Hello All
There has probably been another side to the ecotourism coin ever since it
became flavour of the month anyway. The ramifications of 'ecotourism' not
only apply to animals as the Nepalese experience and the tale below
demonstrate.
I travelled as a guide/lecturer with Society Expeditions back in 1990
(their motto was "leave no footprints)
Then we visited the Asmat. This was supposed to be the highlight of the
trip. We had an 'anthropologist' on board who had lived with these
people and led people in their war chants every night. His lectures on
the friendships he had made etc, but on their other practices namely
sucking all the appendages of people they adopted (fingers, nose,
nipples, penis etc) and of course their head-hunting. When he started
questioning Terry Yumbulul a renowned Aboriginal artist about Aboriginal
sexual mores, we were really angry; Terry's wife was so angry I thought
she'd punch the bloke (I would have helped her). Fortunately most
passengers for all their interest in sex and head-hunting were more
concerned that on embarking they treat the Asmat as fellow human beings
and I was quizzed by several as to how they should behave.
However not all passengers (nor staff) behaved sensibly. Passengers
buying up sacred objects nearly caused a riot. If the headpeople refused
the sale passengers would offer wads of money to others. In the end they
got their bargains, some of them statues 2 metres in length. We had to
retreat to the Zodiacs in the face of a crowd of several hundred. Then,
while we were still tied up, some bright staff member began handing out
sandwiches and drinks. Of course the men standing at the edge of the
dock less than a metre away wanted their fair share. When some
passengers handed up the food and drink other men at the back started
shoving and punching. Staff members suddenly saw the light and we got
the hell out of there. The experience backfired somewhat for several
passengers were horrified at what had happened and when the
'anthropologist' got up to lead the warchants he got a rather tepid
reception. Several said they'd never return. One man who'd bought one
of the huge statues (and used to boast that he was part American Indian)
was apparently mortified at what he'd done and began a movement to keep
cruise ships out of the area.
there were also examples of blatant environmental insensitivity. For
instance I (and several passengers) saw all their garbage(for 165
passengers and at least 50 crew) being chucked off the back of the ship
at night.
This paper was presented at an International Ecotourism Conference,
Brisbane in 1991 and published in the Burea of Tourism Research.
Denise Goodfellow
Denise Goodfellow (Lawungkurr Maralngurra)
Specialist Guide
Ph/fax 08 89818492
PO Box 39373
WINNELLIE NT 0821, AUSTRALIA
www.earthfoot.org
Parap Bookshop
2ndhand and new books
08 89813922
To unsubscribe from this list, please send a message to
Include ONLY "unsubscribe birding-aus"
in the message body (without the quotes)
|
