Skip The Hotels And Try Voluntourism At This Forest Garden Near Darjeeling

Forget booking hotels and try voluntourism instead at this forest garden that lies sequestered in the hills of 8 Mile village near Darjeeling. A mud house, a herb garden, a backpacker hostel, TIEEDI is your best opportunity to connect back to nature and with the local community. You can help the community in tending their forest garden while exploring forested trails, listening to birdsong and sounds of gushing waterfalls.

You can always visit this place as a regular tourist and stay in their Earthy Dwelling mud cottage within their organic forest garden. Alternately, we suggest you give voluntourism a try and lend a hand with their several projects which look after the forest ecosystem. From tending to free ranging chickens to organic farming and reviving much-abused land and helping save a dying river, the projects are numerous. You’ll have to sign up for at least a week for voluntourism options.

You can stay with the host in their herb garden farm stay or can also put up in the Backpacker’s Hostel with other volunteer tourists. For less than a fortnight the charges are around INR 750 per day (inclusive of all meals). If it’s more days, then shell out only INR 500 per day.

The easiest way to get there is taking a taxi to 8 Mile, near Sonada station. TIEEDI is located 10km away from the Neora Valley National Park and 30km away from the Bagdogra airport.

Volunteers at TIEEDI can also participate in the several workshops they conduct (bamboo weaving, bee keeping, yoga and more), and can also conduct workshops themselves for others.