Conservation
Restoration
When the area was first taken over in 1999, the land had degenerated due to the large number of cattle that once grazed here and was overrun with lantana, a prolific invasive plant species. Even before Vanghat’s cottages were constructed, the first step was habitat restoration.
Indigenous broad-leafed saplings and fruit trees were planted especially to attract all manner of birds, and today almost 5000 plants have converted Vanghat's setting into a riverine paradise, once again rich with mammal and avian species that blend into the protected reserve area of which we see ourselves as an extension.
Regenerating
Being situated within a valley, the lodge is set along a natural wildlife corridor, as it is paramount to have the lowest possible impact on local wildlife. With outdoor lighting limited to candles and a camp fire, Vanghat often sees wandering groups of elephants pass gracefully right outside the property. That these giants now arrive in herds rather than as solitary bulls as seen in the past is a testimony to our work on regenerating the wilderness. Other herbivores have increased too, and as a result we now see carnivores such as tigers and leopards and their pug marks, and alarm calls from various deer species are an almost daily occurrence.
Eco Friendly
We are continuing to find new ways to make Vanghat as environmentally friendly as possible. We encourage our guests to drink filtered water instead of bottled, and we use as much local produce as possible in the creation of our wholesome and varied meals. We have equipped our cottages with energy-saving fans instead of air conditioning. Toiletries provided are all organic and biodegradable. We also strive towards obtaining as much electricity as we can from solar panels. Our walking safaris are low-impact by their very nature, and our Golden Mahseer catch-and-release fishing, twinned with its community element, have proved to be more than sustainable. The mantra of 'take only photographs, leave only footprints' is certainly fitting at Vanghat!
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The Community
We at Vanghat believe that a holistic approach is vital when it comes to sustainability and conservation. Community involvement on all levels of our work is one of the keystones to our efforts in regenerating and protecting the wilderness and wildlife directly around the lodge as well as farther afield.
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Our team members are all from the local area. Who else would be better to guide walks than someone who has grown up here? Building work on the property was undertaken by local craftsmen using traditional methods, such as the mud and thatch guest cottages, or the stone lodge buildings constructed, using the age- old skill of hill masons, with riverine stones bounded expertly with clay.
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Since 2004 we have partaken in a scheme as part of a tripartite agreement between the Corbett Tiger Reserve and the Uttarakhand Forestry Department, the eco-development committees of the villages along the river, and of course the villagers themselves, to bring an end to the destructive fishing methods that had been increasing in the area, devastating the river upstream from Jim Corbett National Park. The agreement assigned previously non-existent angling rights over 24km of the Ramganga River to a selection of private entrepreneurs, including Vanghat.
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This provides direct financial and employment benefits to the communities living alongside the river from catch-and-release fishing of the Golden Mahseer, a species which has seen an incredible comeback directly in response to this scheme. Otters, wider indicators of a healthy fish-life, are now regularly sighted even in upstream areas close to habitation. Rarities such as the Lesser and Pallass’s Fish Eagle are regularly sighted, replaced in the twilight hours by giant owls such as Brown and Tawny Fish Owls.
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Dialogue is also a very important in our ongoing relationship with the local community. Vanghat continues to host meetings to discuss and debate issues, and workshops on subjects varying from conservation of riverine ecology, children's days, or sharing camera trap images obtained from our ongoing species-richness programme. We are also in the process of creating village tours for our guests at Vanghat, allowing an insight into the lives of the warm communities in the hills.
The Research
Despite the lodge's limited resources, Vanghat is proud to support a number of conservation initiatives and research both from the lodge itself and in the surrounding area. From Vanghat, we are conducting an ongoing species-richness programme, a research project undertaken by volunteers primarily through the use of camera traps, to discover and record the myriad of wildlife that exists in our immediate vicinity. Results so far have been extremely rewarding and encouraging, with tigers, leopards, sloth bear, elephants and sambar deer captured on volunteers' cameras, along with more unfamiliar species such as pangolin, leopard cat and Himalayan Black Bear.
The lodge has also been the main support for the Society for Mahseer Conservancy, an Uttarakhand-based, not-for-profit conservation organization set up to address grassroots conservation issues specific to wildlife and community-based interests of the region. In partnership with host communities, the forest department and several national and international conservation agencies, the Society for Mahseer Conservancy stands as an example that conservation issues can be effectively addressed through grassroots initiatives and sheer willpower despite very limited resources. It has instigated and promoted conservation initiatives of the nationally recognised successful comeback of the Golden Mahseer fish in the Ramnagar River (which can be seen at Vanghat) and has also raised awareness for protecting the nest sites of the critically-endangered Indian vulture, and founded schemes to reduce human-wildlife conflict around Corbett National Park. Over the years, the Society for Mahseer Conservancy has also assisted numerous students with research, internship, and PHD programmes, and has been a regional favourite with gap year students and eco-volunteers.
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