4 from Nagaland among India’s 50 ‘ambassadors of sustainable travel’

4 from Nagaland among India’s 50 ‘ambassadors of sustainable travel’

4 from Nagaland among India’s 50 ‘ambassadors of sustainable travel’

(From left to right): Phejin Konyak, Bano Haralu, Sonnie Kath and Richard Belho. (Photo Courtesy:  https://www.cntraveller.in)

 

Morung Express News 

Dimapur | October 28


Four Nagas has been featured among the 50 ‘amazing ambassadors of sustainable travel’ in a listing published by the Condé Nast Traveller, India last week. 


Condé Nast Traveler is a leading lifestyle travel magazine published by Condé Nast.


The list published on October 22 on its website described the individuals as “50 people striving to make a difference to the world.” 


“Some may have spent a lifetime rewilding forests, while others helped revive what’s invisible to most. We now know for sure that a small idea can make a big difference,” a description of the list noted.  


Four individuals from Nagaland on the list are Phejin Konyak, Author & Proprietor, Konyak Tea Retreat; Sonnie Kath, Co-founder, Exotic Echo; Richard Belho, Bamboo Architect & Founder, Zynorique; and Bano Haralu, Managing Trustee, Nagaland Wildlife & Biodiversity Conservation Trust and Editor, Nagaland Today. 


In the Condé Nast’s profile, Phejin Konyak is described as someone ‘proud and protective of her tribe,’ who wrote ‘The Konyaks: Last of the Tattooed Headhunters’ – a book on indigenous history based on four years of research. 


“The book was a way of giving back to the community,” says Phejin, now working on creating livelihoods by setting up coffee plantations, is quoted as saying. 


Sonnie Kath, Co-founder, Exotic Echo, is second on the list. Among others, she is working with over 200 rural women in Nagaland. 


“Our history is in our textiles,” she was quoted as saying, who returned to Diezephe village in Dimapur 15 years ago, and ‘discovered her passion for textiles and loin looms and explored the diversity in the designs of the state’s 18 tribes.’


Kath runs a homestay for guests to appreciate loin looms, it added. 


The other woman on the list, Bano Haralu, the journalist-cum-conservationist, is noted for her work in conserving Amur Falcons, particularly in Pangti village near Doyang Reservoir.


Seven years ago, nearly 15 percent of Amurs were being ‘harvested’ annually but Bano with her birder friends “turned things around within a year, convincing ministers, bureaucrats, church leaders and village elders, as well as a few hundred children, to put a stop to it,” her profile highlighted. 


The fourth on the list is Richard Belho, who Condé Nast informed, has built a spirit of entrepreneurship in Naga youth through his sustainable architecture firm, besides splendid bamboo structures.


Why bamboo? “It prevents deforestation and helps the local economy,” he told the magazine.


Apart from the four individuals from Nagaland, two other from North East featured on the list.


They are Jadav Payeng, an environmental activist, Assam, well-known for ‘planting a 550-hectare forest on a barren sandbar in Assam’s Majuli—alone’ and Oken Tayeng Founder, Abor Country Travels & Expeditions, Arunachal Pradesh, an advocate of “low-impact, high-value models of tourism” and educates people about ecotourism and the environment.
 

Read the full list here:

https://www.cntraveller.in/story/sustainable-travel-trend-50-champions/#s-cust0