Kyari , Uttarakhand – A Revenue Village of Ram Nagar where I learned about Butterfly Festival and Nature Protection!
“Here at Kyari, we are passing the messages to the young village school kids to protect eco-tourism and how to cultivate butterflies” Saurabh Bansal from Tyar Foundation described to us how important it is to teach the school kids from the very beginning of their age about nature and how to conserve it.
Our journey began from Delhi and we reached Ram Nagar, Uttarakhand by noon. Alaya Resort welcomed us with a warm gesture and after a quick lunch, we headed towards Kyari Village to attend the Butterfly Festival or Titli Tyar organized by Tyar Foundation, Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and India Tourism Delhi. All the children from nearby places arrived in Kyari having fun while learning about butterflies and creating paper butterflies with paper quilling.
That day, I spent my fair share of time in the Tarai region of Uttarakhand and witnessed the hardships borne by locals. Surrounded by Khichdi and Toshi rivers the village people are busy collecting firewood and walking long distances to go to school or hospitals. Where is there time to learn about the butterfly’s lifecycle, the Moth cycle and how to conserve flora and fauna? I personally got to know about the seed bombing, and butterfly cultivation process organized by the BNHS team. My question is can we protect the natural reservoir and understand its importance by educating people from local villages or by organizing local educative festivals??
https://www.instagram.com/p/CUIFCIoprsS/
But Santosh Pant, the forest officer of Bela Pandav Range – who now calls Ram Nagar home, Has simple philosophy. You can not teach hungry people when they do not find any income from it. It is better to provide them with the income process while teaching them valuable ideas about eco-tourism and how our future gets benefitted from it without harming nature. At the same time, encourage them to keep the wisdom of the traditional era- preserve natural resources, apply the gorilla process for reforestation, be proud of their local tourism, and retail their innate hospitality towards outsiders.
So, next time whenever you are planning for Uttarakhand, I highly recommend staying away from the overgrown, soulless market town. Try to stay in the mid of the forest and river, slightly at the Tarai base and near any village-like Kyari. The morning village walks, Butterfly trails, local food, local talk, and a small hike to Barati Row waterfalls definitely would give you the vibes of the closeness of Nature. I would suggest you connect with people from Tyar Foundation to know more about the lifecycle of Butterflies, the Seed Bombing process and sustainable eco-tourism.
See The Festival Glimpse and the Village here
This is the first time I heard about the Revenue Village of Ram Nagar. The nature really looks amazing with all the flowers and butterflies. Good to hear that they also try to improve the social conditions of the employees.
This is such a cool post. I have never heard of Kyari or the butterfly festival till date. Would love to visit it someday and also hope to have a chat with the forest officer Santosh too.
We fell in love with Uttarkhand, the moment we stepped on its soil for the first time. Since then, in spite of numerous trips, we still have so much to discover there. Kyari is one such place, and the Butterfly Festival is really fascinating and unique. Sandy N Vyjay
Uttarakhand is a popular travel destination but I have not heard of Revenue village. Looks like fun to participate in the unique butterfly festival. Great environment with all the flora and fauna. 🙂
Heading to Kyari Village for the Butterfly Festival sounds like an interesting thing to do. It would be lovely to stroll along the Butterfly trails and see all that the local people have accomplished. So much better than staying in a busy city area.
As I love nature, I would like to take part in the Butterfly Festival. It must be a fantastic experience to admire the beautiful butterflies during this holiday. I was several times in butterfly houses in several countries around the world, e.g., in Laos. But the Uttarakhand Ram Nagar Butterfly Festival is a unique event. And also, officer Santosh has such vast and impressive knowledge.
What a quirky festival to attend! I have never been to Kyari Village but would like to visit next year to attend the Butterfly Festival or Titli Tyar. Looks like a must visit 🙂
I have been to Kyari Village during my trip to Jim Corbett. Have great memories of that trip.
How interesting it must be to take part in the Butterfly Festival and be able to admire the colorful butterflies. I took part in such a festival once and also visited several reservations where they kept butterflies. It was indeed an amazing experience. I’d like to visit the Butterfly Festival in the Revenue Village of Ram Nagar if I ever make it to India. I’m sure I’d see many different species.
I love this guy’s philosophy – so simple and yet so true. You cannot expect them to appreciate ideas if they are struggling for income. I definitely would love to visit this place and experience the butterfly trail. More importantly, encourage the right type of tourism.
Such a beautiful post on spreading the positive word on ecotourism and Titli tyar festival is truly one of its kind. Loved watching the video on how the Tyar foundation is involving the school kids in activities to teach them the importance of ecotourism. And the forests of Uttarakhand are rich in Flora and fauna. Thank you for sharing.
I agree with Bela Range. I had been a community development worker too and it’s really hard to teach people if they don’t find monetary benefits from it. Love their approach and I thank them for this initiative. Thank you for sharing your experience at the Ram Nagar
Amazing place you have shared. I love butterflies and just out side my city in the jungles, we have butterflies swarming in during the month of August. My DIL raised some 50 butterflies at home and my grandsons were fascinated.
Would love to take the kids to have such experiences. Making butterflies, paper quilling and seeing so many together. These are the kind of tourist activities we also look at doing when we visit new places.
Wow, really a wonderful festival which I would like to take part in. Really amazing place dear.
Loved what you shared about the Butterfly festival and preserving nature thinking of these people. It’s new for me and I admit I’m fascinated by the idea.
This is the first time I am hearing about the Butterfly festival will definitely check it out
This looks like a beautiful place to visit. My brother has a farm in the Tarai and I will surely check out this place when we are headed there. I am most interested in the butterfly festival.
Nice post , I was not knowing about this Butterfly festival 🙂
Good that it creates awareness.
I have never heard of this village before but seems to be a must visit place. Amazing and very informative blog.
Learnt something new from your post. I completely support the thought of connecting with nature and staying in the midst of it. Looking for off beat local things when on a trip can unearth some real jewels. Thanks for sharing Pamela.
Pamela thank you so much for sharing about this magical place and the festival of butterflies who are the very basis of ecosystem. The festival is definitely interesting and I’d love for visit someday
Thank you for the travel tip! Loved this post.
We have crossed Ramnagar a few times on our way to Nainital, but did not know about the resort. Will definitely check it out next time. Thanks for sharing about such hidden gems.
Avoiding market town while visiting Uttarakhand is always a good idea if you are looking for a peaceful holiday. It’s good to know about butterfly festival and this beautiful village.
Never heard something like this 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
I’ve been following you on Instagram and man I’m jealous! Your posts give me a major fomo. This one, yet again an awesome summary.
Hehehe Thank you, Raghav. It means a lot
I have heard about this butterfly festival for the first time, I would defintely love to follow the trails of those cute colourful butterflies.
Believe me, this is what I was looking for. Perfect to share with everyone. We together have to create awareness. This is something new for me. Going to follow you on Instagram
I have visited Kyari when I was a child and I still remember how beautiful it was. I’m glad this foundation is taking this important initiative. It is the need of the hour!