Day 8 - Friday 17th Nov

Submitted by Jo Goodison on November 22, 2006 - 05:18.

Friday morning and a fresh morning in the Nilgiris Hills. Some of the more hardy female members of our group were up for an early morning swim in the amazing free-form pool. The rest of us had a leisurely breakfast before we all headed off in the vehicles for another long journey through the hills to Kotagiri to visit the Keystone project. It took 2 ¼ hours to reach the project after negotiating many hairpin bends –we were all glad to reach our destination. However, we arrived just in time for lunch and some of us were still recovering from the journey and didn’t really appreciate the feast that had been prepared for us.

Keystone describes itself as a “group for eco development initiatives” and the team of Snehlata Nath and Pratim Roy introduced us to their programme through a series of PowerPoint presentations. The concept of “keystone” emerges from the nest building behaviour of some birds in nature. These permanent nest structures serve as a habitat for several life forms. Such “Keystone” species become crucial in providing opportunities for other associated beings to grow and evolve. Thus, Keystone Foundation is born out of a simple ecological principle of the interdependence of natural systems.

The foundation was founded in 1995 and works with indigenous communities in the Nilgiris Hills on eco-development initiatives. Their work has been in concentrated on apiculture (bee-keeping and honey gathering), micro-enterprise development, non-timber forest produce, land and water management, revival of traditional agriculture, and other issues concerning indigenous communities.

As we ate lunch we viewed a film on the “Honey Hunters” of the tribal communities and how each year they follow the same rituals to collect honey from the cliff regions of the Nilgiris. A fascinating story even if told in a strangely “David Attenborough” sort of way. We were then given a guided tour of the centre which included an introduction to the various products that the foundation sources from the tribal areas and markets under the label of “Last Forest” through their newly opened Green Shop in nearby Ooty as well as through other agencies. These products include honey, beeswax candles, herbal and aromatic balms, musical instruments, baskets, pillows and mattresses. These products are packaged at the centre and not within the tribal communities, this fact invoked a very interesting debate in our mini-bus on the following journey regarding the control that the communities have over production and price – but there is too much detail to go into now.
During the tour we also viewed the seed collection that Keystone is retaining and increasing in order to conserve the habitat and maintain bio-diversity. They also have a seed bank where they release seeds to local landowners who then return the seeds two fold on reaping the crops grown from the seeds. This has assisted the revival of growing food crops in agricultural communities.

We left the project late afternoon and descended the hill back into Ooty to visit the Honey Museum and Green Shop. This centre has only been open two months and two weeks after the building was finished the workers noticed that in the rafters of the shelter area wild bees had started to make their home and form a nest. There are now two nests there – this would probably have never happened if it had been planned!! The information centre was very interesting and the displays are simple and yet concise. There is also a children’s craft activity area which has a “child height” sink – real thought has gone into this centre.

But I think the highlight of the day (I’m sorry to say) was the Green Shop!! This group really can shop and we don’t even need an excuse. It took over two hours for our purchases to be processed though the till – the winner for most items being Natalie! I’m sure we’ll all be over the luggage allowance on our journey home.

Actually, I have lied – the real highlight of the day was the return journey down the hill from Ooty to Gudalor. We couldn’t descend the way we had ascended as large vehicles are not allowed to negotiate this route going downhill so we had to take the alternative route. I’m sure there must be less craters on the moon!! We arrived at Stan’s house in Gudalor truly bone rattled and fractious!! However, we were soon soothed by the excellent meal that had been provided by Stan’s friends. After the meal we discussed the pros and cons of micro-finance and concluded the evening with selection of songs from members of the group including a few punk numbers from Michelle!!

We arrived back at the Jungle Retreat at 1am Saturday after another viewing of the elephants by headlight, which brought our day to a satisfying end.

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