About Himalayan Ecotourism

Internship, volunteering and research work in the Himalayas

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Volunteer travel in the Himalayas

Volunteer travel

Contribute to our social initiatives. Explore the Tirthan Valley. Meet travellers from over the globe.

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Internship in the Himalayas

Internship

Be a changemaker in the Tirthan Valley. Encourage the vision for a Green tomorrow.

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Research work in the Himalayas

Research work

Gain on-field experience. Work closely with conservationists. Understand community engagement.

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For all enquiries related to internship, volunteer travel and research work, please drop us an email at :





Volunteer travel

A groups of volunteers at Himalayan ecotourism

Volunteering in the Himalayas

A group of volunteers at Himalayan Ecotourism, a volunteer travel organization.


Have you ever felt like your skills can make a real difference to people’s lives? Do you share our vision of a better, equal, greener tomorrow? We’re providing you a platform to contribute to our social initiatives while at the same time giving you an authentic insight into the region.

Spend your days contributing to our Education Program, working in local farms, learning about our Women Empowerment initiatives. Trek across unexplored trails of the Great Himalayan National Park, live with a local family, learn traditional crafts. Join our Volunteer Travel Program for the best of both worlds!

Inquire about our Volunteer Travel Program here and our present work to know more about what your volunteer experience will look : Volunteer Travel Program here.





Internship within a social enterprise



Interning with HET is an exciting opportunity to familiarize yourself with the concept of social enterprise and contribute to a cause you care about.

The Himalayas are an extremely fascinating but fragile place. Working with HET is an exciting opportunity for our interns to promote sustainable development by involving the local communities and operating ecotourism activities.

Our interns are typically involved in two domains of work.
In the "social" side : conservation efforts, education of local kids, women empowerment, development of green technologies, capacity building and awareness raising campaigns.
In the "enterprise" side : improving the skills of our cooperative members, marketing, social media, business management, etc.

We have previously been affiliated with a number of organizations and educational institutes like TISS, Symbiosis, Presidency College Kolkata, IIM Indore among others whose students have chosen to work with us on their internship for earning significant work experience and understanding the grassroots movement in India.

Our interns are graduate, industry experts, travellers looking to find a purpose in their journeys, retirees wanting to give back to society and anybody else who wants to make a difference in the social sector with their skills and unique capacities.

Please note:
While working with us, the interns are hosted by a local family. To be able to ensure a sustainable source of income for these families our interns pay a subsidized amount to the host family that takes care of their lovingly home-cooked meals and a comfortable accommodation.
Interns who complete a minimum of three weeks working with us, receive an internship certificate from Himalayan Ecotourism.


Internship program 2022 & 2023



Child development and education

Since 2018, Himalayan Ecotourism has introduced an education program in the schools of the Tirthan Valley. We took up this project because we wanted to find a solution to reform the current situation of education the valley. Particularly since the pandemic hit, school children have been terribly affected due to a break in education, lack of access to electronic accessories and inefficiency in planning.
We believe that no child should miss out on the opportunity to receive good education.

Currently, we have kickstarted Himalayan Insight’s “Kitaab aur Vaadiyan” Education Program which is a 3 month nature immersive education program aimed at children of all ages. As we take children on a journey to connect with nature and understand concepts of ecology and conservation, we will create an open source curriculum that organisations and individuals around the world can use to implement in their schools and communities.

If you have an interest in nature education, write to us to get involved. You too, can be leading a class of budding minds into a forest to observe, question and discover.

What our schools do differently

Himalayan Insight focuses on a holistic, progressive approach to education. At our schools, we aim at sharing age-appropriate education through interactive learning techniques, conduct a number of workshops to aid an all-round development and try to create awareness among students regarding various issues that affect our societies like ecological degradation, gender inequality, pollution, etc. through creative activities.

Like any other village school, we do our best with the infrastructure and resources available to us and keep working creatively and in coordination to give our students the best experience possible. Our students are highly motivated and keen to learn, making the internship fruitful learning experience for them as well as our interns.

How our interns can be a part of this initiative

Interns from across the country have joined us in the last three years. Coming from different backgrounds and adding their own unique skills to the program, they have been able to introduce new ideas and lasting changes to the education scenario we see in the villages. The internship is also a wonderful opportunity for people from different parts of the world, with diverse stories and interests to meet and interact with each other.

