I discovered this photo on TripAdvisor today . . . I was very sad as I knew that although cute sloth was destined to die a few days after the photo was taken.  The tourist was excited because sloths are not typically seen in the jungle.  But they were not aware of the fate that awaited this baby sloth. 


When I visited the Napo Lodge, our guides took the time to stress that we NOT support the locals by paying to take photos of captive animals.  Unfortunately, a little girl holding a cute baby sloth is irresistible to tourists with a camera.  One of our tour group begged to take our riverboat ashore where a little girl shouted to us . . . "Photo for a dollar!"  First our guide ignored the pleas and then the number of members of our boat joined to chorus of pleas to stop the boat.  Our guide expressed concern that we would miss seeing the Hoatzin birds as the later the time of day we arrived near their nests, the more likely we would miss seeing these rare birds.  


When our boat returned from our Hoatzin adventure down the same blackwater river we had arrived by, the pleas to return to the shore in search of a photo of a sloth increased.  Once again our guide simply shook his head no then the voices expressed disappointment for missing the rare opportunity.  Suddenly, our guide stopped the boat mid-stream and turned to face us.  He looked angry but he remained calm.  Slowly he told us that the locals venture into the jungle to capture a baby sloth. Sloths sleep up to 20 hours a day and rarely come down from the rainforest canopy.  Baby sloths cling to their mother as she hangs upside down in a tree.  The locals will often kill the mother in order to capture the baby sloth.  They send their children with the sloth since they know that tourists cannot resist the opportunity to photograph a cute local child and baby sloth.  They ask for a dollar, a pocket knife, or something of value in exchange for the photo. Unfortunately, the baby will refuse food and water . . . surviving only a few days before it dies.  If the local people discover that tourists will not buy a photo of the captive animal, they will not return to the Amazon Rainforest to capture another animal.


Remember that the the Sloth is an endangered animal and should not be exploited for the simple intention of capturing a photo for your scrapbook or blog.  Be a responsible traveler and refuse to participate in this "circle of death."

 

Explorama Lodge is located 50 miles downstream from Iquitos, Peru on the Amazon River.  The facilities have been built consistent with the structures typical of the region.  The Amazon rainforest surrounds the lodge and the raised walkways protect the surrounding land from the impact of the tourists visiting the lodge.  During my visit to the lodge, it rained every afternoon.  The covered walkways allowed the guests to move from building to building without getting soaked. 

During my visit to the Explorama Lodge, ACTS, and the ExploraNapo Lodge I became aware of the community outreach programs supported by the revenue generated from the visitors to the lodge. Many resorts and lodges in scenic wilderness areas call themselves claim to be ecotourism providers but Explorama Lodge actually subscribes to the principles of ecotourism.  Two principles of ecotourism that I will profile in this blog post: 

1. ­It should play an active role in conserving the natural resources which provide the visitors their experience.
2. Ensure that the long term benefits- to the resource, to the local community, and to industry (benefits may be conservation, scientific, social, or economic). 

Explorama Lodge supports several programs that demonstrate their dedication to these ecotourism principles.

CONAPAC, the Civil Association for Conservation of the Peruvian Amazon Environment, is a Non-Government Organization formed in July 1990 in Iquitos, Peru, by a group of teachers, forestry engineers, and employees of Explorama Lodges. Registered with the Peruvian government, its purpose is the conservation of the Peruvian Amazon primary rainforest. Though the staff is small, with the help of Explorama’s staff and visitors, it serves those in the rainforest most in need of education and other tools for sustainable living.

Explorama Lodges have set aside 4 conservation areas to ensure the rainforest is protected from deforestation and hunting.

Explorama Inn Reserve is the smallest of Explorama's protected areas, consisting of 100 hectares (250 acres) in total. Of this area, 34 hectares (85 acres) is primary or virgin rain forest, while 66 hectares is secondary rain forest, gradually returning from farm land to forested secondary growth. 

The Explorama Lodge Reserve has been protected by Explorama since 1964. This reserve consists of over 200 hectares, or 500 acres, of mainly high Tierra Firme, or non-flooding forest. One small section is lowland or flooded forest. The Missouri Botanical Garden has found this reserve to be one of the highest in biodiversity of trees per square hectare in any area studied by scientists to date. Adjacent to this reserve is a small community of Yagua Native Americans which have clear title to their own reserve of 1,622 hectares (4,055 acres). This property surrounds the Explorama Lodge Reserve, acting as a buffer zone to help protect the area from the continual encroachment of the ever-expanding population of river people. Explorama helped with the legal process of obtaining this reserve for the community, provided the workers and supplies necessary to cut the boundary line around the property, and to obtain the accurate measurements of the land for the Peruvian Department of Agriculture.

Explornapo. Shimigay, and Sucusari Reserve are located near the Napo River consists of 2,000 hectares, or about 5,000 acres. Adjacent to these reserves and acting as buffers are the CONAPAC Biological Reserve and a large 4,770 hectare reserve (11,925 acres) belonging to the Orejone Native American Community.

Almost all children in the villages along the Amazon and Napo Rivers consume water directly from rivers, streams and ponds. During low water season, the water supply in some villages becomes very limited because beaches form, separating them from the main flow of the rivers, making available water even more contaminated. Therefore, CONAPAC initated a Clean Water Project that builds community water treatment plants.  These plants can produce potable water for small villages and significantly improve the quality of life for the people who live there. CONAPAC not only builds water treatment plants in the local communities, they conduct water workshops, monitors the treatment process, trains the water plant operators, and tests the water quality. 

You too can contribute to this on-going community project even if you cannot visit Explorama Lodge.

Anyone who has visited Zion National Park in the Spring or Summer will note the number of cars waiting to access the park.  If you have visited the park during the peak season you will have observed the difficulty in finding parking spaces located along the narrow canyon road.  

Learn more at World Wildlife Fund Website with links for the Rhino Rad game at http://wwf.panda.org/how_you_can_help/games/rhino_raid/ 

The final project in my PRT 5610/6610 International Tourism course required the students to create an infographic or video to conclude the public awareness campaign.  I would like to share with you one video created by Sean McKenna.  I commend him for his adventure into the world of video.  Check it out right here or on YouTube.com . . .