In
parts of Northern Areas, eco-tourism plays an important part
f the local economy. Though undoubtedly unstable due to various
reasons, it still brings substantial amounts of income directly
to community members.
Though Kohistan and Palas are a long way behind other parts
of the country, there still remains a potential for specialized
trips to the valley either for bird-watching, hiking and even
scientific research.
Bearing this in mind, BDC planned to train a handful of promising
porters that were known to the project, in a basic porter/guide
course. This course covered many relevant topics such as camp
management, environment, rock climbing and hygiene to name
a few.
For the training, Adventure Foundation Pakistan was contacted
a couple of months ago. AFP is a non-profit organization which
specializes in outdoor activities and is perhaps the only
organization leading the way towards eco-tourism in Pakistan.
The Director of AFP, Brigadier Jan Nadir, was the chairman
of Kohistan Development Board and so AFP seemed to be the
best organization to conduct the training.
From 15th to 26th March 2003, eleven Palasi porters, one
Kaigah community member and one PCDP Community Facilitator
attended the training centre of AFP in Abbottabad.
The details of the training can be found in the completion
report. However, this training was more than just educating
some young men, it was almost a transformation. When the young
men
arrived they displayed their usual Kohistani stature and
when at least some of them looked like professional guides.One
immediate impact that this training will have is that the
porters will be able to provide a better service to PCDP staff
in the field.
During the course of the training, members were encouraged to
participate, within groups and also through practical exercises.
As the series of photos show on the left, participants learnt
technical skills that maybe not be applicable at the moment
but may possibly be useful in the future.The training ended
in a visit to Nathiagali where the participants had to execute
all that they had learnt over the course of the training. Due
to the conditions they live in, all of the participants exceeded
the physical exercises with flying colors, strangely enough
including the night navigation.One of the biggest limitations
highlighted by AFP was the level of education that the participants.
Only about half of the participating members could take notes,
and unfortunately some of the most porters with potential were
the ones who could not. AFP were surprised to learn that PCDP
had no education programme The training was certainly a success,
at least in terms of an experimental basis. A refresher course
is planned for some of the promising participants and a fresh
batch of porters will be trained in Year 4 of the project.Thanks
must go to Brigadier Jan Nadir and his staff for their cooperation,
to the participants for participating and Adbul Sattar for coordinating
the participants coming and going.
By Rab Nawaz
PO Biodiversity Conservation, PCDP
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