Oh, the Places We'll Go

Our good friends, Jesse and Dave, recently introduced me to this cool new blog feature that allows for a picture slideshow within a post.  So I decided to feature some slideshows of our Best Of photo albums.  Here’s the first – back to August 2010 in Ecuador.  Enjoy…

Petting cheetahs.  You know, a regular day in Africa.

Petting Cheetahs

Petting Cheetahs

My latest post for World Nomad’s Responsible Travel Blog, this time about luxury “bubble” tourism to Africa.  Check it out here, or have a read below:

African Access – Too Limited to the Rich and Famous?

Botswana is an Africa success story in many respects.  In a continent littered with political turmoil, corruption, famine, and disease, Botswana has emerged as a diamond in the ruff.  In fact, it is diamonds that have brought stability, infrastructure, government services, and capital to the country’s growing economy.  Rich diamond deposits were discovered only a few years after the country earned independence in 1966, and revenue earned from their extraction has funded near-first-world healthcare, roads, schools, and social services.  But the diamonds can only last so long, and with less than 3 decades of reserves left in the mines, Botswana is working hard to diversify it’s economy.

After diamonds, tourism is Botswana’s ticket to prolonged success, and the country has taken a very proactive approach in developing a specific type of tourism – Conservation-focused, high-revenue, low-volume travel.  Ok, that’s industry speak, but essentially what the country is trying to promote is luxury travel to the bush to the select few that can afford it.  If promoted well and monitored closely, this type of tourism could soon overcome diamonds as the #1 industry in Botswana, and hopefully ensure ongoing success for the country’s economy and citizens.

Mokoro Ride

While the conservation-focused luxury travel model certainly has its advantages, it also brings up an important debate – should access to the world’s most amazing places be limited only to those with deep pockets?  On one hand, this type of travel has its benefits for the environment and the economy.  On the other hand, restricting access only to those with extensive financial resources prohibits most of the local population from experiencing their own back yard.  Let’s look at a few of the pros and cons of Botswana’s tourism strategy.

Luxury Tented Camp

Pros

· Controlling environmental impacts – focusing on low-volume visitation means fewer negative environmental impacts on the sensitive African bush and wildlife (fewer people, fewer jeeps, less water, less fuel, less waste, etc)

· Revenue for conservation – High taxes, fees, and levies are charged from luxury travelers, which are put towards further conservation efforts

· Super Eco - luxury travel providers have the financial means to invest in cutting-edge eco and sustainable tourism projects.  Some of the world’s leading eco-lodges can be found in the bush

· Efficient conservation – With only a handful of operators, less money is spent on monitoring and oversight, directing more money towards other important conservation initiatives

Cons

· No access for the masses – Nature is meant to be shared by all, and everyone should have the opportunity to experience the African bush.  First and foremost, the people of Botswana should have reasonably-priced access to their own natural wonders

· Conservation opportunities lost – It is only after you have experienced a place, that you can become a steward of that environment.  If locals don’t have the opportunity to enjoy the bush, how can they be expected to fight for its protection?

· Fewer jobs – low-volume tourism means fewer employment opportunities for the people living near the parks and reserves

What do you think? Should governments restrict access to help curb environmental impacts?  Or should conservation sacrifices be made in the name of making nature accessible to all?  In Botswana’s case, it’s a complicated issue with many additional factors to consider.  Whether you agree with the country’s approach or not, one thing is for sure – Botswana’s bush parks and wildlife are worth a visit…if you can afford it.

Never seen a warning like this before:

Cape Town Panorama from Table Mountain.  Amazing…

Apparently, there is a tourist demand for packaged elephant crap.  Who buys this sh*t?!? 

After all this talk about safaris, it’s about time we share some animal photos.  For a detailed look at all of our favorites, check out our African Mega-Fauna photo album.  A few highlights are below.

African Wild Dog

Leopard

Elephant

Cape Buffalo

Male Lion

Cheetah

Rhino

As part of our stay at the River Club, we visited a local community, Simonga Village,  that has a very close relationship with the hotel.  It was an interesting experience, though a bit uncomfortable from our perspectives.  I wrote about the visit for World Nomads’ Responsible Tourism Blog, which can be found here, or copied below.

A Beneficial But Uncomfortable Community Visit

Over the past five months, I’ve had the opportunity to visit a number of rural communities as part of my travels and cultural interests.  Some have been amazing experiences, others have been mediocre encounters.  But in all cases, the hearts of the organizers, communities, and travelers were in the right place, with the end goal of providing benefits to the host community while providing a rich and interactive experience for the traveler.  What I’m coming to realize, however, is that even when the system is set up properly, the experience is only as good as the time you put into it.

