Volunteering in Costa Rica and Protecting Wildlife

Reporter Jane from the Brisbane Times had the following account of working as a volunteer taking care of wildlife in Costa Rica.  It’s a great read and makes me want to return to Costa Rica.

Tapir (Photo credit: FrogMiller)

By 8am we’re sitting on upturned buckets on the floor of a concrete shed, up to our elbows in bananas, plantains, papayas and a curious tuberous vegetable called yucca. It has very hard, pure white flesh and tough, brown skin and it takes a good whack with a lethally sharp knife to break into bite-size pieces – just the way a hungry tapir likes it.

Later we’ll load two big buckets of this concoction into a wheelbarrow and march it down a short track to four hungry tapirs.

Animal rescue… tapirs are cared for at La MarinaWildlife Rescue Centre. Photo: Jane Mundy

Preparing food for the animals is the first task of the day at La Marina, a privately funded animal rescue centre in the central valley of Costa Rica. Animals as diverse as spider monkeys, capuchins, kinkajous, pythons, scarlet macaws, ocelots, eagles and vultures, crocodiles and even a pair of lions find homes here. Some are injured, some have lost their habitats or are handed in by people who have kept them as pets. Some will be nursed back to health and released into their natural habitat – but most will not. They will see out their days at La Marina, cared for and protected.

The small team of volunteers busy chopping, slicing and dicing is like a mini European Union. Tinoos is a thirtysomething Danish opera singer-turned-carpenter. Elias is a Belgian university dropout. Romy is undertaking field work for the biology course she studies in the Netherlands. There is someone from Russia, someone from Germany. They all seem younger than us and must wonder why a couple of oldies from Australia choose to spend a week of their Central American holiday in a place like this.

Yes, we could have opted for something cleaner, safer and more fragrant. But that’s one of the things about volunteering – you get all kinds.

As we come along the track with our wheelbarrow, the tapirs – three adults and an adolescent who has just grown out of his stripy juvenile coat – wait and watch. Tapirs are extraordinary-looking creatures, rather like a large pig with an extended nose-cum-trunk. It’s as though the animal thought for a while about being an elephant, then changed its mind. They come to the gate of their large, leafy enclosure, hungry and curious, sniffing the air, teeth bared.

I have a healthy respect for wild animals and the need to keep one’s distance so I tread cautiously. Two hundred kilograms of angry tapir can make a mess of your arm. Yet although they are equipped with a formidable set of teeth, these tapirs are docile and affectionate – seemingly not just because they’re hungry. They appear to be fond of being stroked, scratched and cuddled. Yes, cuddled. Arms around their necks, cheeks pressed against coarse hide. The full love-in.

Around the middle of the day we make our way to the lunch room where volunteers compare the contents of lunch boxes prepared for us by our hosts.

Part of the deal at La Marina is that volunteers are billeted with Costa Rican families and our “mother”, Xinia, takes the job of feeding us seriously. Today it is rice and beans. Yesterday it was beans and rice. Xinia speaks barely a word of English but we can more or less make ourselves understood and as well as feeding us and washing our filthy work clothes, Xinia makes us feel part of her wonderful extended family.

It’s usual for family members to live next door to one another; living next to Xinia is one of her five sisters and family, and next door again is a brother.

In Costa Rica, where more than 25 per cent of the country is dedicated national park, there’s no shortage of animal-viewing opportunities: by river, horse-back ride to the base of a volcano or guided walk through a forest.

Eco-tourism is a big earner but viewing opportunities in the wild, although plentiful, must be from a distance: scarlet macaws flash across a clear blue sky; a sloth is curled high in the tree tops; rustling branches denote a troupe of howler monkeys on the move.

You need luck, patience and good binoculars. At La Marina you get to see animals at close range, for longer, and can touch some of them.

But volunteering here is not all about cuddling tapirs, however. There is hard work to be done and it’s not glamorous: bird cages cleaned; building materials carried; paths swept. The wild pigs’ enclosure is cleaned daily – not a popular task.

However, there is something satisfying about these hands-on experiences and I find that I don’t want to leave. I have become attached to the animals. Even to tapirs.

FAST FACTS

Getting there

United Airlines has a fare to San Jose from Los Angeles for about $600 low-season round trip, including tax. Flight is about 8hr,s including transit time in Houston).

Volunteering there

La Marina Wildlife Rescue Centre is in San Carlos, Alajuela, 60 kilometres north-west of San Jose. A bus ($2.50, about 3hr) operates from downtown San Jose to Ciudad Quesada (8½ kilometres from La Marina).

A flat fee of $US250 ($256) applies regardless of the length of stay, including airport pick-up and introduction to a host family. An extra $US13 a day covers a room and meals; see zoocostarica.com.

Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/travel/holiday-type/eco-tourism/talk-to-the-animals-20120531-1zjxs.html#ixzz1xF1I3JIj

Rural Nepal allowing homestays, and helping to boost Ecotourism

Narrow winding road leads through extremely diverse terrain in Nepal. This road leads north from Kathmandu towards Tibet. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Thinking of my cousin Diana and her husband, who just got married and are on assignment in Nepal!  I am hoping they can visiti soon.

Nepal has homes in rural Patlekhet that are not just residences. With clean and furnished rooms, certain homes here also serve as small guesthouses, a part of the village’s Ecotourism Home Stay Program.

“We are enthusiastic to welcome tourists in every house,” says Keshab Badal, president of the local ecotourism homestay program.

Patlekhet is a small town in Kavre, a district that neighbors Kathmandu. Popular for tourists, the village provides an escape from the capital city. Fog often blankets the green fields. But when the fog disappears, the majestic view of the Himalayas arrests the eyes of visitors.

“In order to promote the view of the Himalayas, as well as our local art and culture, we have started this homestay program,” Badal says.

There are no hotels or restaurants in Patlekhet, a village far away from modernization. Instead, there are clusters of traditional houses built from mud and stones. Narrow, muddy lanes lead from one house to another.

About 20 of these houses are especially designated for tourists who visit Patlekhet, with 50 beds available for guests. Badal says the village has welcomed some 200 foreign tourists since the program began.

Love Green Nepal, a local nongovernmental organization, initiated the program in 2010. Love Green Nepal has been operating for 20 years, guiding communities in six of Kavre’s village development committees on education, health, biogas and income-generation programs. Banking on the majestic view of the Himalayas, the organization formed a group to promote tourism as well as benefit locals, says Gore Kaji Sangat, executive director of Love Green Nepal.

The program welcomed a group of Japanese students for a week as its first guests. Love Green Nepal initially helped the village to bring in tourists, but now the locals are active in recruiting visitors, Sangat says.

“The tourists are very happy with the hospitality of the locals,” Sangat says.

Local music welcomes the tourists to the village. They stay with families, eat home-grown vegetables, take tours of the area and learn about its traditions. Before they leave, they receive local souvenirs to take home.

“We welcome and satisfy the guests as far as we can,” Badal says.

The program has also become a source of income generation for local women.

Women, whose days revolve around agriculture and household chores, are happy to engage with tourists and welcome them, says Kamali Tamang, treasurer of Love Green Nepal. The women also benefit from the program economically without incurring much extra work. Hosting guests only requires some additional cooking and cleaning.

“It’s actually an easy job for women,” Tamang says gleefully.

And the people of Patkelkhet aren’t the only ones in Nepal opening their homes to tourists. Registered with the Nepal Tourism Board, the program is part of the growing national initiative to promote homestays, Badal says.

A growing number of locals are operating homestay programs in Nepal, offering tourists a window into local culture in areas without hotels as well as boosting socialization and income generation in isolated villages. The rise in homestay programs is the result of a national government initiative to boost tourism. Challenges still exist, such as a lack of funding and marketing. But the government and local residents say they are doing what they can to attract domestic and foreign tourists.

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Snowy Owls and Eco Tourism and Travel in Montana

Young Snowy Owl on the tundra at Barrow Alaska. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Denver Holt arrived in Montana as the featured speaker at the Greater Polson Community Foundation event in mid-March with a topic at hand, and a title for his lecture.

“Ecotourism and the Unique Opportunities in the Mission Valley,” it was called.

Within 60 seconds he had tossed it out in favor of a slideshow and lecture on snowy owls.

Give ’em what they want, Holt figured.

For three months, snowy owls have been just about all anyone has wanted Holt, director of the Owl Research Institute in Charlo, to talk about.

Which was the whole point of his discarded ecotourism lecture to begin with. People are interested. They’ll come. They’ll spend money while they’re here.

Up to 25 of the large, magnificent birds congregated in the Mission Valley this winter. The visitors from the Arctic lured more visitors – the human kind – not only from Montana, but from approximately 25 other states, at a time of year when you’d normally swear the closest tourist was in Hawaii.

Everyone from serious birdwatchers, to Harry Potter fans (the popular fictional character kept one as a pet), to the merely curious was drawn to the Polson area this winter by the snowy owls.

***

The irruption – a dramatic, irregular migration of a large number of birds to areas where they aren’t normally found – wasn’t confined to Polson.

Snowy owls showed up across the United States, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in what Holt calls “the biggest wildlife viewing event in this country in decades.”

The Mission Valley was perfectly positioned to cash in on the local interest.

But tourists who could have found snowy owls closer to home came to Montana, in the dead of winter (and minus skis and snowboards), from South Carolina, Texas, Washington, New Mexico and more.