How can you align with our efforts?

  The intern will be teaching either in the Pekhri or Bihar villages in the Tirthan Valley, Himachal Pradesh.
  A minimum commitment of one month is expected of our interns. You will be working for 6 hours a day for 6 days a week on average.
  Our interns are expected to be fluent in conversational Hindi as that is the main medium of communication and education here. Very young students can only speak Pahadi but understand Hindi. Anyway, we believe the right intentions and willingness to share can help us cross that barrier :-)
  Based on your subjects of interest, feel free to design and try to implement newer, effective teaching methodology with the help of our local teachers.
  Keeping your work at the school as the main focus area, you can explore our other areas of work and offer to join in in an area of your interest as well.
  Accommodation and food for our interns is arranged with a local family in the village or at one of our dorms.
  Further details and terms of the internship will be shared with our shortlisted applicants via email.


Development of the micro-enterprise of our local women

Himalayan Ecotourism has been developing a microenterprise model for women in our villages to encourage their entrepreneurial spirit through a sustainable business opportunity in order to provide an alternative source of income to local, underprivileged women. A team of women from Pekhri and around Gushaini have been selected and trained to make products like natural cosmetics, handicrafts, traditional food products, etc. We have tried to create an environment and working conditions that will give them the flexibility to work from home, according to their convenience and from our workshop very close to the village to encourage more participation from women.

There has been a gap in the production process because of the pandemic but we are ready to scale up the process now. The production now needs to be systemized, right from procurement of the required material, to packaging, quality control and eventual marketing and retail.

Sales to the local tourist would continue, and we would like to start online sales so that we can sell throughout the year.

Work of the interns/volunteers :

  Volunteers and interns can help in revising the production process with the women after understanding the process well.
  They can help in improving the branding / packaging to offer eco-friendly yet efficient packaging of our products.
  Training the women in a systematic way of production and quality control.
  Establishing outlets at the local resort, guesthouses or homestays and other avenues to promote our products.
  Helping set up an online store for our products and look into collaborations with other online platforms and brands.


For tourism or MBA students

Himalayan Ecotourism welcomes motivated students in the field of tourism or MBA students who want to gain an experience with a social enterprise. During their internship they will get to know about the unique cooperative-based model developed by Himalayan Ecotourism.

Besides working for the day-to-day management of the business, they will have to take interest in the other projects implemented by the organization and to lend a helping hand when required. We have had students from some very prestigious colleges across India like TISS, IIM Indore, Delhi University, etc. join us on our projects

The work usually consists in :

  Market researches and product development.
  Social media marketing, website optimization, other promotions of the organization.
  Working with the cooperative members to enhance their management skills.
  Quality control of the trekking and camping equipment.
  Marketing of the local products made by women.
  Meeting clients, organizing leisure activities.
  Video editing, blogging and photography are desired skills.
  To contribute to at least one of the projects of Himalayan Outreach along with the above-mentioned roles.


Our Reforestation Project and Prevention of Forest Fires Campaign

Setting intentional fires to the beautiful forests that are a bounty of resources, is an age-old system for reaping short term economic benefit. In the long run, this technique is severely problematic for the environment and people alike. Since 2016 Himalayan Ecotourism has organized campaigns to raise awareness among the locals to stop these intentional and widespread forest fires. We will be actively working on this until this practice is completely dropped. Posters and informative road signs are put up, discussions are organized in the villages, and the children are approached and educated about the issue in their schools.

Since 2019, Himalayan Ecotourism has also started a tree plantation program in the ecozone of the Great Himalayan National Park. Following the COVID-19 breakout, we decided to scale up our program in order to provide an alternate source of income to our cooperative members, and to continue working for conservation despite the financial stress caused by the pandemic. We have tried to involve women in the project as much as possible to encourage their participation in conservation activities and nurturing the regenerated ecosystems.

The initial stage of the program is being implemented around the village Pekhri where we have our nursery to produce the saplings, and where many villagers are members of our cooperative. You may have to stay in Pekhri village if you work on this project.
This program is closely linked to the carbon-offsetting service we provide to our clients to sequestrate their carbon emissions in exchange for reforestation in the Tirthan Valley.

