Eco adventure tourism making steady recovery in Sikkim

Tourism is slowly catching up in India's first and only 100 per cent organic State of Sikkim bordering China in India's North East. Sikkim has had a severe lockdown and the cases of Covid19 has been much lower than rest of India and after allowing only intra-State tourism now tourists from across India have started coming in. The much-loved Cherry Blossom Festival, too, was subdued in 2020 unlike major footfalls witnessed in the previous years.

All these coincided with the Sikkim government having taken the public-private partnership (PPP) route to unlock its tourism values. And as a starter, it has teamed up with Kolkata-based Priya Entertainments Pvt Ltd (PEPL) to aggressively tap tea tourism potentials. For Priya Entertainments, which had produced "Aranyer Din Ratri" (Days and Nights in the forest) in 1970, it's like history coming a full circle, as it starts actually offering discerning tourists a real-life experience of days and nights in the lap of nature- at the 125-year-old Bada Bungalow within Temi Tea Estate.

Rechristened as The Eco Adventure Resorts, Temi Bungalow, the throwing up of the Bada Bungalow, marks the first such PPP initiative by the Sikkim government in the tourism sector.

Sikkim is the world's first 100 per cent organic tea estate and has recently received the Green Oscar. The recent move aims at turning Temi Tea Estate into a major tourist destination in India, said Arijit Dutta, Managing Director, PEPL.

The first-ever PPP at the Temi Tea Eco Adventure Resorts has also reopened for the tourists, post pandemic. With the reopening of an architectural and vintage marvel, the Bada Bungalow at Temi Tea Estate, which is the only tea estate in Sikkim producing one of the world's finest blends, an Eco Adventure Hub tourism in this small North Eastern State of Sikkim surely shall get a boost. The magnificent Temi Bungalow is a combination of adventure with environmentally responsible awareness more importantly to a State, which is India's first and only 100 per cent organic State acknowledged by the United Nation.

Dutta said, "The property is uniquely positioned both as a heritage destination as well equipped with facilities comprising international standards like trekking, mountain hiking, mountain trails, Paragliding and indoor recreations are major attractions for tourists."

He said, "While at Temi not only would you get an opportunity to relax and unwind in the timeless bungalow and its surroundings but also soak in the beauty of the garden and enjoy plucking the tea leaf and make your own tea, Namchi, just 20 km away is a major destination for tourists, the hot water thermal springs and the cherry trees which blossom in November has galvanised TEMI authorities to organise Cherry Blossom festival or autumn festival. Driving in when these trees are in bloom is like moving through a pink mist beyond which one can glimpse the gleaming snows of Khangchendzonga. The drive upto Temi takes you through mountain sides lush with forests".

"The Temi Bungalow is a heady concoction of tea and eco adventure tourism currently brewing in South Sikkim," said Dutta.

Interestingly, built by the British Christian missionaries in 1885, the Bada Bungalow is an antique structure and an architectural marvel that has withstood the test of time. The story goes like this: the Bada Bungalow housed the British pastors during India's pre-independence. The pastors left Sikkim, a separate country then, while the British left India. It was then when the Forest Rangers took over this beautiful bungalow.

"The eco-tourism project on the sprawling 376 hectare land, will not only help us unlock the value of the otherwise abandoned, dilapidated property, which got damaged following the massive earth quake of 2011, but will also give a major boost to 'Temi Tea' brand of tea, because the tea tourism project is expected to draw large number of tourists from all over the world," said Mrinalini Shrivastava, the Managing Director of the tea estate, who otherwise belongs to the Indian Police Service.

"We strived to uphold and enhance the historic value of this property and showcase the culture and heritage through the prestigious resort. We have brought on table PEPL's knowledge and experience gained from the path breaking and successful Eco Adventure Resort at Khairabera, Purulia and realise our dream of Eco Adventure Hill Tourism and present a cocktail of heady and adventurous hill eco adventure tourist attraction as well as entertainment and adventure sports in the form of mountain biking, paragliding, ziplines and so on. Anyways, it's serene. It's picturesque with lush green mountainous terrain all along. And it has got everything to draw tourists," said Dutta.

The latest move by the Sikkim government is expected to give a major fillip to Temi Tea brand, while creating value out of its unutilized property.