Promoting eco tourism in Namobuddha

By Anuska Joshi

Lying just around 50 kilometers away from Kathmandu, Namobuddha – a place of great natural richness and religious significance – holds immense tourism potentials. But the place has not been able to exploit its potential to the fullest due to various reasons. Most of the local people are unaware of the benefits that tourism brings. They also lack the know-how to promote tourism.

Realizing the fact, Dikendra Maskey – an ecotourism promoter – has stepped in to help the locals of Manegaun village that lies on the way to Namobuddha monastery. The venture started here by Maskey is to show the people their potential, and to feature the true essence of ecotourism. The core concept of ecotourism is to have the least possible harm to the local place while visiting and also help in its conservation and the upliftment of the local people by the use of local resources. Namobuddha is currently embracing this concept by starting up local homestays where people not only give tourists an authentic Nepali home experience but use the local resources that they produce themselves.

Namobuddha is a very beautiful and historic site on the outskirts of Kathmandu Valley which has still not been able to tap all of its potential. The place seated amidst beautiful nature with the scenic view of mountains all around and the historic gumba, which is believed to be the place where Lord Buddha died in the previous incarnation, has the potential of drawing in many tourists from all over the world. The place does have a few hotels, but these hotels are not uplifting the standards of the local people. Most of these hotels neither use local resources, not employs local people.

Despite the availability of local culture and taste in each of these households, the people here are still not being able to sell their resources. To add to this, discrimination on the basis of caste still exists in this place. Many so called ‘lower caste’ people still live on the brink of poverty.  The place is also home to the Tamang people who are among the minority ethnic groups of Nepal. The Tamang people were among the ones who were mostly affected by the Maoist insurgency in Nepal, with many killed and held in prison. Girls trafficking is the other problem for this community. The literacy rate is also very low here. The venture started by Maskey is expected to help the local people through tourism. Along with promoting eco tourism, the venture also aims at promoting the beautiful and authentic culture of the Tamang people which is fast disappearing.

Tamang culture here in this village is very vulnerable in the present context. Local people have a very small land area, and they are selling off to migrate to city areas due to lack of opportunities in the village. It is not their wish, but a necessity to sustain their living. The project that Maskey has started in this area aims to promote ecotourism so that the people can raise their livelihoods, and also preserve their culture and tradition by staying in their homes. Selling off their land is not these peoples wish, but a necessity to sustain their living.

Maskey is using the Air BnB platform to bring visitors to this place. It is already becoming effective. First, the local people are made aware of the tourism resources and opportunity that they have, and after thoroughly taking care of the sanitation issues and checking the necessity of the tourist, the home stay facility is developed. These homestay facilities have already been approved by the concerned government agencies. This has already initiated a sense of purpose and income generating options to the locals.

Also, the ‘lower caste’ people, who were reluctant to be a part of the venture believing that they are not worthy enough to host visitors, are also coming to light, and their living standards as well as their status in the society has improved considerably. “We believe that with local people’s support, this will help in tackling the problem of lower living standard, and the inequalities at the same time. Also, the community hub that is being established aims at fostering a feeling of global friendliness through interaction of local people with the tourists,” said Maskey.

Tourism is one of the most effective income generating options in Nepal, and the plan is to showcase the culture of Namobuddha to bring tourists to stay at the local houses by providing all the amenities required by the tourists.

Before starting the venture, Maskey thoroughly studied the place by staying there for at least one year. He started the venture here after seeing for himself the tourism potential going to waste. “The Tamang people here had a very small landholding, and even this was going to waste as people were slowly migrating to city areas in search of menial jobs. Also the culture and tradition was dying,” he said, adding: “So I started this project in order to preserve local culture and tradition as well as the find income generating activities for the local people.  Already a few of the homes have had visitors, and the plan is to get more in the following years, with the completion of the community centre.”

Visitors to this homestay are guaranteed to have a very wonderful time in the scenic surrounding of Manegaun which lies on the way to the Namobuddha Monastery. Slowly, the organic farming is also gaining momentum here, and many places produce organic food and vegetables which they sell to the resorts here and also take to the city. The place gets many kinds of tourists, religious visitors, scenery visitors, ones looking for a good hike through the pine forests, and even the ones looking for volunteering opportunities. The place pulls back visitors with the quiet and peaceful aura it projects every time. It is very important to take care about the impacts we are having to the nature and locals and be responsible while we are touring, and the home stay in Namobuddha is an option for that.