Is Costa Rica in essence an Eco destination? The use of Zip wires in rainforest’s is just for fun and not really to view wild life. All the noise of metal slithering down the wire disturbs the animals. In such a scenario, walking trails in the forest remain a much better option.
Monteverde, is now the most popular place in the country to experience a cloud-forest habitat, one of only 12 true primary rain forests in the world, with areas of forest that have never been cut down.
It is also the location of the Children’s Eternal Forest, a 22,000-hectare reserve saved from loggers in the late 1980s when thousands of schoolchildren across the world were moved to save their pocket money and raise funds to buy it collectively.
Today it bars tourists, except along a solitary trail. No wonder it remains green.
Monteverde coastline , Image credit
Another popular destination is the active Arenal volcano that forms the centre of attention wherever you are in the town or surrounding countryside. Behind the perfect cone-shaped volcano spitting molten ash down its sides is a huge man-made lake - the largest in the country - which is said to offer some of the best windsurfing in Central America, and good fishing, too.
Arenal volcano and man made lake , Image credit
Just by the hydroelectric dam that formed the lake is a network of hanging bridges that allow tourists to walk through the rainforest canopy. In addition, dotted around this geothermal land are a number of hot springs.
These attractions combined draw half the tourists to Costa Rica. More and more farmers are switching to tourism as they take loans to build eco lodges. Even they realize that getting truckloads of tourists is not the answer, unlike big concerns that fund tourism of the zip wire kind.
Broadly, “ecotourism” has come to include not only the preservation of wildlife habitats visited by tourists, but also their human cohabitants. Nevertheless, should tourists be allowed to access some of the most extreme and sensitive wildlife habitats on the planet?
Road to Monteverde , Image credit
Would it not be better if such places were restricted to all but a few scientists and indigenous communities in order to better protect them?
Atabacon springs, Image credit
The need is to stop promoting mass tourism and get fewer tourists who pay more. New rules in line with the same need to be put into place.
Source: Guardian