The Simonga Village is a small community about 20km outside the border town of Livingstone, Zambia.  The region is home to one of Africa’s premier tourist destinations, Victoria Falls – one of the seven natural wonders of the world.  The Zambian side of the falls has seen a tourism surge in the past decade due to the ongoing political and social turmoil in neighboring Zimbabwe, and tourist infrastructure has quickly developed to meet the increasing demand.  Simonga is situated near a number of hotels and lodges along the Zambezi River above the falls.  One of these properties, The River Club, has sort of “adopted” the village as a way to give back to the surrounding community.

Children welcome tourists with a song

Simonga Village children

Simonga has learned some important lessons from other neighboring communities, and is one of only a handful of villages that has truly embraced tourism as an opportunity for increasing the quality of life for their people.  Traditionally, villages in the region were not interested in welcoming visitors to their homes, believing that tourists would bring bad fortune, and the photos they took would steal their souls.  Simonga’s village elders, however, saw the region’s growth in tourism as a way to bring great benefits to it’s community, and with the help of the River Club and its guests, the community has thrived in relation to its neighbors.

I gotta hand it to Simonga and the River Club – they are working hard to make this a win-win for everyone involved.  The community tours offered to River Club guests attempt to provide some sincere interaction between guests and villagers (which is hard to do in a 30-60 minute visit).  The tours are conducted in a respectful manner, always requesting entry and permission for conversation and photos.  The kids don’t beg for money, and seem interested in talking and playing with the tourists.  As a result, donations from the River Club and its guests have helped the community to renovate their water supply system and school, build a police post and a medical clinic, and pay the tuition for over 50 students to attend high school in the neighboring town.  Additionally, the River Club employs a number of Simonga’s residents on their staff.

Sounds pretty peachy, right?  For some, it certainly is – a few of our fellow guests raved about the experience, how they got to see how rural Africa really lives, and how cute the kids were.  But for me, it was just plain uncomfortable.  A colleague of mine calls these “pet the children” visits – sarcastically comparing the experience to visiting animals in a zoo.  I mean, the idea of a rich foreigner swinging through my neighborhood to see my lifestyle and living conditions is not only awkward, but degrading.  Spending less than an hour with the villagers provides nothing more than surface-level insights about African communities, and little, if any, meaningful interaction.  To me, visiting poor communities without trying to contribute to their well-being is selfish and harmful.

Tourists taking photos of kids

So, if Simonga and the River Club actually have a good system in place to ensure benefits are distributed, and the experience is still detrimental in some respects, then what can be done?  To me, it’s one simply factor – time.  Visiting a community for an hour, or even three, is simply not enough time to demonstrate that you, the visitor, care about the well-being of these villagers.  In order for them to open up to you, they must have some level of trust in you – trust that you actually care and are not just looking to see how poor people live.  If you want to visit a community to experience village life, then take the time to get to know them.  Spend a few nights, share stories, try walking in their shoes for a few days.  The time that you put in will determine the fulfillment that you (and your hosts) will get out of the experience.

Leaving South America was more of a bummer than I expected.  We knew that 4 months on the continent was hardly enough time to explore it, but we attempted to bite off a manageable itinerary, and overall I was very pleased with our speed and coverage of the chosen destinations.  What we didn’t know was how much we were going to enjoy it – from the language, to the people, to the cities, and the landscapes.  History, culture, architecture, diversity, food, mountains, coast, desert, etc, we found it all, and we loved it.  No doubt, we will be back (and hopefully for an extended period of time).

The other bummer about leaving South America was that phase 1, continent 1, was coming to a close.  At 4 months, this was the single largest chunk of our trip, and it’s scary to think about how quickly it went.  We battled this apprehension though nostalgia of all we saw, and excitement about what was to come.  Afterall, we still have 2/3 of the trip ahead of us.

Excitement for Africa is high.  South Africa has been one of my top 3 places to visit for years now.  Our chunk of time on this new continent is the big unknown for us.  While we don’t really “know” any of the places we’re going on this trip, previous travels have provided insight into Latin American and Asian travels, preparing us a bit for continents 1 and 3.  However, Africa is a wild card – we don’t know many people who have been, and even fewer who have been on a backpacking budget.  We’re a bit apprehensive about the costs – budget travel is a challenge we’re told (save a few popular tourist routes).  But we’ve got some amazing plans coming together quickly, including a work-related luxury safari in Botswana, and visits from both sets of parents.  Africa is going to be good, I can feel it.

Iguazu Falls – certainly one of the natural wonders of the world

Iguazu Falls