“It’s been the craziest January and February I’ve ever seen,” says Mary Edelman, restaurant manager at Ninepipes Lodge south of Ronan. “Our February was better than our October, which never happens. We’re lucky if we book a room a week for overnight guests in February and January, but we had 12 to 15 rooms booked every weekend this year.”

Two things helped.

For one, most of the blizzard of birds conveniently parked themselves on rooftops, chimneys and fence posts smack dab in the middle of a neighborhood on the southern edge of Polson. The big white owls with the 5-foot wingspans were easy to find.

Perhaps more importantly, though he won’t admit to it, one of the world’s leading experts in snowy owls is parked right here in the valley at the Owl Research Institute.

Holt has spent years traveling to the Arctic in the summertime to study the birds in their native habitat, and when media from across the country went looking for someone to explain the appearance of snowy owls across the United States this winter, Holt was often the person they turned to.

He was able to not only answer their questions, but note that lots of the snowy owls had shown up here, too.

“I really don’t want to take credit for it,” Holt says. “The truth is the Mission Valley has one of the highest numbers of wintering birds of prey in the Northwest.”

***

And that’s one of the points Holt wanted to make about the potential of ecotourism right here in the valley.

The area, perhaps naturally, aims most of its promotional efforts around the summer months, Flathead Lake, the Mission Mountains and more mainstream tourist activities.

But Holt points to a 2006 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service report – the National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation – that says wildlife watching was a $45.7 billion-a-year industry in the United States.

That’s more than fishing ($42 billion) or hunting ($22.9 billion).

Furthermore, the report estimates that more than 71 million Americans take part in wildlife watching activities, compared with 30 million who fish or 12.5 million who hunt.

The majority of wildlife watchers, Holt says, are birdwatchers.

“Waterfowl is No. 1, and birds of prey are No. 2,” he says. “It’s an interesting demographic. The average age of birders is 50, and their average salary is more than $75,000. They typically have a higher income and education.”

Those 71.1 million wildlife watchers, Holt says, “is four times more than NFL attendance, but it’s like no one even knows about it.”

***

Holt does, of course.

A longtime part-time guide for Texas-based Victor Emanuel Nature Tours – he led a Montana snowy owl tour for the Texas-based firm in February – Holt and Megan Fylling have started Wild Planet Nature Tours locally.

Of the half-dozen tours on its website currently taking registrants, three are for trips to Alaska, Mexico and Guatemala.

The other three are in Montana.

Holt suggests those who rely on, and promote, tourism, should consider using some resources to attracting more wildlife watchers.

It’s not just the snowy owls.

The area teems with raptors, including golden and bald eagles, peregrine and prairie falcons. The Owl Research Institute is here for a reason: long-eared, short-eared, great-horned, barn, northern pygmy, northern saw-whet, western screech. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes have reintroduced trumpeter swans.

The National Bison Range at Moiese has documented more than 200 species of birds that live there or drop by, from great blue herons to black-billed cuckoos.

It also has a pretty impressive list of wingless wildlife as well that starts, but certainly does not end, with bison – elk, deer, pronghorns, coyotes, black bears and more.

The Mission Valley, Holt says, need not wait for the irregular irruptions of snowy owls to capitalize on ecotourism.

***

When, or if, snowy owls return in such large numbers is anyone’s guess.

They’re likely to begin their return journey to their nesting grounds in the Arctic virtually any second.

“If we could figure out a way to keep them here, it’d be fantastic,” Heather Knutson, president of the Polson Chamber of Commerce, says with a laugh. “Our number of visitors, and calls we’ve gotten, is significantly up from last year. If anyone has any ideas on how to keep them here that are legal, let me know.”

The truth is that there’s almost always a snowy owl or two that show up in the Mission Valley in the winter. The birds usually aren’t as visible, and in such great numbers, as this year, is all.

They are an attraction like no other, Holt admits.

“No. 1, it’s because they’re owls,” he says. “Only certain groups generate so much interest – owls, penguins, whales, koala bears.”

“Snowy owls are in the top tier” of owls, he goes on. “There’s something about white animals that takes it to another level, and really fascinates people – not just birdwatchers, but doctors, lawyers, secretaries, bartenders, carpenters. It’s true with polar bears, Arctic foxes, beluga whales and white bison, too. There’s something about them – do they seem magical? Angelic? I don’t know. But people love them.”

They’ll also travel long distances to see them.

What Denver Holt started to tell that audience in mid-March is that they’ve got lots of other species people will come to look at and photograph as well. Maybe not in the numbers that the snowy owls attract.

But wildlife watching is still a multibillion-dollar industry.

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• Scientists bewildered by mass migration of snowy owls from the Arctic (theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com)
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Kenyan Wildlife Service CEO arrested

Ecotourism Kenya has refuted claims by the Kenya Wildlife Service that they are not responsible for the arrest of their CEO Kahindi Lekalhaile last Thursday.

