Ecotourism has been promoted especially on coral reefs which are among the most beautiful and ecologically diverse ecosystems in the world. They occur predominately in tropical and subtropical coastal waters, providing a complex and unique environment for millions of organisms.
Read MoreConstructing identities and building borders: travelling across the Balkans
This summer I took a road trip with some friends to a sometimes forgotten region of Europe: the Balkans, or West Balkans, to be more precise. The facts that I don’t know exactly what to call it, and that people often responded with uncertainty when I told them where I was going, are indicative of the confusion and misconceptions associated with this particular area of Europe.
Read MoreThe Double-Edged Sword of Cultural Tourism
During my summer field research, I traveled to the Maasai Mara, the Kenyan half of the incredible Serengeti-Mara ecosystem, and the home of the Maasai ethnic group. For many of us, this probably evokes a sense of timelessness, and a society untouched by the ‘evils of modernity’. It is also one that many National Geographic documentaries and glossy tourist brochures continue to perpetuate. However, it is but a small sliver of the reality there, like looking at one pixel of an entire photograph; beautiful, perhaps, but incomplete.
Read MoreField work Diary: the Tourist versus the Anthropologist
This post is about an experience which certainly wasn’t my proudest moment in the field and was, probably, the most uncomfortable I have felt in a very long time: the experience of being a tourist. So if emotional voyeurism is your thing, this is the fieldnote for you.
Read MoreMutual Estrangement: Of Flycatchers and Walking Dollars
In Arusha and Moshi, Kilimanjaro Region, Tanzania, tourism is the bee’s knees to a degree. Tanzania, with Mount Kilimanjaro and the Northern Safari Circuit (with National Parks like Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Lake Manyara) being key attractions, has attracted more than a million tourists in recent years.
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