Category:Ecotourism

Intro: A few thoughts on Ecotourism, on the early days:

Back in the day, when your GreenPolicy360 Siterunner had left NYC publishing for Hollywood producing, one of the films that our company put together was with LaVar Burton. He had just come from the 1977 "Roots" Miniseries, the out-of-Africa story of Kunte Kinte, as played by LaVar.

Later LaVar became involved in a back-to-Africa as he joined up with friends of mine, a recently formed eco-adventuring company that took the name of SOBEK. LaVar tells a great story about almost getting eaten by a croc in Africa, on the Zambezi, as the SOBEK attempted a first-ever river run of the river below Victoria Falls.

LaVar's story is true, I think, though that was many years and since then much water has flowed down one of the world's greatest rivers. And then there's the whole eco and tourism thing that has gone from an idea to a generational phenomenon.

Take SOBEK and its OARS. Richard may have 700 stamps in his passport by now...

Richard was a friend from back then, who I helped with the publishing launch of his ecotourism whitewater adventure company. He had invited LaVar along to the first whitewater descent of the Zambezi River, bad, never before oared rapids below the Victoria Falls and, until he almost got eaten, LaVar was along for the ride.

"Until" is the key word. It seems that not far from "putting in" and beginning the adventure with the team of explorers and assistants, who were along for safety, that the kayak of LaVar experienced an encounter. As told, a very large snout with very large teeth, came out of the water suddenly and puts it teeth through a kayak next to LaVar. He rapidly paddled to shore, he proceeded to call in a helicopter from shore, and soon was swept into the sky.

The whitewater team wished him a good-bye, then proceeded to complete their journey down the Zambezi, without losing anyone or having anyone eaten.

There's a sequel, a south of the Zambezi sequel. It's an "Eco" sequel.

It is about old, old, old Africa and even though the story involves colonial explorers looking for lost tribes (as I read about back in those days of Bangs and his many rivers run throughout the world, and the new ecotourism adventuring we were doing, in different spheres, pushing into new visions of geo-adventures and experiences. With me there was also the rainforest canopy and Don Perry, a National Geo hero, a 'Jacques Cousteau of the Richest Biosphere' on Earth, adventuring into never-before explored upclose 'real jungle'. Don, as a PhD scientist from UCLA, was also inventing a canopy web, engineering it, testing it, then over years and decades introducing it for eco-visioning. Don has brought people from around the world into the tops of the jungle, the rainforest, the living earth.

Rainforest Canopy Don Perry

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Rainforest_Canopy_Don_Perry

The idea was to introduce the modern world to the old world. A goal of ours, as pioneers was to save the old world by showing the modern world how valuable the old world was, by experiencing it, up close and personal. Our Living Earth had to be preserved and protected. Eco-experiences, eco-adventuring, eco-tourism (ecotoursim) brought new ways of seeing, opening eyes to appreciating and wanting to save the world.

A green, environmental calling was strong in my way of looking at the world and I realized back then that, as modern people, we were not good listeners, or observers, or appreciators of the wildness and richness of life around us. The native peoples knew so much more and, as I have found out over the course of my life, there was much we, as modern people, could and should learn by listening to the voices from the past.

With this in mind, here is the story, a sequel story to crocodiles, deep (but not dark) Africa, and Amazon, and Australia, and central American Costa Rica and to all the wild places and the indigenous ancient wisdom.

🌎

Earthrise

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ECO

In Australia they call them the 'Bushpeople'.

In Africa, south of the Zambezi, they are known as the San.

I call them 'Voices from the Past' and they are whisperers to the people of today.

They are who we call, too often call, 'primitives', but they are not 'primitives' on closer look.

The San and the Bushpeople and many, many more of the Indigenous Peoples have a message that the people of today need to hear.

It is an 'eco' tale told throughout, a tale of being part of the world around us, an integral part of the whole, not a distinct, separated 'ego', but rather a commons.

A tribe if you will, a voice from the peoples of the past to the peoples of today to listen, to listen to the stars, to listen carefully to the wildlife around us, to flora and fauna, to a living earth.

That's it. That's the message.

Eco... an eco-message

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:ECO.png

(SJS / 2023)