The program also involves social activities with the village women and children.

Read more about the reforestation program here and about our Carbon offset business here.

Work of the interns/volunteers :

  Helping in management of the nursery and plantation processes.
  Promoting our "Be a zero carbon citizen" business that is the source of funds for the program.
  Encouraging the participation of more villagers in the Forest Management Committee.
  Making of a botanical inventory of the plants available in the area.
  Helping raise awareness about the prevention of intentional forest fires in the area.
  Putting up posters in the villages to raise awareness and devising other strategies that can help the program yield best results.
  Working alongside the villagers, particularly women to encourage villagers to become defenders of their own forests.
  Visiting different replantation site to see the progress on the project and if all the steps are being implemented efficiently.


Contributing to the improvement of the administration of the Cooperative society

The GHNP Community-based Ecotourism Cooperative Society was a movement started with the local community members in the Tirthan Valley in 2014 to help elevate the economic standards of the members through environmentally conscious tourism alternatives.

Over the years, the cooperative has grown into a successful grassroot organization but there’s still a lot of work left to do. Keeping the cooperative members motivated, working with them, and revising our model is a continuous process to ensure the success of the movement.

Work of the interns/volunteers :

  Assess the opinion of the cooperative members about their society and work around their concerns and requirements.
  Help the board members to be more systematic and to organize regular meetings with adequate reporting.
  Help in publishing the Himalayan Ecotourism newsletters.
  Volunteers and interns with a background or previous experience in managing finances, administrative roles and managerial positions are encouraged to apply.


Final development of clean wood stoves and a solar drier

To a great extent the people living around the Great Himalayan National Park are natural resources dependent. This is also true for their sources of energy. Most of the villagers who are not connected to a road use fuelwood for heating their houses, cooking and having hot water. For burning the wood the villagers use either the traditional “three stones” open fire or very cheap and bad locally-made devices.
As a result they need to collect huge quantities of wood from the surrounding forests. It contributes to deforestation and adds to the drudgery of the women. On top of that, the atmospheric pollution substantially increases and the indoor air gets toxic and puts the family members at risk of having pulmonary diseases.

For about 4 years Himalayan Ecotourism worked closely with researchers to develop efficient, non-polluting and appropriate wood stoves. With their help, we were able to develop three models of stove and a solar cooker.
The designs are efficient and innovative. You can see on of them here.
A team of researchers from IIT Mandi decided to continue the R&D based on our existing prototypes.However, we don’t have a final product ready yet.

We want to continue the R&D ourselves at a local workshop near Gushaini. The stoves are already efficient and clean; they just need to be slightly modified to become more user-friendly and easy to be produced locally. This is typically an internship project for students of engineering.

Besides we are designing a solar drier that could enhance the income of the villagers by adding value to their local fruits (dried apricot for example).

Work of the interns/volunteers :

  Understanding the technology of our latest prototypes.
  Refining the designs of the stove (3D modelling) to make them user-friendly and easy to make locally.
  Making of the prototypes at our local workshop.
  Assessing the retail price of the stoves.
  Hiring skilled staff and train them in making of the stoves.




Research

Research at Himalayan ecotourism

Research at Himalayan Ecotourism

Arushi during her fieldwork for her research in the field of ecotourism.


Gain on-field experience. Work closely with conservationists. Understand community engagement.

The Himalayas are a treasure trove of biodiversity in urgent need of conservation. This goal can only be achieved through research, education and awareness in the region.

If you’re a researcher looking to further your knowledge in the field of Environmental or Social Sciences and wanting to gain first-hand experience on field, join us!

Inquire about our research opportunities here.




Photos of internship at Himalayan Ecotourism

internship himalayan ecotourism

Accommodation

This is the building where our interns stay.

internship himalayan ecotourism

Volunteer travel organization

This is village where we stay, just front of the GHNP.

internship himalayan ecotourism

In the room

One room is for the women and the other one for the men.

internship himalayan ecotourism

Brainstorming

We spend some a good amount of time interacting and learning from each other.

volunteering himalayan ecotourism

Teaching the kids

Vishwa helps our two local teachers with innovative teaching methods.

internship himalayan ecotourism

Stop Forest Fires

Getting ready with all the material before field work.

internship himalayan ecotourism

On the field

At the end of a meeting with women in a village.

internship himalayan ecotourism

Organic farming

Interns promoting innovative practices for organic farming.

internship himalayan ecotourism

Awareness campaign

On field work to spread the word about the forest fires issue.

internship himalayan ecotourism

Making of local products

A soap making session in our workshop in Gushaini.

internship himalayan ecotourism

Forest fires

Extinguishing the flames of a forest fire teaches a lesson to anyone.

internship himalayan ecotourism

Last day

On the last day of Devanshi's internship. With Keshav, our president !