Kahindi had contributed to an article in the Nation newspaper suggesting that 2,000 elephants a year were being killed in Kenya. He was arrested but released on cash bail of Sh30,000 from Langata police station until March 29, when he has to report back to CID.

On Saturday, the Nation ran a short story saying that Kahindi was never arrested and the KWS did not instigate any arrest. That prompted Ecotourism to challenge the KWS denial. “Kenya Wildlife Service has no basis to deny that the arrest of Mr Kahindi occurred. The police cash bail receipt (which clearly states that Kahindi was arrested for ‘undermining the authority of a public officer’ i.e. the complainant, KWS Director), together with Mr Kahindi’s statement written in the presence of KWS officers and and the occurrence book record attest to and confirms Kahindi’s arrest, interrogation and detention related to a complaint by the KWS Director, Julius Kipngetich about Mr Kahindi’s published opinion,” Ecotourism Kenya said in a statement yesterday.

“The cash bail period extension was signed last Tuesday morning by the Divisional Criminal Investigations Officer at Langata police station in the presence of two investigations officers from Kenya Wildlife Service,” they added. “Ecotourism Kenya still agrees with Mr Kahindi that last year witnessed one of the worst episodes of ivory poaching in recent times, which may have resulted in the death of hundreds of elephants,” said the statement.

“The poaching menace has been continued since the beginning of this year and the situation is growing worse daily, given the high number of poaching incidents reported by KWS and other wildlife stakeholders, including tour operators countrywide. This is a big threat to tourism”, Ecotourism said.

The Coat of arms of Kenya (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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The Phillipines gets four new zip lines and ecotourism efforts continue

Image via Wikipedia

High in the hills of Floridablanca, in the Phillipines, is a blooming haven of nature and man-made structures in a domain preserved and nurtured by Aetas, an upland blend of ecological and tourism adventure that is Nabuclod.

Much has been written and heard of the once untapped spot — except maybe its people in the resettlement site — until Governor Lilia Pineda and Second District Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo teamed up to harness its potential, so indigenous people there could reap the benefits of what is now known as the Nabuclod Upland Eco-Tourism Adventure.

On dawn Saturday, the governor led the Capitol horde, along with friends and representatives from Pampanga media, in planting hundreds of trees as a prelude to her 61st birthday on February 21. The gift was meant to breathe greater life to the 5,000-hectare development project where now stand two of four zip lines and cable cars.

“By the summer season, we would have completed the zip lines as well developed a large part of Nabuclod for eco-tourism. Our desire is for it to be self-sustaining, especially its agricultural part where Aetas would be able to supply the province and even Manila with vegetables of all kinds. We are almost there,” shared Governor Pineda.

The Nabuclod Upland Eco-Tourism Adventure, she said, features two viewing decks where the splendor of Pampanga meets the eye; the thrilling zip-lines and cable cars Second District Board Member Olga Frances David-Dizon described as amazing and enjoyable; the bike and ATV [all-terrain vehicle] trail frequented now by mountain riders; the stairway to Bolben; the camping site where members of the National Movement of Young Legislators led by 3rd District Board Member Trina Dizon would pitch their tents on February 25 for their own tree planting day; the very green agri area and the proposed Grotto on the religious side.

Added 4th District Board Member Nestor Tolentino, chair of the Nabuclod Project technical working group: “This upland eco-tourism project is actually a build-operate-transfer with investors. Capitol’s expense on this is very minimal. The potential is so big that in the near future, Nabuclod would be one of the favorite tourist spots in Pampanga. The people here are assured that nothing will be destroyed and their natural environment preserved and protected.”

First District Board Member Tarcicio “Tars” DC Halili– who described his first-ever zip line ride as very good — readily agreed and noted that he will file a resolution calling for the creation of a Nabuclod Tourism Council which will complement the technical working group on the master plan.

“The Nabuclod Tourism Council could then manage the project and see to its efficient operations,” he said.

Going to the top of Nabuclod is already an adventure in itself. Along the zigzagging paved roads, Aeta kids greet and wave to passersby, welcoming them warmly into their haven. The less than hour’s drive upon entering the main street past Basa Air Base is never boring with greeneries all around and scenes of human interests, of daily life that is Nabuclod for the keen-eyed photographer.

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Ecotourism visits the Bataan Rainforest

Image via Wikipedia

The 218-hectare idle lot called Roosevelt Protected Landscape in Barangay Roosevelt will be developed into an Integrated Ecotourism Development project by a private investor.

Based on the Memorandum of Agreement entered into between the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Region 3 office through the Protected Area Management Board-Roosevelt Protected Landscape (PAMB-RPLS) and Green Asia Construction and Development Corp., the 218-hectare will be developed by a private investor in order to “provide the public better and ecologically aesthetic recreational, educational and tourism- related facilities.”

