This December, as part of Hornbill Festival 2022, a canoe sprint and boat race took place at the camping site, Falcon Creek, which is located at Tsuza Eryu Doyang in Pangti village of Wokha district.

Held on 6 and 7 December, this was the second edition of the Hornbill Canoe Sprint and Boat Race.

The event was organised by Falcon Creek and sponsored by the Tourism Department of Nagaland.

On the first day of the event, a canoe sprint in single category was held while the sprint in doubles category was held on the second day.

According to the organisers, a new prize category was also introduced in this year’s edition – Best Boat Presentation. This was done so as to encourage fishermen to maintain and build better boats.

In an exclusive interview with Nagaland tribune, the organisers of this event – Falcon Creek – share their experience of organising such a unique event in Nagaland.

Following are the edited excerpts.

NT: What is Falcon Creek about?

Falcon Creek: Falcon Creek initially started off as a camping site in the year 2017.

Falcon Creek is a camping ground/site as well as an organisational set up, which believes in thinking out of the box to generate fresh ideas which are innovative and fresh to our region of operation.

Our principles and values centres itself around self-sufficiency, upliftment of local economy and responsible tourism.

NT: How did the idea for the Canoe Spring/Boat Race develop?

FC: Keeping in line with our mission statement, we felt the need to organise an event which would most likely boost the local economy in and around our region of operation. An event which would also support or help any local segment of our society.

Our location at the reservoir kept us in close contact with the fishermen in and around the area and we soon discovered that they were seemingly the most neglected amongst the land affected people of Doyang Hydro Project.

Eventually, we came up with the concept of a canoe sprint to promote the fishermen of Doyang and to create an opportunity for them to earn through the inflow of tourists and visitors as well as take a break from their hectic schedule.

NT: How do you hope to generate revenue and self-sustainability through this kind of activity?

FC: Right from the start, our core idea was to create or boost the local economy through tourism alone. Events such as these will spontaneously attract visitors to our area.

NT: Which year did the first race take place?

FC: We started this event in the year 2021.

NT: How has been the response of the participants and the public? Is there much interest in this activity?

FC: The response and support from the fishermen community have been extremely positive and encouraging.

Real time response from the public was a bit discouraging since visitor turnout was somewhat low. We believe it was due to lack of exposure of the event and bad road connectivity.

However, the response of the public from social media outlets were amazingly enthusiastic and encouraging.

NT: What are the some of the positive outcomes of holding such an event?

FC: The positive outcome of events such as these promote opportunities for self-employment through eco-tourism.

NT: Have there been challenges along the way?

FC: There were numerous challenges when we first started the event in 2021.

We were allotted the prestigious Hornbill festival tag but had no funding. We had to go door to door seeking for donations/sponsors and also had to put up our own finances at the end.

Advertisement and promotions were also another area that we lagged behind because of a crunch in finance.

The second edition for the year 2022 was easier on our part because of the all-round support from the esteemed Tourism Department of Nagaland. Special mention also goes to the director of the Tourism Department for taking a keen personal interest in the event.

NT: Will you be planning this event again next year? Any plans for introducing other activities too?

FC: We hopefully intend to continue this event in the future, i.e., if the Tourism Department also continues to support us in our endeavour to promote the fishermen of Doyang and also sees the potential that comes with the beauty of the majestic Doyang dam.

We do have several ideas of activities and we plan to slowly introduce them in the days to come.