Community & Giving Back
Our interactions, reliance and ‘give and take’ with the community started right from day one. It was the local people who were carrying the building materials and worked at the construction. During that period we got opportunity to get to know them well and establish fruitful relationships. When we finally opened our Resort in 1999, we employed most of our staff from the local area. A lot of our staff have been with us right through the roller coaster of a journey so far and we are proud and grateful for their commitment and hard work. We know that without them, we won’t be able to achieve what we had and they are the ones who are behind hospitable and unique atmosphere at Begnas Lake Resort.

Our resort as the first sizeable business in the area has provided employment for a lot of the local families, which has had a significant impact on development of the local economy. Most of our employees are also running their own businesses now which we are extremely proud of. The tourists visiting us are also bringing business to the village eating at the local restaurants and buying from the local shops which has raised the general standard of living.

In particular, we feel we have empowered women and single mothers by giving them a livelihood which has enabled them to fully support their children, aging parents and get financial security and independency. It also changed the dynamics in the local communities and raised their status.

On top of that we continuously work with local village councils, the women’s committee and schools in order to improve facilities and opportunities for everyone. We work closely with our local schools to ensure that all children have the opportunity to get a good education without having to leave the village and family and go to a boarding school in the city. We were involved in raising funds to improve the learning/ teaching standards in the local school which now is one of the model schools.

We are also involving local groups and community in events which we host at Begnas, like music concerts or weddings. Those traditional and cultural practices are overseen by the Womens’ Committee (Ama Samuha literally translates to Mothers’ Committee). They are the ones who organize cultural shows with singing and dancing for our guests. When called for, we are proud to be able to muster a traditional Nepali band with musicians coming from the villages surrounding the lake. With drums, Sarangi and wind instruments of different kinds, it is definitely a spectacle.

By sourcing locally grown coffee, extra vegetables from local growers and fish from the lake, we are supporting the local community and trade. Like everything else, we couldn’t survive without their support and we also hope the community as a whole feel, we make a valid contribution to this little corner of paradise we share on this beautiful planet of ours.

Over the past decade we have been promoting Ayurveda, Yoga and Meditation to travelers from around the world. This has also resulted in our own staff gaining interest in the subject and actually adding their knowledge and experience to improving our offerings.

Environmental Responsibility

Taking into account that the natural beauty that envelopes the resort is one of the most important elements of the holistic treatments that we provide for our clients, we are aware of the need to make sure that we take good care of the environment. To do our bit for the environment, we have a few different measures in place.

At the Begnas Lake Resort all paper, glass and metals are re-cycled and kitchen and garden waste is composted.

We try and minimize the use of chemical detergents and cleaning chemicals. Unfortunately we are yet to find products that are 100% eco-friendly. All waste water is let into soak-pits to prevent run-off into the lake.

Our swimming pool is spring-fed and chemical-free as it overflows into the lake.

We employ organic farming practices on our grounds where we grow a lot of the fruit and vegetables that we serve our guests. We source the balance of our produce from the surrounding villages where we ask the farmers to use organic methods as well. We also source our coffee from a neighboring farmer who has an organic coffee plantation.

We make sure to disturb the local flora and fauna as little as possible due to which our guests get to enjoy the presence of wildfowl early in the morning, monkeys and birds during the day; and if they are very lucky they might hear a leopard calling out at night.

At our offices in Kathmandu, we do the following:

  • Limit the use of paper by only printing when necessary.
  • Waste paper, glass and metals are re-cycled.
  • We have solar panels installed along with an inverter which provides the majority of the electricity we use.
  • We harvest rain-water