What Not To Do in the Himalayas
The Kashmir Great Lakes Trail is the most beautiful trekking trail I have ever been on. But throughout the trek, I felt a deep sense of discomfort with the crowd, their attitude, and the trash I saw at various spots on the trail. Thousands(or Lakhs?)of people flock to Kashmir every year from July to September to experience the Kashmir Great Lakes Trail.
I did not feel this discomfort when I did the Sarpass Trek in Himachal Pradesh, India in 2016. On that trail, nobody was covering the trail on mules. But I don’t remember being that concerned about the ecological impact of trekking in the Himalayas. I don’t know if it was because I was 24, young, carefree, and unaware, or if overtourism in the Himalayas was not a thing back then. It could have been a combination of both.
Mules and Mulemen
Do not hire a mule to be carried
The presence of human beings in the mountains is damaging enough. Throughout the trail, mules carry our tents, cooking vessels, and backpacks if we choose to offload them. This, in itself, places a significant burden on the poor animals.
If you have hired a mule /mule man to comfortably experience the Himalayas instead of trekking
Do not say “This place is not beautiful!”
I overheard someone say aloud to the muleman “This place is so mediocre. What is so great about this place?” If you cannot appreciate nature, do not go on a trekking trail on a mule.
Do not be impatient
I saw many people on the mule asking the mulemen how long it would take to reach the camp. When you are already in a comfortable position compared to others, it helps to refrain from asking that question.
Do not complain
About how knees hurt when sitting on a mule!!! I understand that knees and asses hurt even if one is on a mule but the pain of the mules and the mulemen is much more.
Be sensitive. Embrace the locals. Accept that you do not know everything.
Witnessing people whose demeanor reeked of insensitivity and apathy was a huge turn-off.
Do not be so invested in Bollywood that you think “ Yay! I am in Kashmir, I can behave like a Dharma Heroine. Didn’t I just see Alia Bhatt doing “Tum Kya Mile” in Kashmir? ”
I cannot wrap my head around how someone wouldn’t even consider carrying a sweater or a jacket in the mountains! There was a lady on a mule who had neither a jacket nor a sweater, not even a shrug. It seems she assumed it would be hot that day because it was hot in Srinagar the previous day. To her surprise, the weather turned cold after a while, and she informed her muleman that she was freezing. (Who would think it wouldn’t get cold in the mountains just because it was hot in Srinagar?) The kind muleman offered her his sweater. What was worse was that she accepted his offer after pretend-refusing once.
I overheard the muleman telling my trek leader that, as her muleman, he was responsible for her life. Being a local, he could bear the cold, but city dwellers wouldn’t be able to.
To people going on a trekking trail on mules, all you have to do is sit on a mule and go. You cannot be so ignorant that you lack the presence of mind to carry things that require you to stay alive.
Do not preach your idea of kindness.
I was resting by a small lake, basking under the sunlight and enjoying my packed lunch, when I suddenly heard someone telling off a muleman. I turned around to pay attention to what was going on. She was reprimanding the muleman for whipping the mules. Her words were along the lines of “Repeat after me. I will never hit my mule. Come On, Promise me. Hug him and show me the love!!”.
Where was this animal lover’s backpack? A mule was carrying it.
Where were the tents that she was going to sleep in for the night? Where were the utensils and groceries that her trek helpers cum mulemen would use to make hot snacks and delicious meals for her? The mules carried them.
God Forbid, if the tent is not pitched and food is not served on time, who would throw a tantrum? I don’t have to answer that question!
The mulemen whip the mules if they do not follow the trail, refuse to move ahead, or do not walk fast enough to reach camp on time. The mulemen have to catch hold of an appropriate campsite and pitch tents before the trekkers arrive. There is a competition to get the best campsite as there are too many trek groups trying to camp at the same place.
I agree that using animals for human needs and entertainment is selfish. But this is a nuanced topic and cannot be addressed in a black-or-white manner. For the mountain folk in Kashmir, these mules are a way to survive. They cannot feed their families if they do not provide mule services and deliver goods on time without damage. They are responsible for making sure that the people covering the trekking trail on mules do not get injured or worse — that they do not fall off the mules and die.
The least we can do is to avoid imposing a textbook definition of kindness on the locals. They may use a whip on their mules but are far more kind to animals than we are and do much more for those poor animals than we do.
