Responsible tourism should lift the village up, not leave it to bear the cost.
Tourism can bring waste, plastic and a heavy pull on water and land, and it is usually the village that carries it. We would rather it worked the other way: what guests spend here should stay in Sarangkot, and the hill should be no worse for your visit. Here is what we do, and how you can join in.
Food that feeds the village.
Before we buy from a shop, we buy from the families around us: honey, ghee, buckwheat and corn flour, and as many vegetables and fruits as the village can grow in the season. What they can't supply, we buy at the market.
Local honey
Collected from farmers and beekeepers nearby. Nothing added. It goes into our honey drinks, on your toast and with the local pancake.
Ghee
From households in the village.
Buckwheat & corn flour
Local grain for our local pancakes, made from millet, corn or buckwheat depending on the season.
Vegetables & fruit
From the community as much as we can, whatever is in season.
From our own garden
The lemongrass and herbs in your tea grow on our hillside.
We check what we buy.
Buying local only helps if the food is good. We visit and audit our suppliers, and check the honey, ghee, vegetables and fruit before they reach the kitchen.
Glass bottles, and rain we keep.
Glass water bottles
Your drinking water comes filtered, in glass bottles we refill, free. Fewer plastic bottles end up on the hill.
Rainwater harvesting
We collect the monsoon rain from our roofs to water the gardens.
Less plastic in your room.
Shampoo & soap dispensers
Refillable dispensers in the bathrooms instead of small plastic bottles that are thrown away after one stay.
Dried in the sun
Sheets, towels and your laundry dry on the line in the Sarangkot sun, not in an electric dryer.
More ways for you to support the village.
We feature local artists, and the things people make around Sarangkot: natural handmade soaps, candles, herbs and traditional medicines. So as a traveller you have more ways to put your money where it helps. Ask at reception.
Local artists
Handmade natural soaps
Candles
Herbs & medicines
This is our way of giving back to the village that has hosted us since 1995.
— Maya & family