List of interns, volunteers and researchers per year


Name Details
Vishwa Maheshwari

Intern
Bachelor's in Financial Markets - Narsee Monjee College, Mumbai
Helped set up the educational program in Pekhri Village, worked for the training of our first batch of female trek guides, and interviewed and documented stories of the guides.

Sneha Harsh

Intern
Bachelor of Arts (Major in History) - Lady Shri Ram College for Women - University of Delhi
Training of our new office staff to social media marketing and basic computer operation. Training a young woman staff in performing presentations in local schools. Elaborating a strategy to enable the young conservationast Janisha to spread her conservation message to the larger audience.

Neelam Pandey

Intern
Post Graduate Diploma in Mass Communication and Journalism
Training of our two women staff for teaching, English and basics of computer. Giving classes to the selected children in the village Pekhri. Organizing the Women Self-Help Group in the village Pekhri.

Name Details
Kedarnath Angadi

Intern
Bachelor of Tourism Administration - The Karnatak University, Dharwad
Improving the administration of the GHNP Community-Based Ecotourism Cooperative Society. Promoting the organization as a social enterprise working in the field of Responsible Tourism. Helping in building the capacity of our local staff for management of treks

Milena Franzetti

Intern
Bachelor in Fairtrade, social and solidarity-based economy in Nantes, France
Finalizing the range of our fairtrade products made by local women. Developing the packaging of the products.

Epaphras Thomas Namchyo

Intern
Bachelor of Social Sciences - Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Guwahati
Helping in raising awareness of the local villagers and school kids in the context of our "Stop Forest Fires' programme. Helping in devising our new "Tree Plantation" project. Helping in management of the equipments for trek.

Khushali Sanghvi

Intern
Bachelor of Management Studies and Marketing - Mumbai
Advertising a vacant post of office assistant. Interacting with local women to motivate their participation in our social programme. Translation of official documents from English to Hindi. Promoting a crowdfunding campaign. Production of handmade soaps.

Ritu Basumatary

Intern
MBA, department of Tourism Studies - Pondicherry University, Puducherry
Visiting schools for raising awareness and pasting posters as part of our "Stop Forest Fire" campaign. Assisting staff in making handmade natural products. Assisting in the office for managing trek equipments. Helping in designing signboards for the national park.

Sarath S. Kumar

Intern
MBA, department of Tourism Studies - Pondicherry University, Puducherry
Visiting schools for raising awareness and pasting posters as part of our "Stop Forest Fire" campaign. Assisting in the office for managing trek equipments. Coordinating with cooperative members for tree plantation projects. Helping in designing signboards for the national park.

Swarthak Ranjan Swain

Intern
Bachelor of Economics, statistics and mathematics - Christ, Bangalore
Conducting a survey about the possible alternate sources of income for our cooperative members. Helping in building the capacity of our local staff.

Purnima Sood

Intern
Bachelor of Social Science - Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Tuljapur
Mobilizing local women to support the establishment of a seed bank and practice organic farming. Helping in making handmade products with local women and to assist in designing labels and finalizing formulas for the products. Launching a crowdfunding campaign for our tree plantation project.

Harideep Reddy Koncha

Volunteer
History and Political science - Hindu College
Improving our presentation in Hindi for school kids about the issue of intentional forest fires and in training a local woman to perform the presentation in school.

Name Details
Nolwenn Lyonnet

Intern
Tourism Department – UFR Temps et Territoires - Université Lyon 2 – France
Developing new ecotourism products near the Great Himalayan National Park. Revamping the French website of Himalayan Ecotourism. Capacity building of a young local woman for working as office assistant.

Athul K. V.

Intern
MBA in Tourism - Pondicherry University
Helping raising awareness of the locals about the adverse impacts of forest fires. Working of social media marketing for HET.