The pouring in of investment by a private company, headed by Renato P. Legaspi, Sr., Green Asia president and chief executive officer, will not only create jobs for people here and additional income to government coffers but also protect the area from informal settlers.

The DENR assured that the area will be protected by Green Asia, in compliance with Republic Act 7586 or National Integrated Protected Areas Act of 1992 enacted to establish the National Integrated Protected Areas System.”

Police and local authorities , armed with an order to demolish the more or less 400 shanties and temporary houses made of light materials, cracked down on illegal settlers who occupied protected and watershed areas in Roosevelt.

In the agreement, the PAMB-RPLS and Green Asia “mutually acknowledge the vital role of ecotourism development in nation-building and mutually recognize the authority of PAMB to decide/approve matters related to the Protected Area of Management of the Roosevelt Protected Landscape.”

Under DENR Administrative Order No. 2008-26, the PAMB shall approve policies, guidelines, plans and programs, proposals and agreements for the management and protected areas. The PAMB is headed by the incumbent Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer, Amado Villanueva, a veteran in the region.

The Green Asia shall secure the 218 hectares and be responsible for its protection to prevent encroachment of other individuals into the protected area in accordance with the required Comprehensive Development and Management Plan.

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Jordan’s Biosphere Reserve is an Oasis in the Desert

Dana (Photo credit: sharnik)

Up in the Ottoman-era labyrinth of Dana village, the RSCN is shepherding a groundbreaking restoration project with U.S. Agency for International Development funds. The developers who have despoiled the Dead Sea coast with large, unsympathetic resorts are being kept at bay, in favor of boutique hotels that complement the region’s rich heritage.

Though not as spectacular or wellpreserved as some other Jordanian ruins — Dana’s main site, the Byzantine citadel of Khirbet Feynan, was reduced to rubble by an earthquake in the 8th century — Dana’s ruins lay claim to being as valuable, for some of them are infinitely older. On a stony hillside overlooking the desert plains, I spend hours picking through the animal bones and limestone crockery of a Stone Age settlement believed to date back 11,000 years.

It’s little wonder that the locals should feel a potent sense of ownership. Yet all the people I talk to seem to have embraced the influx of low-level tourism. The old indigenous life perseveres, but interactions between tourists and locals seem unjaded. My trip is punctuated by invitations to share a cup of Arabic coffee — a spicy brew infused with cardamom — and handshakes with grizzled farmers driving their herds in search of meager pasture.

According to Tarazi, this honest cultural exchange has become one of Dana’s main drawing cards. “What started as a project aimed at benefiting the local community has traveled full circle,” he says. “Now, the opportunity to interact with local people is one of the main reasons for Feynan’s success.” From the outset, conserving Dana has meant conserving this timeless human presence.

Mohammad epitomizes the way this coming together of old and new has served to enrich the tourist experience here. Born in a cave not far from where the lodge now stands, he lived his childhood on the knife-edge of subsistence. From age 6 he worked as a goatherd, camping out at night among the rocky pinnacles with only his flute for comfort.

After he finished school, the opportunity to go to university lured him away from Dana — just one migrant in a wider diaspora, as the countryside’s young people, disillusioned by the traditional life, headed for the cities — until the prospect of a job with the ecolodge enticed him back. Today, that job, well-paying by Jordanian standards, means a better life for his young family and a small home in a village on the reserve’s western periphery.

And the job comes easy. Mohammad is a natural guide, as deeply reverent of the old ways as he is proud of his work. “Some visitors have said that this is the best trip of their lives,” he claims, later sending me the TripAdvisor testimonials of former Feynan guests to prove it. “This makes me very happy.”

Together, in pleasant springtime temperatures, we meander along the tracks that radiate from the lodge. Barely a minute goes by without Mohammad stopping to point out things that my less keen eyes might have missed, such as the pattern of a plant fossil high on a wind-polished wall, or a brief cameo from the reserve’s shy wildlife: a blue lizard darting across the pebbles or a griffon vulture wheeling against the lapis sky.

Of the reserve’s stellar cast of mammals — several of which are endangered — we find little, save for the gaggles of domesticated camels that we see often, their forelegs fettered to stop them from striding off into the shimmering desert.

Over at the pioneering copper mines, we spend a whole morning peering into the crab-holes that perforate the bedrock, attempting to imagine the files of blinking men emerging from below, laden with ore chipped from the seams that begin 100 feet down and run for 300 feet underground. In between sites, we walk along gulches scattered with shards of green malachite, where Mohammad demonstrates the knowledge that develops where harsh conditions demand ingenuity: that the white-flowered artemisia can be used as an antiseptic and that marjoram, when crushed, behaves like soap.

But our most memorable foray takes us into the famously beautiful slot canyon of Wadi Ghwayr. The scenery gets better the deeper we go. The walls gradually narrow, until we are burrowing into a gullet of granular rock that rises in raspberry-ripple dips and bulges, blocking out the sun. An hour in, rivulets of water appear at our feet, running in braided channels before disappearing back underground — a sign that up on the Shobak plateau, the rains are beginning.

