This is how Varun Chaudhary initiated a conversation on facebook and mentioned Triund & Shimla. The conversation took interesting turn when lot of folks started participating and added more names to this list. Varun is an accomplished Travel Photographer and a strong supporter of eco-friendly initiatives. He belongs to Himachal and cares a lot about his state. I chose to write about it because it's not about specific places discussed in this thread but more about lot of other places in our country which bring some value to travellers but loose the charm over time or get dirty/unbearable.
I have heard lot of Travel Bloggers, nature activists talking about this issue. And places which were tagged as 'least explored' 5 years back are no more unknown to the world. At times I wonder if I am also contributing to this change through this blog? Probably yes. Frankly speaking I spent a lot of time thinking about these problems but don't have a clear solution. I would invite viewers/readers to share opinions.
Coming back to discussion happening on Facebook, more places were added to the list and few folks also added interesting comments to support their vote. Finally the list looked like -
- Triund
- Shimla
- Kasol
- Manali
- Choorhdhar
- Kasuali
- Spiti
- Chansal Pass
- and few more
Lot of people have started travelling which is good thing, but at the same time how many of them are travelling responsibly? And there are few key trends - trekking, going to lesser known places etc. At the name of trekking, there are few places like Triund & Khirganga where all basic facilities are available on the way and these treks are not very challenging. So easy to plan and hence lot of rush.
Kasol was not so popular 5 years back, but now my blogs most traffic because of Kasol searches.
With growing opportunities in tourism, authorities need to come up with new strategies to make it sustainable and local support is also required. Few local organizations try with the mission of eco-tourism and then get into the trap of commercial competition.
I would want to stop here and welcome your opinion on this. Do share your thoughts through comments.
If you liked this post and found it helpful, I would request you to follow these things when traveling -
- Manage your waste well and don’t litter
- Use dustbins. Tell us if you went to a place and found it hard to locate a dustbin.
- Avoid bottle waters in hills. Usually you get clean water in hills and water bottles create lot of mess in our ecosystem.
- Say big no to plastic and avoid those unhealthy snacks packed in plastic bags. Rather buy fruits.
- Don't play loud blaring music in forests of jungle camps. You are a guest in that ecosystem and disturbing the locals (humans and animals) is not polite
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