MANGALURU: The closure of Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited's mining operations in the Kudremukh region, following a Supreme Court directive to protect the ecologically sensitive Western Ghats, left many families in the forested areas without a source of livelihood.
Today, however, a sustainable alternative has emerged. More than 350 people from Karkala, Belthangady, Sringeri and villages around the Kudremukh forests have found employment as trek guides, helping visitors explore the region's rich natural heritage. They lead trekking expeditions, interpret the landscape, introduce tourists to the area's unique flora and fauna, and play an active role in protecting the forests.
The initiative, spearheaded by the Forest Department, has significantly strengthened rural livelihoods in the Kudremukh Wildlife Division. A majority of the guides are youth from the Malekudiya tribal community, who live in and around the protected forest. By combining eco-tourism with conservation, the programme has created meaningful employment while fostering greater awareness and protection of the Western Ghats' biodiversity.
Nithin, a youth from the Malekudiya tribal community said that majority of the families living in the forest depend on daily wages and season-based work. Trek-based tourism has given the tribal families a new economic opportunity. "If not as trek guides, we would have been forced to move to far away places to find jobs. Trekking has given us new life," he said.
Speaking to TNIE, Sivaram Babu M, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Kudremukh Wildlife Division, Karkala, Udupi said, "These locals from the forested areas including the Malekudiya tribes are earning upto Rs 10,000 a month working as guides to the trekkers three days a week and efforts are being made to provide them insurance facility also."
"Forest department is promoting the community-based ecotourism activities by integrating the locals including tribal youth as certified trekking guides through a structured roster system to ensure fair employment opportunity and income. We have roped in the majority of the Malekudiya tribal youth who guide 300 trekkers on a daily basis in our division," he said.
More than 350 trek guides identified from local communities have been given hands-on training including pre briefing, nature awareness, dos and don'ts during trekking, first aid training etc. All trek guides have been provided with t-shirts, reflector vest, backpack bags, steel water bottles, first aid kits with items as mentioned in trekking SOP.
They have been provided with a trek guide hand book which contains all the basic details of the trek, dos & don'ts, water & network availability points, trek route embedded in QR code and walkie talkies.