“Where you find the water you can make the life,” Mohammad counsels happily, hopping from boulder to sandbank before pushing on up the gorge. Five hundred generations have done just that in Dana. And as Jordan sets the standard for eco-tourism in the Middle East, it seems likely that people will be living here for generations to come.

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Eco Tourism in Namibia

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Namibia, in southwestern Africa, is sparsely populated, and most of the people who live there are crushingly poor. The Damaraland region, which lies in northwest Namibia, is a scorching, rugged landscape of buttes and rocky mountains, all dry and barren. Only two to six inches of rain falls each year and the temperature often soars above 100 degrees. I was drawn by the exotic storybook animals that somehow live in this arid countryside: oryx with their long, lethal horns, as well as hyenas, gorillas, delicate springboks and the desert-adapted elephants.

In Fontaine village, a small garden surrounded a water hole and water tank, which were filled by a pipeline that ran from a distant borehole. Pam, the village spokesperson, dressed in shorts, a T-shirt, a straw hat and flip-flops, pointed to a broken electric fence. In pidgin English, Pam said, “We installed the fence to keep elephants out of the garden. But the elephants were smart and threw large tree branches on the fence and then came in.”

We saw a broken windmill, lying on its side. Pam said it had been knocked over by a windstorm. A line of poles and a single thin wire receding into the distance were the only indications that electricity had arrived in the village three years ago.

The villagers belong to the Riemvasmaak tribe, which was forcibly displaced to this desolate place from South Africa in 1973 when the repressive apartheid policy was in force and Namibia, then called South-West Africa, was ruled by South Africa. The Damaraland region is home to two main tribes, the Riemvasmaak, who speak Afrikaans, which sounds similar to German, and the Damara, who speak the strangely melodic Damara click language, Khoekhoe. Near the Damaraland Camp, most of the people are Riemvasmaak, who have long been seminomadic pastoralists, grazing goats and cattle.

Hidden in this sad scene, however, is a small but heartwarming success story, for the local people have begun to make connections with the modern world and are starting to earn extra income. They are easing their poverty and starting to earn extra income, which is helping to ease their poverty.

During the early 1980s there was a major drought throughout northwest Namibia and an always-difficult situation became even more desperate. Farming was next to impossible because soil is scarce in the rocky terrain, which will only support grazing by goats and some sheep and cattle. Furthermore, the region lacked industry and commerce, so there were virtually no jobs. With an abundance of weak or dead livestock, predation by lions increased. At the same time, poaching for ivory, rhino horn and meat became rampant. The game population declined drastically, and the drought continued. Displaced Riemvasmaak must have thought they had been transported to hell.

The lodge hosts hikers and hunters.

Local leaders and conservation groups became concerned about the huge loss of game and other species. Finally, action was taken and wardens were hired to monitor game and combat poaching. The program succeeded. Another blessing was the return of rain. By the early 1990s the drought had broken and game was recovering.

In the mid-1990s, a local nongovernmental organization studied the situation and concluded that local communities would benefit from a luxury lodge that would draw tourists to marvel at the spectacular scenery and exotic wildlife. In 1995, a residents association was formed to represent the community in negotiating with investors. The association visited every household to explain the plan and goals, and to ensure broad support. The process was time-consuming but it succeeded, and a southern African tourism company, Wilderness Safaris, was chosen to develop the lodge, called Damaraland Camp. This was Namibia’s first joint-venture agreement between a community and a private tourism company, a ground-breaking achievement.

Because Wilderness Safaris has the goals of conserving nature and helping local communities, the contract was generous and progressive. It required that Wilderness Safaris pay the community a rental fee for use of the land and 10 percent of the net daily rate on each bed-night sold. Most significantly, the contract stipulated that local people be employed in the lodge and trained to managerial-level jobs, giving the young people there a huge opportunity. Furthermore, laundry services were to be subcontracted locally. Provision was also made for the community to gradually acquire ownership of the lodge.

At the same time, the Namibian government was developing methods for local communities to gain some degree of responsibility over their areas, a complicated issue since all rural land is government-owned. Legislation was passed that gave villages rights over wildlife and tourism on their land if they formed a management body called a conservancy. A part of the Damaraland region consisting of 3,520 square kilometers, 20 villages and a population of 1,200, formed and received registration with the Ministry of Environment & Tourism as the Torra Conservancy in 1998. Torra was one of the first communities in the country to establish a conservancy because the process was relatively easy, thanks to the existing residents association.

The combination of a luxury lodge and big-game safaris turned out to be remarkably successful, suggesting that “conservancy tourism” may be the best way to mingle with elephants or lions, and is a step above wildlife reserves such as Etosha National Park in Northern Namibia. Parks and reserves have no human populations, whereas conservancies have wild animals and people living together in the same place, a situation that can often get complicated, but offers excellent viewing.

