Ecotourism: The Indigenous Experience

Synopsis:

During a recent visit to the South Eastern Caribbean coast of Cost Rica, I was given an incredible opportunity to visit and interact with and individual who is part one of Costa Rica’s largest and oldest indigenous populations. His name is Herman and he is part of an indigenous tribe known as the Bribri. The Bribri consists of around 10,000 members living in the Puerto Viejo de Talamanca canton inside the Limon Province of Costa Rica (www.wikipedia.org). They communicate with one another in their own language and have a rich cultural heritage and are a large part of Costa Rica’s history. The context surrounding this wonderful experience consisted of an approximately 3.5-4 hour nature hike through the rain forest surrounding Puerto Viejo. During the hike I encountered a seemingly endless amount of both plant and animal species that were truly incredible to see outside of captivity. Possibly the greatest aspect of the entire hike however was the vast amount of information and Bribri cultural applications Herman would provide with every encounter (even while being bombarded by a swarm of Fire Wasps)!
Although this encounter with a Bribri individual giving tourists the opportunity to interact with their native territory isn’t completely unheard of or rare, I do personally feel like it is a substantially undervalued or underappreciated experience.

Application:

To many individuals, especially many North Americans, the prospect of hiking around in the wilderness for 4 hours may not seem all that appealing. There climate may not be incredibly accommodating, one might get his or her shoes muddy, and there won’t be any complimentary beverages around before or after the experience. But there are many other incredible opportunities one is not taking advantage of by paying $50 per person to take a ride in a gondola above the rain forest canopy. If the wilderness is what has brought and individual across the country, even around the world to a specific destination, why wouldn’t an individual want to get their money’s worth and truly have an interactive experience with it as opposed to just viewing it for 45 minutes before heading back to their resort in time for lunch. Not only would this approach be more economical for travelers, but it would be more sustainable and provide for MANY more experiences than those gained at an ecological rainforest theme ride.I suggest interacting with the local indigenous population if the opportunity presents itself as these individuals have lived off of the surrounding wildlife for centuries and are therefore more knowledgeable about their environment than a company employee who has memorized parts of a company pamphlet. I am not suggesting that alternative wilderness experiences are not worth the money, as many of them are! But as a former skeptic, I am suggesting to give it a chance as I completely underestimated how truly exhilarating and exciting interacting with a TRUE local can be, not to mention the fact that you would be more sustainable as well as be providing economic stability to a current underrepresented minority of incredible individuals.