Mr. S.L.N. Swamy and Mrs. Nomito Kamdar
Mr. S.L.N. Swamy, president, and Mrs. Nomito Kamdar, program coordinator, visited from Adventurers to reflect on the weeklong session with the DFP in the field in September, to explain the journey of the organization in the eco ourism field.
The Adventurers started in the esternGhats in 1970 with the purpose of highlighting the beauty of nature and making people sensitive to nature.
The organization works in four frames: learning, social development, conservation and adventure therapy.
To achieve the learning frame, Adventures hosts both a diploma and certificate course under Kannada University and a post graduation diploma in eco tourism under Karnataka Open University.
They also run awareness programs, including the corporate bound program, training program, xposure to eco-tourism course, international program and experiential learning course. For social development, the organization supports livelihoods by making products using local resources i.e.using locally-grown mangoes to produce pickle ). They also promote local culture and values by orienting visiting groups through cultural performances and by helping community members to feel proud of their culture. They have been working in the forest with different communities such as Sidhi, Kudubi, Gonda and Haalakki. In some cases, they have also helped form self-help groups.
To conserve forest they conduct education and awareness programs through experiential learning. Research and documentation regarding ifferent aspects of the forest is also completed by different students and other interested people. Finally, they also focus on adventure therapy, whereby exposure to nature, for example, through water spots, has brought extreme change to peoples’ lives. This has become extremely popular recently. Adventurers places emphasis on personality development, helping people to develop their confidence in both their physical and mental capabilities. It also has programs developed specifically for the handicapped.
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