HOTEL AND RESTAURANTS # 8

Background:

The 37-room Narayani Safari Hotel was built in 1987 and the Narayani Safari Lodge (12 rooms) followed in 1988. Both are located on the periphery of the royal Chitwan National Park, 150km from Kathmandu in Nepal. The park covers 932 km² of the subtropical lowlands of the south central Himalayas and was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage site in 1992. Environmentally sound practices were adopted right from the initial stages of the project. Some of the  significant measures adopted are presented in this case study.

Cleaner Production Principle:

Process modification; Material substitution.

Cleaner Production Application:

At the planning stage, permission to build tourist facilities inside the park could have been obtained. (Seven tourist lodges were already located inside the park). However, the company believed that National Parks should be set aside primarily for conservation and decided to site the facilities outside the Park and apply for permission to use the Park only for wildlife viewing trips. It was the first time in Nepal that a tourist enterprise had made such a request. This decision was taken despite the marketing disadvantage, as most tourists clearly preferred to be housed within the park.

The facilities were built on land of low agricultural value. Wooden beams, door and window frames from derelict houses on the land were reused for building the single-storey cottages of the hotel and lodge. No trees were felled for construction.

Elephant grass was used initially to thatch the cottage roofs. However, because these tended to leak during the monsoon, the grass was replaced by locally-made clay tiles. Every January, the park authorities invite the tourist lodges and villages to cut the elephant grass they require before burning the remains to that new grass can grow.

Solar panels are used for water heating. As there are no facilities for storing solar energy, hot water is not supplied at night. Despite the low cost of wood and charcoal, LPG gas is used for cooking.

Even though Narayani Safari is located outside the National Park, it adheres to the park regulations and does not use electricity on the property. Lighting is provided through kerosene lamps.

Narayani Safari has attempted to demonstrate to the surrounding villages that well planned tourism can bring tangible benefits. Initially these communities were "anti-national park and anti-tourism" but by employing villagers as staff at the hotel and lodge and allocating a part of profits to rural projects, Narayani Safari helped the villages establish a health center, a vegetable nursery and a secondary school scholarship Program.

With the ultimate aim of reducing the local community's dependence on the National Park and thereby stopping the illegal exploitation of its resources, Narayani Safari began working with non-governmental organizations to help villagers establish fruit and fodder tree plantations.

A code of conduct on environmentally-sensitive behavior in the National Park is available to guests in English, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese. Visitors are asked to limit the use of water, and are given safety instructions on using the kerosene lamps.

Environmental and Economic Benefits:

The direct environmental benefits include preservation of the natural resources of the park by choosing to build the resort outside the Park. Additional environmental and economic benefits are also contributed by material and energy conservation through use of local building material.

Constraints:

None mentioned

Contacts:

Mr. Lochan Gyawali, Director

Narayani Safari Hotel and Lodge

GPO Box 1357, Kathmandu, Nepal

Fax: +977 (1) 512 291

 

International Hotel & Restaurant Association

251, rue du Faubourg Saint-Martin, 75010 Paris, France

Tel: +33 (1) 44 89 94 00; Fax: +33 (1) 40 36 73 30

e-mail: infos@ih-ra.com; Web; http://www.ih-ra.com/

 

United Nations Environment Program

Industry and Environment, 39-43, quai Andre Citroen

75739 Paris Cedex 15, France

Tel: +33 (1) 44 37 14 50; Fax: +33 (1) 44 37 14 74

e-mail: uneptie@unep.fr; Web: http://www.uneptie.org/home.html

Review Status:

This case study was taken from the joint UNEP/International Hotel and Restaurant Association (IHRA) publication "Environmental Good Practice in Hotels: Case Studies from the IHRA Environmental Award." Each case study was judged in 1995 by UNEP-IE prior to inclusion in the publication. It was edited for the ICPIC diskette in June 1997. Subsequently, a technical review was carried out in September 1998 by Dr. Prasad Modak, Environmental Management Centre, Mumbai, India. For more information contact UNEPIE.