The International Union for Conservation started with an initiative called ‘La Gran Ruta Inca’ (The Great Inca Trail) with the objective to protect the archeological rests of the Great Inca Road. The Mountain Institute together with Kuntur took this initiative as a base to start working together on the Inka Naani project. Both organizations saw to the Great Inca Trail as a value shared by the communities along this road and as a possibility to conservation and development.

The first step was to investigate and understand the actual relation of the communities along this road with the Great Inca Trail. During these workshops the vision of The Mountain Institute and Kuntur appeared to be shared by the communities between Yauya and Huánuco Viejo. Everyone who participated in the workshops recognized the opportunity given by the Inka Naani project to improve their quality of life. They showed a great local knowledge about the road and had a feeling of pride that this knowledge was being appreciated. The local communities referred to this part of the Great Inca Trail as ‘Inka Naani’ what explains the name of the project.

The Inka Naani project believes that any sustainable development project is directly related to the conservation of cultural, natural and social values and also to the capacity of the local people to take part in the decision-making process. Consequently, the working method used is participative, which causes a possibility for the improvement of the organizational, technical and leadership capacities of the communities. It also generates space for the communities to express their worries and ideas, which obviously influences the design of the project. This participative method is designed by The Mountain Institute and can be resumed in the cycle of implementation of projects that integrate conservation and development.

The first three steps of the cycle are done in the first half-year of 2003.

1. The vision and the mission were clarified by combining the vision of The Mountain Institute and Kuntur with the vision of the communities. During this process, the different perspectives, dreams and worries of everyone involved were discovered and based on this information a general vision and mission were composed.The vision of the Inka Naani:

‘The Inka Naani and its natural and cultural environment
is a model of sustainable tourism, which is well preserved
by local communities and organizations.’

2. The next step was to make a diagnosis, focused on the Inka Naani project and with the participation of the communities. The result of this diagnosis is a clear understanding of what the strengths and weaknesses are of each community and therefore what the opportunities and threats are. It is also a good exercise for the people to start discussing about different aspects and to form networks of cooperation

3. The third step was the actual planning of the project. The Mountain Institute together with Kuntur designed a proposal and a working strategy for the local communities, what should lead to the design of the tourism product Inka Naani, specified for each community. The information gathered during the participative diagnosis is in this case the baseline on which the projects are planned. This phase includes a lot of capacitating the people about tourism itself and how to serve clients.

During the years 2004 and 2005 the project concentrates on the development of the local capacities to design and manage tourism products. This part is where the ‘Experimental Tourists’, like you, are entering! The aim of the experimental hikes is to use the knowledge of the tourists to develop the capacity of the communities to manage the tourism products.