Kiran Varghese

Intern
MBA in Tourism - Pondicherry University
Helping raising awareness of the locals about the adverse impacts of forest fires. Working of social media marketing for HET.

Akshit Awasthi

Intern
BA in Tourism Administration - Amity University, Noida
Helping raising awareness of the locals about the adverse impacts of forest fires. Working of social media marketing for HET.

Tanya Issar

Intern
MA in Sustainable Development Practice - TERI School of Advanced Studies, Delhi
Developing the documentation and media content for approaching school kids and raise their awareness about the adverse impacts of forest fires. Helping in building the capacity of a young woman to teach the kids about the same issue.

Vaibhaw Kumar

Intern
BA in Sociology and Anthropology - Ashoka University
Making of a short video for our Stop Forest Fires campaign. Helping raising awareness of the locals about the adverse impacts of forest fires.

Sujoy Desai

Intern
BA in Political Sciences – Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts, Pune
Converting our “Stop Forest Fires” message to the local community into a pamphlet for school children. Identifying an Indian music band to record and perform our “Stop Forest Fires” song. Training of a local woman to do the “Stop Forest Fires” presentation for school children.

Name Details
Sachit Gangla

Intern
Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Tuljapur
Surveying the villagers around the Great Himalayan National Park to understand how Himalayan Ecotourism team could approach them for reducing intentional forest fires.

Pal chandra

Intern
Tourism studies, Pondicherry Central University
Research work about the cooperative model of Himalayan Ecotourism.

Anuja Joshi

Volunteer
Engineer, Kanpur
Assisting the work at the Life Lovers' café and promotion of Himalayan Ecotourism.

Kiran Kanthavar

Volunteer
MBA graduate, XLRI Jamshedpur
Prospecting the best business development of Himalayan Ecotourism.

Shouvik Bisai

Intern
Symbiosis, Pune
Developing mass communication tools for raising awareness of the local villagers about destructive forest fires.

Name Details
Jayesh Bagada

Volunteer
Engineer in electronics
Developing a thermoelectric module for the advanced stove. Making of stove prototypes. Launching a crowdfunding campaign.

Zoé Hüttenhain

Volunteer
Video making about the advanced stove. Launching a crowdfunding campaign. Translation of the website of Himalayan Ecotourism in German

Thomas Paul

Intern
TISS, Mumbai
Mobilizing the community (especially the women folk) of the ecozone around the Symbioz (Green Technologies) project. Assessing the level of awareness about the impacts of the use their natural resources on the local and global environment.

Florian Saas

Intern
Agrocampus, Angers, France
Development of a biopesticide for various cash crop in the ecozone of the Great Himalayan National Park. Advising the steps to be taken for the improvement of the ecology of an habitat for the Cheer pheasant in the ecozone.

Name Details
Poonam Shukla

Fellow at Teach For India
Worked towards creating a women Self Help Group in the villages and provide them training in soap, balm and bag making in the GHNP region in order to establish a self sustainable model to empower the community.

Shikha Bohra

Volunteer
Fellow at Teach For India
Worked towards creating a women Self Help Group in the villages and provide them training in soap, balm and bag making in the GHNP region in order to establish a self sustainable model to empower the community.

Saumya Jain

Intern
M.Sc. Environment Management and Sustainable Development, Delhi University
Research on forest fire in the ecozone of Great Himalayan National Park, and participation in the formation of women SHGs and in strengthening of the existing SHGs in some villages.

Neha Makol

Intern
M.Sc. Environment Management and Sustainable Development, Delhi University
Research on forest fire in the ecozone of Great Himalayan National Park, and participation in the formation of women SHGs and in strengthening of the existing SHGs in some villages.

Arka Banerjee

Intern
Economics Undergraduate at Presidency University, Kolkata
Creating business structures and marketing plan for Himalayan Ecotourism and Himalayan Eco-creation. Women empowerment for setting up their micro-enterprise.

Shuchi Tripathi

Intern
Economics Undergraduate at Presidency University, Kolkata
Creating business structures and marketing plan for Himalayan Ecotourism and Himalayan Eco-creation. Women empowerment for setting up their micro-enterprise.

