And on Your Left...

Being in Costa Rica now for two weeks, it has become apparent that the focus of all tourism in this country is eco tourism. This type of tourism is meant to take a person to exotic, ecologically diverse and beautiful landscapes to imprint the idea that our environment is very fragile. This should leave the idea that we must make changes to save the environment. The problem I have with this type of travel is that it generally hurts the environment or changes it.
What I mean by this is that, through our travels, we have been to private forests on nationally protected ones, which great lengths have been taken to ensure the stability of the environment, but human interference is still evident. In the cloud forest, which was visited by our class this past weekend, we first traveled through a private forest which zip lines have been set up all over the forest to provide a type of canopy tour to show the awesomeness of the rain forest. Though this is one of the best experiences that I have ever had, many paths and lines had to be erected to make travel through the jungle much easier for the customers. Also when the opportunity arose for some of my classmates, they would often reach out and grab leaves of trees for some odd reason. Though these all seem minor, with no effect, it all adds up to problems which could damage a fragile environment.
The national forest we visited was much safer environmentally, we were not allowed to use flash photography or take stuff from the forest, but it was apparent that damage still occurred. To tour the forest, paths were built, trees cut and streams diverted through pipes. This all impacts the overall quality of a forest, because it allows for human interference to come into an environment which has to have interferences on the wildlife and plant systems. It could also be seen that there were instances of litter being left in the forest and on the borders of it, which pose their own risk.
Outside these instances, when we visited Manuel Antonio, humans going to view wildlife have pushed our civilization to the edge of the animals, which ours will undoubtedly win. The dangers there were shown in the road, which numerous carcasses of animals were there (one which appeared to be of a monkey). Our modes of transportation are no match for frail animals. Again there is the issue of pollution, which trash was all over the beach and side of the road.
I believe that eco tourism holds an important aspect in educating the public about our ecosystems, but we must set barriers for ourselves to ensure that we don’t destroy or hurt what we came to see. I admit that my observations, the easiest solution would be to eliminate our exposure and protect completely the environment. An easier solution would be to find less invasive ways of seeing the plants and animals. Again a problem arises about cost, which I recognize Costa Rica is not a rich country and to attract many people here aids a lot of aspects of the society (small business, hotels, and travel companies) but they also must proactive in protecting as much as they show.
Ultimately the solution to the problems lies in those visiting, trying to find the least invasive ways in seeing the ecology. We must not litter and be mindful of the species that are in the areas that are visited. Also make sure that money that is spent goes to the locals and to the sustainability of the environment that is focus of the trip. I try to ensure that at least I don’t leave an impact on places I visit, following the idea of the Boy Scouts, leaving things better then when you arrived.