It was while running a hotel called the ‘Khali Estate’ (a former colonial summer house built in 1874) near  Uttarakhand’s Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary, that Manisha Pande and her husband Himanshu began realising the impact of migration on the villages.

“These are beautiful villages nestled within the forests against the backdrop of the mountains and these are culturally rich communities,” Manisha says.

She adds, “It was very sad to see that youngsters from these areas were migrating to New Delhi and other nearby towns.” Some probing led the couple to discover the reason behind the migration – lack of livelihood opportunities.

“When this area was declared a sanctuary in 1988, the locals’ farming practices were impacted. They had to abide by the laws but this also meant that their sources of income took a hit,” she notes.

In an attempt to help the locals, in 2005, the couple started Village Ways – a social enterprise that encourages sustainable tourism and works in partnership with the villages in Uttarakhand.

Aside from the fact that you will be empowering locals, there is also the allure of staying in the 150-year-old estate that was built by Sir Henry Ramsay, a British commissioner of Kumaon.

The property is ancestral, says Manisha, adding that it is the starting and the finishing point for hiking trips that tourists take.

However, setting up a community-based model wasn’t an overnight process, she adds. “We had to first understand what was making it tough for these villagers to sustain, how the animals in the sanctuary were inhibiting farming practices from being done, etc.”

While the couple was toying with the idea of helping the locals turn their homes into homestays to generate income, Manisha says it was easier said than done.

“We realised if we wanted guests to go to the villages, there would need to be a certain standard of accommodation which the villages should have.” This was followed by raising funds through Village Ways to create basic infrastructure in the village homes that guests would need.

Following this. five homes (one in each village) began hosting guests. The entrepreneurship model proved to be successful.

As tourism started to increase, the youth of the village were encouraged to take on the roles of guides for the tourists.

“There are beautiful trails in the area since Binsar is primarily a bird sanctuary,” Manisha explains. Thus they began training the youth to explore the forests, learn about the flora and fauna, identify the birds and then explain these things to the guests.

In fact, in April every year, there is an annual birdwatching festival that is organised to celebrate the birds of Binsar and amp up tourism.

Village Ways prides itself on championing the use of local materials in the construction of new homestays, employing low-usage water systems, using solar power for water heating and encouraging crop diversification.

Through Village Ways, the couple has helped over 5000 locals earn in Uttarakhand.

Their projects extend beyond the North, to Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Chhatisgarh, too.