Conservation Tourism

Borneoculars: Observations from a Scientific Expedition in Borneo

/ Organikos / 5 Comments

Guest Author: Nicole Kravec

Indiana Jones would be proud of the entire scientific expedition team.  For two weeks we trekked through the jungles of Malaysia’s Imbak Canyon, the “biological gene bank” in the heart of the Malaysian state of Sabah in northern Borneo.  It was one of the best – and most adventurous – trips of my life.

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Jellyfish Preserves

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Ever heard of Jellyfish Lake? Located on the Eil Malik island of Palau, Ongeim’l Tketau (as the natives call it) is a lake which was formed about 12,000 years ago by the Pacific Ocean. Along with the clean blue waters of the Pacific, the tides brought in  immigrants – jellyfish of the genus Mastigias . Today, after 12,000 years of isolation and removal from the predator-rich environment of the Pacific Ocean from which they originated, the jellyfish have evolved into a significantly different organism. Due to the fact that the only predators the scyphozoans have is a species of anemone which is significantly removed from their swimming depth, they reduced their defensive mechanisms to virtual non-existence, meaning that unlike most beach-faring jellyfish, they don’t sting.

Due to this remarkably friendly gesture, Jellyfish Lake has become a popular snorkelling destination, and those fortunate enough to swim those waters are graced with an ethereal sensation of a world different and far removed from our own.

 

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Balancing Act

/ Amie Inman / 2 Comments

Stacked stones at Samaria Gorge on the Greek island of Crete

Many of us enter a wilderness area to get away from the obvious signs of human habitation.  We go to commune with nature, to be awed by rock, tree or water that has power and age beyond what we can comprehend.

Ancient ruins and other cultural conservation sites have no less appeal.  To stand near a structure built with the often inexplicable ingenuity of early civilizations can be literally breathtaking.

The desire to leave a time capsule of that moment by means of a scratched name and date is nothing new.  Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Mayans, not to mention Eighteenth Century Romantic Poets have succumbed.  (Lord Byron’s carved name on a column of the Temple to Poseidon at Cape Sounion, Greece is likely one of the world’s most famous pieces of graffiti.) Continue reading →

A Better Tea Party

/ Amie Inman / 1 Comment

Our visit to Munnar’s High Range Tea plantations gave us more insight into the history of the drink than just the lively culture of the “cuppa”.

Traditionally called Chai, tea has been the backbone of numerous communities in the mountainous areas of India and Sri Lanka (formerly known as Ceylon). Schools, health clinics and even Hindu temples were built by the plantations for the betterment of the community.  The Shristhi Welfare Centre, founded by a local tea plantation, sells delicious High Range strawberry preserves and handmade paper products that contributes to the rehabilitative vocational work of physically and mentally challenged children of the plantation workers.  Unfortunately they were closed on Sunday when we wanted to visit.

There’s more to tea than meets the palette.  I will be writing more about the Shristhi Welfare Centre, and its relation to tea, in posts to come.

Of Mist And Maize

/ Amie Inman / 6 Comments

We’ve lived in India a year now (more on that in another post) and for much of this time I’ve wanted to visit Munnar, the iconic tea-laden hill station in the Western Ghats.  Most of our mountain excursions have been to Thekkady, a place we’ve grown to love for its proximity to the Periyar Tiger Reserve, and the team we work with at Cardamom County.

This weekend we had the best reason for a change of route–to scout a prospective organic farm that might join our portfolio of properties under management–so I was looking forward to also discovering the differences between these two hill stations.  I did in fact find something different in Munnar, but not in the way I was expecting it.  Continue reading →