Increasing tourist nuisance at Deoria Tal

Well done, that's very good of you. I have seen similar system here, burning the needles to charcoalise them and then extrude cylindrical briquettes.

Still i'll have a closer look. But i know i daunt at the prospect of actually practically building partnerships myself.. like no more, please! Younger person's opportunity this one. Or initially fund a change agent or two x 3 years.

Another spot of Garhwal is going to be crowded...
Last year when visited Satopant Tal, I discovered that the trekkers are not at all careful about the garbage they leave behind...

Some local guides take the pain to clean it up...

nde, you've stirred up a real hornet's nest.



Here's the thing - the consumption of alcohol is prohibited in all national parks and wildlife sanctuaries in the country, and Devriya Tal is very much a part of Kedarnath WLS (which is a part of the greater Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, no less). Even carrying it in is not allowed. (Same applies to meat, fish, eggs in fact).
So a complaint would have legal backing, but ....... (see below)



The Forest Dept of course (in case under discussion), but as you have astutely observed, they're useless.

Ok, that is a bit uncharitable - I could start about perennial shortage of funds, staff shortage, the politics of staff shortage, etc - but I really don't have the stomach for it right now.

Hi Dilliwala,

Carrying liquor and eggs has become very common for some self proclaimed trekkers these days...who are just a nuisance for the Himalayas...I met a group at Satopant Tal last year...

True that (I remember reading your report too). If they're outside an NP or WLS, I don't even have a problem with that - so long as they behave.

Exactly...But one shouldn't disturb others and don't leave the garbage behind...

Yes, that's what I meant by 'behave'.

There's not a lot one can ultimately do about others' behaviour in these sort of scenario's with booze, eggs, raving, littering etc, Mostly folks are reasonable when approached? especially if we outnumber them!

I think everyone can see the deep crevasse that divides the present emergency and the sort of first aid we would like to see in the Himalayan environment.

I don't believe that funding is ever an obstacle. Evolving states of co-operation is far more the challenge.

We can complain away. We easily identify the problems and visualise the solutions. The middle bit - the getting up and running and sustaining an enterprise is tough, because of the difficult task of building co-operative trust. Govt. and institutions don't generally need to worry about that, yet still we have appalling institutional management of our natural heritage, with little in the way of citizen action or initiatives.

Totally agree , a nightmarish experience. I was there last year hoping for some serneity, well it was anything but serene.People drunk , tossing chiecken legs in the air and somebody puking by the lake. All this led to quarells and brawls. Someone had praised Hirachand Negi in other posts, I found him to be a smooth talker and was ready to extract money out of you by any means.This one ocassion, Garhwal disappointed me.
Well in short we can count our Deoriya Tal from the quintessential trekker's map ....

We were at Devriya Taal on May 28-29, 2012; 4 adults, 3 kids (10, 5, 5). We saw 2 groups of people going up - 3 ladies from US with 2 Indian guides (all walking), a large Indian family with age range from 10 to 70+, all walking. We also saw one other large family at the lake. Overnight by the lake, it was just us 7 people, our guide, one shopekeeper, and his 2 sons.

The area was squeaky clean. There were even several trash cans by the lake, all in enclosures. There is a concrete one room government office with one staffer. He emptied the trash cans during the day.

Someone put up a toilet tent there (our guide could have put it up just for our use, but I am not sure). Inside was the basic hole in the ground with a high chair on top, but someone was filling that hole with dirt, so if you went you won't see or smell anything but dirt. This tent was also pitched on a slope away from the lake, i.e. any rain water will only wash the stuff away from the lake, not towards it.

We didn't bring any alcohol with us, were in our tents by 8 pm, and didn't hear a thing through the night. We could have been lucky, and would like the environment to be that way. It was also not a weekend, which could have contributed to less quick trippers.

So, our experience only a couple of weeks after the original poster was completely different, much better. Just wanted to pass that on.

Hi All..

Just got back from a trip to Deoriyatal, among other places.

Me n my travel mate from Bombay were the only two tourists who spent the Saturday night there.. The only other set of 3 tourists were there for an hour, before they headed back to Sari, the beautiful village which is the base for the trek.

No noises at all.. No sounds of any kind whatsoever.. In the middle of the night, the silence we encountered was kinda overwhelming.. Almost scary..

But in the afternoon n evening, we had to literally shout ourselves hoarse just to be heard a foot away from each other..! The reason..? Well, it was pouring cats n dogs and all their country cousins put together..!

While we least expected the dhaba guy to bring us any dinner in the furious downpour, we were pleasantly surprised when they actually did..!

The rain n the mist was so intense that even the lake ceased to be visible from just a few metres away..!

Overall, a lovely trip.. With the downpour adding a bit of wicked charm to the entire experience..!

Cheers..!

@ solo_trekker

very lucky you were