January: Uttarakhand forest department is set to welcome tourist in the state for their first snow leopard tours in the high-altitude regions in order to promote conservation around. The state is known to promote sustainable tourism and has now decided to organise tours in the Uttarkashi district that is known for its population of snow leopards. To make this possible, the United Nations Development Programme has collaborated with the Uttarakhand tourism department.
These departments have been working together on the Secure Himalaya project that aims at promotion of conservation and livelihood. According to the forest officials, the snow leopard tours will begin in the month of February, for which even bookings will be made on a ‘first-come, first-served’ basis. Every tour will have a maximum of six participants. They will travel inside the forest along with the medical staff.
Rajiv Bhartari, Head of forest force of the Uttarakhand forest department, said, “We have already been working in the high-altitude areas through the Secure Himalaya project, where locals have been trained in adventure sports and wildlife movement. Using that, we are working to start snow leopard tours in the high-altitude areas of Uttarkashi district, where sightings of snow leopards have increased in the past few months.”
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Explaining about the project, Aparna Pandey serving as the State Project Officer for Secure Himalayas, quoted that the major objective of such initiative was to link conservation with a livelihood. She further said, “They will also naturally want to work towards conservation of the animal. This model has worked successfully in Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh.”
