A female self-help group of Maharashtra has come forward to develop city’s one of unexplored sites – ‘mangrove safari’ as an eco-tourism hub. The site is situated in one picturesque town of coastal Maharashtra, i.e. Vengurle. 
Being just 18 km away from the tourist hotspot of Goa, Vengurle, is a small hilly town located at the southern-most tip of Maharashtra in Sindhudurg district and is blessed with plenty of natural beauty.
In association with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Shweta Hule, a former corporator, manages this self-help group (SHG) ‘Swamini’. The group has been taking care of the mangrove safari since 2017 to promote eco-tourism in the area and is comprised of 10 fisher-women. This project is an allied activity of its women members apart from their routine fishing business.
The project is funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) completely. Again to support their mission, the network provides them with two boats, 20 life jackets and bamboo shelters also.
Additionally Hule has made it sure that the fisher-women were taught English trained in handling the project by a former local UNDP co-ordinator and a forest official.
Further she ensures that a boat carrying 10 tourists must also be accompanied with a four-membered team to navigate the boat and a guide to inform the tourists about biodiversity in the creek. Tourists here are briefed about the eight species of mangroves in the area, different kinds of migratory birds and bio-diversity in the creek.
Furthermore, the tourists are also privileged with authentic local cuisine by the SHG.Starting from Mandvi jetty, the safari goes till the Mansishwar temple in Vengurle and then returns to its starting point. It operates in the 1.5-km Mandvi creek.
However the safari remains closed during the monsoon. But this year, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was closed since February and reopened earlier this month.
According to Shweta Hule, “Tourism is not just creating five-star hotels. It must consider people’s choice first.People want to be closer to nature and the tourism development should address their need. I hope Vengurle will have good days in future in terms of tourism development.”
