River cruising with a greener pursuit

Assam Bengal Navigation

Assam Bengal Navigation has always stood for authenticity of discovery of the local cultures and nature of the two greatest Himalayan rivers and they knew that their passion project endeavour would not be a success without involving the local community and celebrating the vibrant local culture.

Not only are they taking discerning travellers to remote, culturally and naturally rich regions of the iconic Himalayan rivers that are otherwise inaccessible by road, but they’re doing it in a way that’s mindful of the impact they have on the local communities.

Assam Bengal Navigation (ABN) is a local family-owned company who call Assam & Bengal their home with the two Himalayan Rivers being an intricate part of their lives. With their travels around the world being the greatest transformative experience in their lives, they were passionate about introducing an incredible India experience that is close to their hearts whilst also putting the India’s greatest Himalayan Rivers in the world river cruising map, all while being conscious of its impact on their homeland.

Since the inception of ABN in 2003, this family-run company have been conscious of their actions in how they built their ships locally, employed locals along the riverine villages they visit, hired local fishermen boats, employed their family members, and opened the doorway to remote rural heritage tourism of the two Himalayan river valleys. This has created dramatic change directly and indirectly along the riverine banks as to how they are welcomed into the homes of the riverine communities instead of seen as intruders.

In addition to the positive impact on the local communities, Assam Bengal Navigation’s focus on responsible tourism also creates a more meaningful travel experience for their guests. By immersing themselves in the local culture and exploring remote regions, travelers can gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for the incredible diversity of India’s natural and cultural heritage.

In an in an email interview, Antara talks about her enthusiasm for wildlife conservation and tourism and how it catalysed the take over of Assam Bengal Navigation.

Q1: Can you tell us about ABN's approach to sustainability and how it is integrated into your river cruise operations?

The objective has always been to offer an authentic, yet a unique way to experience the inaccessible remote regions of the Himalayan Rivers that are culturally and naturally rich. Thus, in bringing in high value, low volume tourism to these remote regions, it meant that we had to be incredibly conscious of its impact long term in these sensitive areas. In hiring locally, fostering relationships with the communities and ensuring that we cultivate local experiences that benefitted locally, we have a relationship with the riverine communities that is based on a generosity of spirit and most importantly, trust.

Q2: How does ABN work to involve local communities in the river cruise experience, and what efforts have you made to provide more job opportunities for local residents?

Assam Bengal Navigation has always stood for authenticity of discovery of the local cultures and nature of the two greatest Himalayan rivers and we knew that our passion project endeavour would not be a success without involving the local community and celebrating the vibrant local culture. We value conscious luxury wherein we focus on celebrating our distinct ‘culture and nature’ that is brought to life by our local crew that involve both the rural riverine communities and our guests to participate, benefit and sustain.

Q3: How do you measure the impact of your efforts to involve locals in providing more job opportunities, and what steps do you take to continually improve in this area?

We purposefully offer the most comprehensive river cruise journeys in both the rivers so that in our own little way, we are able to ensure that some sort of contribution is dispersed through the riverine communities. With our ABN Foundation we continue to support and cultivate change makers within these communities in addition to the causes we support in education and environment locally. This link will give more information https://www.assambengalnavigation.com/abn-foundation

It is also worthy to note that our objective is to cultivate our local crew into brand ambassadors of our rivers, our culture, our nature and what we stand for as a company thus giving them the ownership to become a custodian of our region, our company, our ABN Family.

Furthermore, we are so glad to be able to contribute indirectly to the growth of heritage hotels and heritage tourism in Bengal along the Hooghly ever since we started cruising the lower Ganges in 2007.

Q4: Looking back on ABN's journey so far, what are some of the biggest challenges you've faced in promoting sustainable tourism, and how have you overcome them?

Our biggest challenges continue to be the same as the local players and authorities do not quite understand nor support the value that sustainable tourism can bring to the destination. As a drop in the river, we as a company are doing all that we can to be conscious of our impact but if everyone else around us is focused on destroying a vision for a sustainable long term growth plan of not just protecting but regenerating the local nature and culture, then the challenges continue to stay the same yet with every hope to overcome them.

Q5: What one area do you expect the travellers to involve more for a purposeful river cruise experience and contributing to your green objectives?

Teach a class - It can be as simple as taking up an English grammar chapter to read out to class, to a sing-along song, to informing them about your country, wildlife conservation and more.
Teach a skill - Perhaps you may like to teach painting with water colours, an easy way to make your favourite dessert, or teach them about different textiles and patterns around the world.
Interact and read to the students - This basic conversation interaction helps build the confidence of the young students, especially at schools where the students are struggling with spoken English language, a huge advantage in any employment sector.

Furthermore, we hope and wish for the travellers to endorse and support more consciously-led small businesses that are driven by purpose and passion.

How can you participate?

Put this address in your travel bucket-list and we will ensure to take you there.

Let us help you design your perfect holiday with QXP India!  

To make a trip personalised for you, contact us at info@qxpindia.com