Shrija Dasgupta

Intern
Economics Undergraduate at Presidency University, Kolkata
Creating business structures and marketing plan for Himalayan Ecotourism and Himalayan Eco-creation. Women empowerment for setting up their micro-enterprise.

Arindam Chakraborty

Intern
Economics Undergraduate at Presidency University, Kolkata
Creating business structures and marketing plan for Himalayan Ecotourism and Himalayan Eco-creation. Women empowerment for setting up their micro-enterprise.

Vincent Martin

Intern
Sciences Po Grenoble
Organizing winter trek in the ecozone of the GHNP. Making of local-made snowshoes. Making of the first prototype of the advanced wood stove. Writing articles for a new blog. Developing ideas to devise a waste management project.

Killian Boiron

Intern
Alliance Sciences & Business, Program IDEA, Lyon, France
Research and development work for the advanced stove project.

Yohan Hecquet

Intern
Alliance Sciences & Business, Program IDEA, Lyon, France
Research and development work for the advanced stove project.

Tryphena Duddley

Volunteer
Chennai
Mobilizing women from villages in the ecozone of the GHNP to form Self-Help Group and launch their micro-enterprise.

Agathe Toutin

Intern
Paris, France
Making of a biogas unit and training women for making a simple biopesticide

Decayeux Emma

Intern
ISTOM, Paris, France
Making of a biogas unit and training women for making a simple biopesticide

Mandausch Pauline

Intern
ISTOM, Paris, France
Making of a biogas unit and training women for making a simple biopesticide

Léa Pillet

Intern
ISTOM, Paris, France
Making of a biogas unit and training women for making a simple biopesticide

Gwenaëlle Detour

Intern
ISTOM, Paris, France
Making of a biogas unit and training women for making a simple biopesticide

Nikhil Parihar

Volunteer
Video maker, Kolkata
Making of a video about the work of Himalayan Ecotourism.

Name Details
Devanshi Laddha

Intern
Indian Institute of Management, Indore
Development of the capacities of the members of the cooperative to the management.

Hasrat Grewal

Volunteer
She has assisted our efforts to form the cooperative.

Venkatesh Hippalgaonkar

Intern
Information Technology GITAM University,Vishakapatnam
Updating the web site http://himalayanecotourism.com/

Noyonika Bose

Intern
Presidency University,Kolkata
Participation in a study on the income of the villagers of the ecozone of the GHNP.

Priya Krishnamoorthy

Volunteer
Tata Consultancy Services , Chennai
Development of the strategy of "marketing" of Himalayan Ecotourism.

Juliette Pouradier

Intern
Jean Monnet, Vic In Bigorre, France
Study of issues related to the income of the villagers of the ecozone of the GHNP and the consequences of the establishment of the national park.

Priyanka Sheoran

Researcher
Ambedkar University, Delhi
Socio-economic study in the village of Karongcha.

Jonas Moses

Volunteer
Science Po, Paris, France
Management and accounting of the cooperative.

Mathilde Armand

Intern
ISTOM, Paris, France
Training of women of the village Pekhri to the production of felted wool and jams.

Julie Fleuet

Intern
ISTOM, Paris, France
Training of women of the village Pekhri to the production of felted wool and jams.

Damien Lesage

Intern
ISTOM, Paris, France
Training of women of the village Pekhri to the production of felted wool and jams.

Manu Vikrant

Volunteer
Chandigarh
Teaching of English to members of the cooperative.

Lani Jones

Volunteer
California, US
Business development and marketing.

Mathilde Halleux

Volunteer
Belgium
She has attended Lani in its efforts in the promotion of Himalayan Ecotourism.



Thanks a lot for writing the Himalayan Ecotourism story with us !





Recognition of Himalayan Ecotourism

Himalayan Ecotourism Awards

Our awards

Himalayan Ecotourism is the winner of the To Do award 2022 in the field of "Socially Responsible Tourism".
We are also the Overall Winner of the Indian Responsible Tourism Award 2019 and the Gold winner in the Best Adventure Operator category.
We have been declared winner of the Sustainable Tourism Award 2019 by Skal International and Biosphere.
Our cooperative-based model of social enterprise and our efforts to conserve the Himalayas are the main reasons for winning these awards.
Thank you to all our cooperative members, our customers, our friends and well-wishers !