Educational tour for students to Lachen and beyond

GANGTOK,: The Lachen Tourism Development Committee (LTDC) partnered with WWF-India to organize an educational tour for students from various parts of the State to Lachen and beyond from December 13 to 16.

A total of 27 students from government colleges of Namchi and Gangtok, along with senior students from few other schools participated in the programme. The main objective of this tour was to expose students to the interesting and rare biodiversity of North Sikkim, and also to learn about Lachen’s unique culture and way of life, a press release informs.

The learning tour had a mix of sessions on bird watching, wildlife watching as well as indoor sessions on Sikkim’s biodiversity and discussion on environmental challenges. These sessions were conducted by trained nature guides from LTDC and WWF-India team.

Tamding Lachenpa, a nature guide from Lachen, gave insights on the birds and other wildlife of the area to the students. He was assisted by nature guides Palden Lepcha, Phuchung Lachenpa, Bhaichung Lachenpa and Nedup Lachenpa.

An early morning birding exercise around Lachen village was conducted during which the students recorded around 15 species of birds within a short duration. Participants also learned about various fruit bearing plant species (such as sea buckthorn) that are essential for birds. The participants drove to Lake Gurudongmar on the third day to learn about high altitude biodiversity. Sightings of Tibetan gazelle, Himalayan Thar and Tibetan wild ass along with many other bird species were exciting for the students who were all on their first visit to the cold desert.

One of the highlights of the trip was the interaction with the Dokpa families who live in the cold desert areas of North Sikkim. Singhe, the last shepherd of North Sikkim, mesmerized the young students with tales of his life in the harsh terrain, and how his sheep population had dwindled, mainly due to free-ranging dog attacks. On the last day, the students learned more on this issue at the Animal Husbandry farm at Rabom where they interacted with Pasang Bhutia on the challenges faced by the highlanders, the release mentions.

On day 2, a tour of Lachen village was conducted by LTDC members for students to learn more about the village during which they visited the Lachen monastery. Visiting one of the old houses that had retained its traditional architecture gave the students a glimpse of Lachenpa’s way of life and culture. The significance of such old houses, the manner in which they were constructed by community support was explained to the students.

The students were also enthralled by a visit to the Dzumsa House, where the council members sat for having their discussions. The functioning of the Dzumsa, the unique ways of working through draw of lots, benefit sharing mechanisms, etc. were elaborated to the participants, informs the release.

During the indoor sessions, students were given interactive talks on Lachen’s history and the changes that were being seen. WWF- India team presented on the snow leopard and facilitated group discussions on environmental challenges that were being observed by the youth, during which the issue of infrastructure development, impacts of defence (such as mines), tourism, human wildlife conflict, plastic pollution, water security, etc. were raised and discussed.

From LTDC, Ugen Lachenpa presented on the work of the organization on plastic waste and how the village was working to reduce and manage their waste. He highlighted the bottled water ban that the Dzumsa has announced in 2012 and how it was still being strictly implemented in the village.

Speaking on the educational tour, LTDC president Chokdup Lachenpa mentioned that “Lachen had so much to offer to visitors in terms of nature and culture, and this tour was organized mainly to showcase all that.”