Trail guides
Residents trained in group handling, route reading and first response, who interpret the landscape they work in every day.
Host villages
Owned by the community
Malavazhi is organised as a community-based tourism service. Guides, hosts and cooks come from the hill settlements along our routes, and the village decides how visits run.
Each host village agrees the number of visiting groups it can receive in a season, the areas that stay closed to visitors and the sessions its members want to lead. These rules sit in every route sheet so teachers know them before arrival.
Income from guiding, meals and stays goes to the people providing them, and a share is set aside by the village for trail maintenance and shared facilities. Visiting groups see this model in practice and can discuss it in a closing session.
Village roles
Knowledge holders
Elders and craftspeople who lead sessions on food, plants, songs and customs, on their own terms and schedule.
Hosts and cooks
Families and community kitchens providing simple local meals and overnight spaces for students and teachers.
Visitor conduct
Groups follow the village code agreed for each route. Shrines, sacred groves and private homes are entered only when invited, and photography of people needs their permission, which guides will ask for on the group's behalf.
Waste leaves with the group. Students carry refillable bottles, and food packaging is collected at the end of each walk. Plants, seeds and stones stay where they are found; worksheets use sketches and notes instead.
Noise is kept low near settlements and on forest trails, both out of respect for residents and to give students a better chance of hearing birds and seeing wildlife on the edges of the shola.
Bring a class into a working village.
Ask about host village availability for your preferred dates.