RURAL LIFE TOUR – ONE DAY VISIT

Theme: RURAL LIFESTYLES, LIVELIHOODS, CULTURAL & NATURAL HERITAGE

Tour Duration: 6 hours. Day Visit from 10 AM to 4 PM (all days of the week)

Group Size: Maximum 50-55 persons (including teachers/escorts)

Travel: School to make own travel arrangements from school to Bijnor and back. Travel time Meerut to Daranagar Ganj by bus is approximately 2 hours and by car 1.30 hours.

Transportation for Field Tours: Bullock carts equipped with mattress, cushions, umbrellas, drinking water, field first aid kit and limited seating. All tours involve walking. Average walking distances 1-2 Km.

Meals & Refreshments: Refreshments and lunch will be provided

Facilities Available: Resident Doctor, First Aid, Filtered Water, Toilets, Retiring Rooms for Teachers/staff

Programme:

• Welcome and refreshments on arrival
• Assembly for Tour Instructions and Group formation
  (25 persons per Group)
• Ganges & Village Life Tour (approximately 1.30 hours)
• Ganges - overview and ecology
• Ganges - riverbed traverse for understanding rural livelihood resources
• Ganges - River Dolphin Sanctuary (No swimming is permitted. For safety shallow river area with no river currents specially selected with markers and ropes and local life guards)
• Village Life – Lifestyles
• Village Life – Livelihoods
• Village Life – Artisans/handicrafts
• Heritage Tour (approximately 1 hour)
• Vidhur Kutir & Museum
• Vanaprastha Ashram Old Age Home
• Ganga Darshan
• Lunch (simple vegetarian meal)
• Vishokanand Campus
• Medicinal Plants & Trees
• Water Harvesting
• Vermicompost
• Solar Energy
• Basic Camp Training – tents, tent pitching & rope climbing
• Tea/refreshments
• Tour Terminates and Departure

EduTours Footnote: The Vishokanand Society is a secular rural resource institution, with focus on healthcare, rejuvenation therapies, rural-livelihoods and nature education. Originally established in the early 1900's at Daranagar Ganj by the late Shivanandmaharaj ji, it is located on the banks of the river Ganges, close to Vidhur Kutir, a revered place of mythological significance in the epic Mahabharata.

The Ashram, located in western Uttar Pradesh, is around 80 Km from Meerut and 180 Km from Delhi, and is also in proximity to the foothills of Uttarakhand state. It is an attractive destination for visitors from nearby cities with basic overnight stopover facilities. It offers a tranquil retreat cradled in vast expanses of orchards with a profusion of mangoes, pears, jackfruit, floriculture and medicinal plants.

Natural heritage sites are the Ganges River-Dolphin Sanctuary, Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary, Rajaji National Park and the Corbett Tiger Reserve. In season, the barrage on the river Ganges near Bijnor, is a bird watchers' paradise. Other nearby places of heritage value and cultural interest, within a few hours by road from the Ashram, are the towns of Meerut, Hastinapur, Haridwar, Rishikesh and the idyllic hill stations of Lansdowne and Pauri, which offer a panoramic view of the Himalayan snow peaks..