Ecotourism

The past two weeks of travel in Costa Rica have taken me from each coast and shown me the vast diversity of the country. Like we have studied in this class, on primary factor of Costa Rica´s income comes from tourism, specifically from visits to ecologically diverse areas. In my past blogs, I have been particularly harsh about some of the practices of that this type of tourism does to the respective environment and surrounding area, but it also allows for something greater and good to come from it.

I honestly believe that with some changes and ensured regulation by the government, ecotourism can become both good for the community and the environment. I believe this because in the last two weeks, I have been from the pacific in the Osa, where the class and myself stayed in a camp of sorts, sleeping in nature and allowing us to enjoy what it has to offer (often waking with the sounds of howler monkeys and the birds). There we also went on nature walks, exploring the natural wonders that are protected in the parks there. I believe that both parks we visited in the Osa are the best examples of as little impact visitors can have the nature we are visiting. Both times it was said that we must not take anything, while respecting the animals that we were around. The paths for walking were rudimentary at best, at the least looking as if paths for animals and if necessary built with natural products (stairs were made of cut logs and if a tree had fallen on the path, we were forced to go over/under/or around it). The guides that we took knew very much about the surroundings and were sure to make sure that we would learn as much as they could give us. They also made sure that we would not do anything to hinder where we were, often telling us to be quiet or to go no further off a path.

On the other leg of our travels, we went to the Caribbean, where again it was obvious that ecotourism has a dramatic affect and does not damage the environment drastically. The first and primary stop was La Silva Research station, where we could see how research and conservation go hand and hand. Here we saw that there are some damaging effects with cement paths and cleared areas, but this was more for researchers from around the world to come and study the biodiversity of rainforests. These better paths also allowed us to get comfortably into the forest to see nature much better (there I was able to see much more animals and inhabitants than on other forest walks). When we moved on to Monzineo, the surrounding towns thrived off of the tourist who would visit, with many booths and shops to pander to the needs. Products ranged from the normal tourist tee shirts to trinkets that were made from Costa Rican natural goods and foods. Also paths were like the Osa, made from walking and not cleared and covered in cement. The natural beauty was awesome and often inspired incorporation of living courters. Our hotel did this to a point to have the doors open to the sea while having a lot of open air areas and inviting nature to be part of the scenery, not pushing it off.

I have to say that these experiences have allowed for a better understanding and acceptance of ecotourism. Though I believe this is a good method of education and experiences, it still has a long way to perfection. Still there was trash that the tourism brought (wrappers and cups) and it does intrude upon nature, but with monitoring on governmental and individual level can curtail this. Too it was obvious that local shops benefited from this because there were towns dedicated to the tourist, which little shops managed to continue and offer a broad array of local fares.