A two-day training programme for three home-stay owners and a women catering group from Majrabari, Rangapani and Daodhara villages from Manas Landscape was organised by region’s premier biodiversity conservation organisation Aaranyak on various aspects of hospitality management.
The programme was organised at Aaranyak’s Manas Conservation and Outreach Centre, located at Bhuyanpara in Baksa on September 11 and 12. Resource persons, Rehan Ali, from IORA Retreat, Kohora, and Puneswar Dadhara, from Aranya Lodge, Kohora, coordinated the training programme.
The key objectives of the training were to orient the stakeholders on the aspects of room management, kitchen management, approach for hospitality services to guests, sustainable cooking and maintenance of hygiene, preparing a proper meal and pricing of the food.
During the training, the participants were oriented on the importance of cooking proper traditional and non-traditional delicacies for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Resource Person Rehan Ali emphasised on the importance of serving traditional delicacies to the guests, since most of them prefer to stay in homestays to learn more about the traditional life of the communities.
The participants engaged actively in cooking different traditional and non-traditional food items during the practical sessions. Shri Ali also oriented the participants on the key aspects one has to keep in mind while serving food to the guests.
The participants were also oriented on basic aspects they need to keep in mind while making bed for the visitors and the arrangement of guest rooms during the training. They also practiced making bed themselves under the guidance of Rehan Ali.
Rahul Basumatary, a homestay owner from Rangapani, mentioned that this two-day programme helped him learn important aspects related to the process of managing and organising his homestay and he appreciated Aaranyak for taking the initiative to organise such a programme.
“Alternative livelihood practices, by communities residing in close proximity to key wildlife habitats, allow the practitioners to augment their livelihood”, said Aaranyak through a press statement. “It also acts as an integral part of conservation initiatives by engaging these communities in various activities thereby minimising their tendency to rely on forests for basic needs and allowing them to earn livelihood through alternative sources.”, Aaranyak’s press statement stated.
Community-based nature tourism offers a scope to these forest-fringe communities to cater to nature enthusiasts by housing them in their residence and thereby supplement their income. However, most of these people lack formal understanding on hospitality management, which limits them from catering to their guests properly.
Aaranyak team was represented by Dr Jayanta Kumar Sarma, Swapan Kr Das, Bijay Basumatary, Barnali Baro, Pankaj Das and Partha Sarathi Ghose and the entire team stationed at Manas Conservation and Outreach Centre.
Aaranyak is committed towards conservation of biodiversity, ecosystem and supporting the indigenous communities through Alternative Sustainable Livelihood activities, education and awareness programmes residing in the Manas Landscape. The initiative is supported by IUCN-KfW.
