CHANDRAPUR: Tourists visiting Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) with families would have a pleasant surprise this summer. They might just be accompanied by female tourist guides for the safari.
Three enthusiastic girls from villages in the reserve's buffer zone have enrolled for the training camp for tourist guides that began in Moharli on Monday to mark International Forest Day. It would be the first instance in Maharashtra, probably in the country, when women tour guides would take tourists on safari in tiger reserves. Kanchan Joshi and Shaila Ramteke, both from Palasgaon village, and Sonali Meshram from Mamla village in the buffer area will be qualified as tour guides after the training currently under way.
The management of TATR has taken up an extensive capacity building programme for villagers living in its buffer zone to develop their earning capabilities. A five-day-long skill upgradation camp for tourist guides began from Monday in Moharli village as a part of the same programme.
What came as a surprise for the authorities was that these three girls turned up to join the training. "Basically it is a skill upgradation camp for existing tourist guides. But the girls were so keen to become tourist guides that we accepted them for training," said CF and field director of TATR Vinaykumar Sinha. At present, there are 60 tourist guides in TATR and they are paid Rs 200 per trip into the tiger reserve. Thirty tourist guides, including the girls, began training in the camp from Monday.
The idea of training women as tourist guides first came up in the concluding programme of a tailoring and leather-bag making training camp for women at the training centre of Indian Institute of Youth Welfare (IIYF) here a fortnight back. Sinha was guest of honour for the programme and all 22 trainee women present in the programme agreed to take up tour-guide as a profession, when the subject came up during an informal discussion.
Impressed by their enthusiasm, Sinha agreed to offer them the opportunity and asked them to forward their application through IIYF centre in-charge Vijay Takey for the training camp scheduled to begin from International Forest Day.
"They would be given both theoretical and field knowledge about basic ecology and ecotourism. Details about behaviour and habitat of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and even the species of the plants found in TATR would be given by experts during the training. The female guides would be ideal to accompany families or group of girls or women coming on their own for safari in TATR," said Sinha. He said that the girls are Std XII pass and if worked on their English speaking skills, they could also escort foreign tourists.
He said that Prof Adwait Adgaonkar and Yogesh Dubey from Indian Institute of Forest Management, senior wildlife expert Prachi Mehta, insect expert Radhesham Sharma and reptile expert Sanjay Thakur from WWF would train the tourist guides.
With the forest department planning to develop two more tourist zones in the buffer area to reduce tourism pressure from the core area of TATR, the idea of taking up tourist guide as a profession may be a good idea for the women of the villages.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Soon-female-tourist-guides-at-Tadoba/articleshow/7757263.cms
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