw material from local shops, hire local vehicles and also promote shops so that the benefit from tourists, is not just for us, but also for the whole village.
Helpers at the homestay are local villagers and most of the purchasing is done locally. The milk is bought from the nearby cattle farm and vegetables from home gardens. Fresh fish is bought from the tribes and mushrooms from the villagers.
The guides for the forest activities are local tribes – who where poachers trained to become forest guards instead. We encourage our guests to do the forest activities so that these forest guards have a reasonable income from the job they do. We spend a major portion of our income on local awareness programs, the Green Clean Kumily project and the Agri Horti Culture Programs.
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