Himmapaan Planting Day

Before we arrived at the Himmapaan Forest Restoration Plot, we had no idea what the plot looked like. We thought it was a big field with some trees but, actually, it was on a small hill that needed a little bit of a climb. Across the hill was a large green field where elephants were frolicking.  The weather was nice. It was a little warm and there’s no sign of rain either. There were a number of people taking part in the Forest Restoration Project these days such as volunteers from Elephant Nature Park, Akha and Lisu Hill Tribe villagers. Before the 2nd three planting ceremony at Plot 1, our host, Mr.Rachet, gave us some briefing about tree planting techniques in Thai. Mr. Bruce then took over and gave the same information in English. Both of them told us about “a background of the project, guideline for the experience, detailed description on the tree nursery, practical application to the planting technique, seed collecting, and how they can monitor the growth of their planted trees.”

After that, it’s time to start planting the trees. Everyone helped each other to carry bamboo sticks to mark the plot, which should be about 1.8 metre apart. Then the participants dug the earth around the sticks before putting young plants into the holes. We could see that people really enjoyed the work and felt happy that they could at least give back to the nature. At the end, we took some photos before heading to Himmapaan Visitor Centre & Nursery. The Himmapaan project has potential for a memorable experience for anyone who wants to have a hands-on experience in rebuilding the environment.

Leave a Reply