Do not think “I can throw money, be a brat and get what I want ”
While we were sipping Kahwa and enjoying an omelette at a shop in one of the mountain passes, there was a man who ascended the pass on a mule with an air of entitlement and demanded that the shopkeeper fill his water bottle. These shops source water from the streams found much below the mountain pass. Water is not sold in these shops because it’s not feasible to fetch water from the stream to meet the trekkers’ water needs. The shops maintain an adequate supply for their requirements and for making tea and Maggi that they sell. All trekkers are free to fill their water bottles from the streams they encounter along the trail. The shopkeeper politely explained this, but even after repeated explanations and polite denials, the tourist refused to understand that the shopkeeper didn’t have extra water for sale, nor could they fetch more from the stream in exchange for additional money. When will people realize that mountain regions don’t offer home delivery-like services in exchange for money? The weather conditions and terrain make it impractical.
The mountain folk engage in a lot of physical work to serve us and often put their lives at risk to ensure that trekkers complete the trail safely. The most one can do is to be respectful and grateful to the locals for making the experience possible. Yes, they are paid for providing that service, but it takes more than money to offer a service like that. If the locals had the opportunity to educate themselves and secure comfortable jobs in the city, they would. One cannot simply keep demanding from them and expect them to be at one’s beck and call.
Do not throw non-biodegradable trash anywhere in the trail. Not even in the so-called dustbins that you come across.
As much as possible, carry back the waste that you have generated and discard it only once you are back in the city where there is a decent waste management system. Even if there is a dustbin in the camp or the mountain shops, try not to discard anything there because mountains do not have a waste management system; they end up in the lakes or elsewhere in the mountains.
The amount of trash I observed at some of the campsites was heartbreaking.
8. Last Point to keep in mind, but this is the most important one
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Do not do a Himalayan trek, if you can avoid it. Or reduce the number of Himalayan treks/visits.
The Himalayas are getting ruined and polluted! I think the ecological impact of tourism and treks on the Himalayas is something that all of us need to be concerned about. Gone are the days when only human beings with extraordinary physical and mental strength with the ability to take risks could trek the Himalayas. They had to find their route, cook their food, carry everything including tents, vessels, backpacks etc and deal with any kind of challenges on their own. Instagram and Bollywood movies like Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani have romanticised and glamorized the Himalayas making every person feel like they have to go to the Himalayas.
There are way too many trek companies that have sprouted across the country, that have made experiencing the Himalayas easier than ever. Each of them tries to compete with others by offering more and more luxuries to attract people to avail of their services. — They provide mules to carry luggage, equipment, and chairs to sit(unnecessary). They also have locals(or mulemen) who cook 3/4 course meals, wash vessels, and provide people with all kinds of comfort. This means more burden on the mountains, the locals, and the animals. In the quest to outdo each other, these trek companies have started offering mule services (in some trekking trails) to people who do not want to trek but still want to go to the Himalayas to show off on Instagram.
Hypocrisy?
I know that I sound like the biggest hypocrite right now for writing a preachy blog after having done two Himalayan treks myself. Yes, I am also responsible for polluting the place. I had paid a trek company to take care of all my needs. I had mules carry my backpack and other equipment. I ate in the shops I came across in the mountains, which means that in some places, I used single-use cutlery that was discarded in dustbins in the mountains. In hindsight, I realize I should have carried them back with me. I guess, my only redeeming actions were that
- I trekked the entire trail and did not use a mule
- Apart from the single-use cutlery that I used in shops, all other trash generated by me was carried back.
If I had to trek like the OG trekkers with all the additional burden of carrying everything on my own, I would never have dared to do a Himalayan trek. I am neither fit nor brave enough to do that.
I have also been manipulated by this travel propaganda on social media and given in to the peer pressure of trekking in the Himalayas.
I had not posted anything on Instagram for the last 3 years or so, and I broke that spell by posting a picture from my KGL trek because I couldn’t resist showing off to my Insta connections. So yes, that makes me a hypocrite!
Impact of human activities on the environment
Any kind of leisure travel, including trekking in the mountains, is selfish, ecologically unfriendly, anti-animal, and unsustainable.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to think of any human activity, that doesn’t harm the environment or animals in some way. We are all, to some extent, cruel, and selfish, and inadvertently harm animals in our everyday lives.
The issues of over-tourism and the environmental impact of travel are complex. We can’t change the world or ourselves overnight, but it’s crucial to be aware of these issues.
When we experience new desires driven by social media influence, we should strive to make conscious decisions. If we choose to travel or trek in the Himalayas, it’s essential to approach it with sensitivity and respect for the local people, animals, and the environment.
