This pioneering programme, active since 2007, aims to harness tourism to empower local women tea pluckers. Twenty family houses on the Makaibari tea estate, within a 10-minute walk of the tea factory, are currently involved in the project. Families speak basic English and the houses are simple but comfortable and cosy, with attached bathrooms for the guest rooms.
The office is 150m down the road from the main tea-factory gate: if no one's there, ask for the programme's manager, Nayan Lama, at the factory-gate shop. Homestay guests get a substantial discount on estate day tours, paying ₹150 instead of ₹800.
