On the 7th of April, two staff members from Dhaatri took a field trip to Kothapally village which has become a major tourist attraction thanks to the beautiful waterfalls that adorn the area. The idea was to check on the environmental changes in the area and also the impact on the village and its residents. It was an alarming sight at the tourist spot where garbage was thrown all around. The presence of empty plastic bottles was a disturbing eye sore. As they found out later, the operators never received any governmental training on handling these amounts of garbage. In order to protect the animals around the tourist place, they burn the garbage if possible and dig the remaining parts in sites around the waterfall area.
Unfortunately, there was no consciousness of the impact these practices have on the environment. After further discussions about the adverse environmental impacts of tourism in the area, they told us about the management of the tourist site. After the Waterfall was first recognized for tourism-purposes in 2013, the village formed a society and registered the area as a tourist-site in 2015. Luckily, the whole organization of the tourist-site is still in the hands of the tribal community, as the local president of the society told us. Only the houses used for Shops and restaurants as well as the stairs and bridges were built with the financial support of the ITDC.
Due to the dry season, there were only very few tourists at the site. Which, as he told us would lead into a financial problem, since the tribal community has to pay a fixed monthly amount back to the ITDC.
The local community gave us great feedback on the current situation in Kothappally and showed us, that there is a need for immediate action.
Each of the numbers on the map show a Photo of that exact location. Go and check it out!
For more details about the Interviews contact dhaatriwebsite@gmail.com.