Travel Malnad Team took this topic for discussion couple of months ago. We are most concerned about conserving nature today in the wake of booming tourism in Malnad region. We were visiting places and speaking to locals at different levels to gather information. One of our founders at TravelMalnad.com is from Malnad region whose forefathers lived amidst deep forests in the age when there was no electricity or mobile phones. Imagine you being the lone house of a village, yes, Malnad villages were like a single house village. There were no roads or vehicles to commute to the cities. Adventure tourists of this generation call it “wildernessâ€. But Malnad people have lived in wilderness just like you live in a gated community or an apartment.
We were talking to a lot of local groups in Malnad region. One thing we all have to acknowledge is without them a large portion of Malnad forests would have been disappeared today for timber mafia and forest fires. Whenever there is a small spark of fire in the forest, it is the local villagers who run to the mountains and dose it off. No, it’s not the forest officials or fire extinguishers that rush to the spot. We will tell you why? Local villagers who have lived in the forests of Malnad have considered nature as a God. They feel sad when they find any destruction takes place in the forest of their village. They voluntarily guard a lot of forest areas from tree felling mafia. Yet, these locals are brandished as ‘encroachers’ of forest land and the departments trouble them to vacate.
Government should know the facts before creating laws that can affect not just people but ultimately to the forest land itself. Imagine people vacate the forest edges, very soon the trees will start disappearing in the hands of timber mafia. Those who live in nature will never destroy it. They know the value of preserving forests and planting more trees on a regular basis. We are not condemning the forest department either, the staff work round the clock doing the beats and fencing the forest. However, without the local population it would be difficult for any department to fully protect forest lands on its own.
Coming to the tourism activities in Malnad Region. Yes, there is an increase in tourist numbers compare to last 5 years. Lot of travellers are doing responsible tourism. We are not denying that there are incidences where people litter or create noise in the nature. It’s a collective responsibility of tourists, hosts, hoteliers, general public and government authorities to curb these mischievous activities in nature. We have been lucky to have Malenadu region which is rich with forest and agriculture lands. Let’s not take it for granted that in the name of ‘having fun’ we exploit natural resources. We also request homestay, resort and hotel business owners to create awareness to your guests at all times. Nature is for everyone, for all generations to come, so we tread carefully while we develop sites or do constructions without damaging scientific components of nature. Together we can safeguard nature from any external damages. Our next generation should thank us for the protective measures we take for protecting nature.