Celebrating the experience, creating memories as part of a journey—this motivates today’s traveller. Tourism has transitioned from the pursuit of disconnecting, to a craving for connecting with new cultures, and wildlife. Travel represents the salve to our myopic world—a chance to expand our horizons and deepen our sense of connection and contribution. Wildlife encounters are perhaps the most popular, but is this form of tourism good for nature?
The Tiger Temple in Thailand is one example of tourist deception and odious misconduct of animal welfare. Promoted as a unique encounter and opportunity to support an endangered species—people naturally flocked to the site, hoping to connect and contribute to the preservation of this iconic cat. Tiger lovers posting selfies of their experience, unaware their encounter was anything but good for the animals. Social selfies and other publicity was encouraged to highlight the tourism hotspot as memorable experience that funds the care and conservation of an endangered species—in reality though, well-intentioned tourists were actually supporting a heinous trade in tiger cubs and parts.
Thankfully this story is not an accurate representation of wildlife tourism, on the whole the industry empowers communities to protect and preserve endangered animals and habitat.
The message… you can have a unique encounter that contributes to a broader effort in the preservation of wildlife.
Better still, this kind of connection ticks all of the boxes. It connects us with an expanded view of the world, an experience with personal value and global impact—we become part of a bigger world, and a lasting legacy!
So how do you save the world one holiday at a time?
Environmental graduate Jessie Panazzolo believes we can achieve global conservation through an informed perspective on travel. Her brainchild Heroic Tourism, is defined as the art of saving the world whilst travelling. Offering accountability and a reliable reference for choosing ethical encounters, with the intentions of education and good decision making influencing a few saved animals and ecosystems here and there.
These days it seems like every cool holiday activity is just down right bad, but here is the good news, there are still loads of ethical holiday activities you can do for an even better experience for you and the animals. Let’s take a look at some of the alternatives:
Whale and dolphin watching tours
Supporting your local whale or dolphin watching tour is so much better than visiting Seaworld because not only do you get to support small local businesses, but you also get the thrill of spotting wild cetaceans in their natural habitat. Some dolphin tours will even let you swim with the dolphins in a more ethical manner by letting you swim beside or behind the tour boat and allowing the wild dolphins to come as close or as far from you as they want.
Safari’s and guided walks
If you think nothing can compare to riding an elephant, try seeing herds of wild elephants in the savannahs of Africa or from viewing platforms in the forests of Asia. Not only elephants, but visiting national and safari parks allows you to see a whole new world of animals in their natural habitat but close enough to get a good look at. The best part about guided walks is that you can tailor them to your interests and in very interested groups, it is more likely that tour guides would be willing to show you animals that other disinterested groups wouldn’t get to see. Not only are these experiences exciting for you, they also support the conservation of the world’s most threatened species by protecting their habitat so tourists such as yourself can keep having more amazing experiences.
Adventure tourism
White water rafting, zip lining, sky diving, paragliding! These are all amazingly fun and exhilarating things to do in nature that cause no harm to any animals. What better way to experience how a bird sees the forest than to go zip lining through the canopy or sky diving, where free falling through the sky definitely gives you a bird’s eye view! What better way to explore a river than to get wet and zoom down its rapids? Be the fish, be the bird, be whatever you want to be and have an amazing time outdoors.
Get out and explore!
In most places you can visit, there are usually places that are safe enough to wander about yourself, whether it be hiking or exploring coast lines there are always lots of critters to be found. Snorkelling is completely free and accessible in many coastal locations as long as you have a snorkel and some fins and allows you to see a wide range of marine critters such as fish, turtles, sea stars and crabs. If the water isn’t for you, just looking around rock pools on the shore will find you many crabs, shell fish and if you’re lucky maybe pools with sea stars and sea cucumbers waiting to be discovered. If the coast isn’t for you, grab some shoes and head out through a forest track and witness the diverse bird life that is waiting for you in every country, the hidden insect gems and feel the amazing sensation of just discovering a mammal scurrying about. This is the cheapest and wildly accessible option for tourism and allows you to even become a tourist in your own back yard!
And no! You don’t have to give up selfies!
Selfies with elephants and tigers right next to you may be bad for the animals and promoting unethical tourism, however you don’t have to give up selfies for good. There are many wild animals who are more than willing to give you an amazing photo if you are respectful of them, there are fish and turtles happy to swim beside you in the water and I have been known to take a selfie with a peacock perched behind me. Forcing an animal to be disrupted for your picture is obviously not ideal, but if the animal is not being affected in any way by the photo then just go for it! Selfie away!
So these are the top tips for having the best and most ethical holiday possible. Just remember, finding wild animals might not be as easy as paying to see them in captivity, but it is definitely 100 times more rewarding, especially when you know you are protecting them rather than hurting them. It’s never too late to make the change, to be a hero. Save the world on your next holiday!