Bennie Roman, the chairman of the Torra Conservancy, who has been a leader of the indigenous people since the inception of the process, says with pride, “Since we have had our own wardens to stop poaching, wildlife has more than doubled.” He explains that the conservancy also educates the locals to help them minimize the impact of human-animal interactions, including the killing of cattle by predators such as lions, and elephants damaging gardens and water tanks. To further

Florry’s now district manager.

discourage the shooting of “pest” animals, the conservancy pays compensation for any damage done by the wild animals.

“The bottom line,” Roman says, “is that the villagers have become partners in this conservancy and ecotourism venture and, as a result, have begun to value and protect their habitat and its animals.” The initiative has been successful both here and at other conservancies, with tourism in Namibia growing from 250,000 visitors in 1993 to more than 900,000 in 2008.

And for those seeking excitement in the Hemingway style, the conservancy acquired a quota for hunting of the so-called “trophy species” from the Ministry of Environment & Tourism, after which it entered into a contract with a professional hunter in 1999. For example, a tourist must pay $3,500 for a license to shoot a leopard or cheetah. The quotas set by the ministry ensure that hunting is done on a sustainable basis. Although a small operation, the hunting option brings in tourist dollars and supplies meat to the local community.

The most rewarding aspect of the project has been the Damaraland Camp, which is a luxury lodge employing about 32 people, of whom roughly 26 are from local communities. The Torra Conservancy ensures that every family in Torra has the opportunity to send a family-member to work at the lodge. Wilderness Safaris provides training and also offers work to many locals at other lodges throughout Namibia and neighboring countries.

The Torra Conservancy has created nine jobs as administrative staff and game guards. The conservancy also organizes soccer games, needle classes, workshops and little markets. Currently, the Torra Conservancy owns 40 percent of the Damaraland Lodge and Wilderness Safaris owns the remaining 60 percent. Over the next 20 years, the conservancy share will grow to 100 percent—complete ownership. Wilderness Safaris has taken a generous approach. It gifted the first 40 percent lodge ownership to the conservancy, and will not receive payment for the transfer of the remainder of its ownership.

Perhaps the biggest supporter of Damaraland Camp and the partnership between the Torra Conservancy and Wilderness Safaris is Pascolena Florry. A bubbly, smiling woman of Riemvasmaak heritage, she says, “I grew up in Driefontein village and was a goat herder, but I always dreamed of having a nice job. I so badly wanted to learn to speak and read English that I would stop tourists and ask for newspapers, brochures, anything.” When the conservancy offered her family a job at the lodge, however, she stood aside so her younger brother could get it. Fortunately, a few years later she also won a position.

Florry received training at another Wilderness Safaris lodge, returned to Damaraland Camp and slowly worked her way up from a junior staff member to assistant manager and then manager. She also spent a year in the United States on an exchange program learning hotel management.

Today, at the age of 38, she is Damaraland area manager for Wilderness Safaris and a national success story, a shining example of how opportunities can be brought to rural areas. She was the first black woman to manage a camp in Namibia and one of the first black managers in the country. Not bad, considering she never interacted with whites until the Damaraland Camp was established in 1995. “Before, I only stared at white people and admired their clothes,” she says. Then she paused, adjusted her glasses, and adds, “But you need to work very hard for success.”

“The joint venture between Wilderness Safaris and the community really makes a difference in our lives,” Florry says. “Wilderness is my second family, and to work at our joint-venture lodge brings excitement, happiness, love and care for the environment and wildlife.”

There is no denying that the joint venture has been successful. In 1998, Damaraland Camp won an international tourism award, the Silver Otter. In 2001, Torra became the first conservancy in Namibia to become financially sustainable, meeting all its management costs and making a profit for its members. In 2004, Torra won the United Nations Development Programme Equator award, a prestigious prize that includes $30,000, which goes to community projects that effectively reduce poverty through conservation and the sustainable use of biodiversity. And in 2005, Damaraland Camp received the World Travel & Tourism Council Tourism for Tomorrow Award for sustainable tourism.

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The Rise of Slow Travel in the U.K.

(Note from Robert:  The Following is a Guest Post from Charlotte Nicol of Most Curious Tours.  Enjoy–)

The rise of Slow travel in the UK

The Slow movement is becoming increasingly popular in the UK, encompassing slow travel, slow food, slow books, cities, and even schools. The movement began in Italy with a protest organised by Carlo Petrini’s against the opening of a McDonald’s restaurant in Rome, 1986. This sparked the creation of the Slow food organisation, and further movements grew from this. When applied to travel, slow means having time to explore your surroundings, respecting the local culture, and having a meaningful connection to where you are staying – the opposite of hopping on a plane to Benedorm to live in a resort for a week. Although there is no hard and fast definition, most take this to mean travelling by foot, bike, and public transport, contributing to the local economy, and staying in one place for more than a couple of hours. Slow travellers generate wealth for small businesses run by local people, keep their carbon footprint to a minimum, and make a positive effort to interact with local communities.

