Geotourism Challenge Finalist: RiverIndia Bamboo Eco-Lodge River Trips on the Siang River
Monday, 01 Sep, 2009
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RiverIndia’s bamboo eco-lodge in Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh has provided the basis for our operations since 2005. Working in cooperation with a local tribal family, we built a bamboo safari lodge that serves as a model for future eco-tourism operators. With an emphasis on ecological conservation and providing jobs in a region of high unemployment, the lodge also serves as a base for RiverIndia’s SARSI school- a free river skills training for interested locals that teaches skills from guiding and rowing, to leave-no-trace ethics and food-handling. We actively encourage students and employees alike to start their own rafting companies, and even provide equipment procurement assistance, all with the goal of building a community thousands strong who are interested in keeping the river free-flowing and healthy.
We are the first people ever to start a rafting company in Arunachal Pradesh- a state that was opened to foreigners less than a decade ago. We’ve been active in promoting the easing of restrictions against foreign visitors, and this year successfully encouraged the government to triple the length of the Restricted Area Permits required to enter the state. With our lodge we could have copied the standard model in India: build a large, cheap concrete hotel. Instead we’ve emphasized traditional tribal bamboo construction methods, conscious that that will promote pride in culture and encourage authentic "tribal tourism". Our school is the first of its kind, and offers free tuition to students by combining school with small commercial trips where guests are aware of the educational-emphasis underway. This allows guests to participate, interact, and build relationships with students. We encourage students to start their own companies, and even assist them with this process. In the future we plan to offer small grants and micro-loans. We understand that the best way to build a unified voice is by creating an economically vested interest of conservation-minded rafting and tour companies.
Roland Stevenson traveled to the Siang River in the fall of 2005, first in the back of a dusty jeep with 4 Nepalis, then on a 2-day train ride, then alone on a local bus with a police escort- few foreigners had been there before. He had no permit to enter, but mailed the state’s tourism director with news that he was coming to Arunachal and wanted to start a rafting company on the Siang River. He was greeted by an enthusiastic representative and taken on a tour of a state that holds the second largest Tibetan Buddhist monastery in the world (after Lhasa) and one of the world’s greatest whitewater destinations- the Siang River. In meetings with administrators and locals over 2 weeks, one theme was clear: "We want to promote tourism, but we are losing our culture". Unfortunately, another theme was also apparent: the locals were lacking education in environmental conservation- evidenced by a celebratory tour dinner in which trash was thrown directly into the Siang River! RiverIndia was started to encourage culturally-immersive whitewater rafting, kayaking, and fishing expeditions that emphasize the ecological protection of the rivers we work on.
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