HERE we are again, in the throes of school holidays and, hopefully for the local economy, a stream of upcountry tourists. Most holidaymakers come down here for the obvious; sun, sea and sand, in other words, all the traditional things that make a holiday at the seaside a special treat.
Tomorrow, September 27, just happens to be World Tourism Day, so I thought it appropriate to look at tourism and specifically what has become known as ecotourism, or green tourism. I think most people think of ecotourism as a visit to a game reserve or something similar, but it’s slightly more complicated than that. The international Ecotourism Society defines ecotourism thus, tourism that ‘includes purposeful travel to natural areas; to understand the cultural and natural history of the environment; taking care not to alter the integrity of the ecosystem, while producing economic opportunities that make conservation of the natural resources beneficial to local people’. That’s somewhat more than a visit to the game reserve.
We have some really good ecotourism attractions down here. A few are the Umtamvuna Nature Reserve, particularly now in the wild flower season; Mpenjati Nature Reserve with its walks and the beach; the Birdlife Trogons new vulture hide at Oribi, now THAT’s a special ecotourism treat; and while you’re up there, the Oribi Gorge Nature Reserve and surrounds; the Red Desert near Port Edward and its evidence of early human activity; and there’s also the Whale Platform in Ramsgate and the Bushbuck Trail in Southbroom, both run by the local conservancies.
Some of these comply with some of the less obvious sections in the Ecotourism Society’s definition, like spin-offs for local communities, but they all comply with the main concept. The trouble is, I suppose, how do you persuade children who are building sandcastles on the beach and paddling in rock pools, that they need to be looking at wild flowers or vultures. Well, that’s where environmental education comes in and for the most part that’s the job of the parents. There should be time for the beach, quite naturally, and also time for a bit of nature too, quite naturally.
Staying with tourism, a common danger when people see tourists on the horizon is greed. We’ve just had a couple of really good days in the Natal Midlands, but I must point out that there was one aspect that was not so enjoyable, some of the prices. For example, we stopped at a much-publicised community market, I suppose one would call it, a sort of rural mall. We were looking forward to coming away loaded down with local produce: cheese and delicatessen, farm vegetables, pickles and things, home-baked bread, even farm butter, and TROUT! We came away with nothing but a couple of pots of flowers and herbs, which were reasonable, and bemoaning the cost of a cup of coffee in the ‘rural’ coffee shop. Never mind, we came home to our usual trusted purveyors of goodies, but sadly, no trout. Never mind, who was it who said, ‘Let them eat hake….’? Cheers!