An emphasis is also placed on enjoying the journey to the destination, as well as the destination itself. The idea of travelling and enjoying the method of travel is fairly alien in our society in which immediacy is celebrated. Arguably, as well as the economy, environment and communities that the Slow traveller visits, the Slow travel movement also encourages a different mentality – the importance of ‘now’.

Our minds are often occupied with the future or the past rather than the present – the Slow Travel movement encourages us to be in the present moment, and to enjoy our journey rather than counting down the minutes on the plane, or becoming hot and tired in the car. The slow travel movement places an emphasis on enjoying the journey to the final destination as well as the anticipation of the arrival.

(Charlotte Nicol is the co-founder of the UK based Tour company called Most Curious Tours. Recently launched, Most Curious Tours aims at showing tourists the hidden cultural hotspots of the UK, travelling in small groups by scenic railway routes, staying in independent accommodation, and attending local concerts and theatre productions in hand-picked destinations across the UK.)

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Ecotourism in Nigeria

When those of us in the United States think Eco tourism, many other countries come to mind.  And when we think of Nigeria, Eco-tourism is not high on the list.  But eco tourism parks across the globe are huge sources of income to any nation’s economy through the tourism sector. Eco-tourism, is fast becoming a major tourism product which destinations now parade on their tourism calendar, as most vacation seekers, tired of city life, seek destinations with huge stock of wild animals and unspoiled green reserves, which Nigeria has.

The Nigeria National Park Service has seven National Parks which span across the various ecological zones of Nigeria (with the exception of the marine ecosystem), capable of enhancing ecological processes and life support systems.

According to the NNPS, the seven national parks are located in Kaduna-Kamuku National Park, Oyo-Old Oyo Park, Borno/Yobe-Chad Basin; Cross River, Gashaka Gumti in Adamawa/Taraba; Kainji Lake in Kwara/Niger and Okomu in Edo State.

Each of them has its own unique attributes in terms of biophysical and anthropogenic resources to offer to visitors. They cover a total land area of approximately 20,156 sq. km, i.e. about three per cent of the country total land area (i.e. 932,768 km2).

As in many parts of the world, the seven National Parks are on the Exclusive Legislative List of the Constitution and are therefore controlled and managed by the Federal Government being the highest legal authority in the land.

However, the federal government in recent times has been grappling with the challenge of effectively funding these parks and reaping the attendant tourism gains inherent in their effective management.

Also, the national parks are supervised by the Federal Ministry of Environment, which though has the capacity to conserve the parks for conservation sake and lacks the capacity to market the parks to foreign tourists.

Spokesman for the NNPS, Mr. Emma Ntuyang, said conservation is very crucial as it is the basis for tourism promotion.

At a media parley at the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation in Abuja, in 2010, the Nigeria National Park Service (NNPS) reaffirmed the need to rebuild its long-standing partnership with the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) as part of efforts to promote the national parks. The Conservator General of NNPS, Alhaji Haruna Tanko Abubakar.

The NNPS Boss who came in the company of other top management staff of the Service said, “The purpose of this visit is to rebuild the long cordial relationship between the National Park Service and the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation”

He sought the revitalisation of the partnership with NTDC by way of producing jingles, billboards and a national eco-tourism expo as a way of promoting tourism in Nigeria.

President Goodluck Jonathan (yes, that is his real name, and his picture, below) at the last Abuja Carnival in November challenged state, local governments and the private sector to key into tourism development in order to create jobs

He said that the Federal Government on its part was committed to effectively diversifying Nigeria’s economic base, against the over dependence on oil and gas. Represented by Vice-President Namadi Sambo, Jonathan stated that the government would be focusing on stimulating growth in such sectors of huge potential as agriculture and tourism.

The starting point in making the parks contribute to the economy on the scale the President desires is however, the amendment of the constitution to remove national parks management from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent and Residual lists so that state and local governments can develop new parks and open them up for tourism.

Using the example in the Philippines, Eco-parks are money making ventures and ready campaign materials for mangrove awareness.

The Zoological Society of London have been working on two projects in that country including an 800m boardwalk for visitors to explore the mangrove swamps.

In South Africa, wildlife parks form major part of her tourism package and the marketing of these assets is aggressive and organised, with statistical data to show the number of tourists that visited the sites on a weekly, monthly and quarterly bases.

In recent times however, the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has been promoting a public private partnership arrangement in the management of ecotourism parks.

It will be interesting to see how this develops in the future.

Image via Wikipedia

 

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