Mankind has been destroying mother earth for centuries. Since time began, cavemen have cut down trees for firewood. The ocean has been trawled extensively for exotic seafood. Land has been razed for farming and cleared for high rises. We have drilled the earth for pools of oil, rivers of gold, and other precious commodities. Our endless search for more will eventually destroy the earth as we know it.

With the rise of tourism, mother earth’s fate has suddenly declined at an even faster rate.

I went on a snorkeling tour to the Hol Chan marine reserve in Belize. We motored to 3 different snorkeling sites. We snorkeled in the ocean, and we were told to keep our feet above the water. I soon realized why. Whilst in the water, our tour guide was kicking up sand sediment with each kick. With 30 tourists in the water around the boat and many more around the channel, we were causing untold damage to the pristine environment.

The captain of the boat then feed freshly speared fish to the nurse sharks so the sharks would encircle the boat and we could swim next to them. It was an incredible experience swimming above, alongside and near huge nurse sharks, deadly manta rays, turtles, snappers and other exotic fish. But you should never feed animals in the wild. Why else would the fish congregate around the boat? The fish were used to being fed daily and were now familiar with human contact.

Once you start feeding the animals, they lose that ability to hunt and fend for themselves. Eventually, the animals lose the instinct to survive. The amount of food in the wild controls the population in the animal kingdom. A scarcity of food means that the animal population cannot grow and is restricted in its size. Conversely, bountiful food allows animals to repopulate and thrive. Humans introduce new amounts of food as well as new types of food into the wild. By feeding the animals, we are changing the role of nature and causing irreversible destruction.

I learnt this lesson when I went on an eco-tour in Phuket. These things are obvious but they are not apparent until you see them with your own eyes. Our eco tour guides never feed the animals nor did they destroy the environment. Other guides would feed the monkeys with bananas and give them cans of coke to drink. The eco tour guides spent the time teaching us about the environment. The tour did cost slightly more but for me I was glad I went on it and it probably taught me one of the more valuable lessons in life.

As a tourist, we are drawn into two minds. Should I see Mother Nature, swim with the exotic fish, cuddle the cute koalas or do nothing? Many places like Caye Caulker in Belize and many countries exist mainly on tourism. Would a visit to Australia be the same without seeing a kangaroo or swimming in the Great Barrier Reef?

In the past year I’ve rode an elephant in the Chiangmai jungle in Thailand, swam in waterfalls, rode camels across the Sahara desert, snorkeled in underground caves in Mexico and sailed through islands in Vietnam. I’m confident that all these activities damaged the environment to some small extent. But as a tourist, I felt like I had to do these things, and I didn’t even think twice about it – I did them because they were fun.

Tourism, particularly environmental tourism needs to be tightly controlled, because we may be destroying things beyond repair. Future generations might not be able to appreciate these great wonders. Sometimes I think that we should just leave these animals alone, allowing them to live in their own world. But I also realize that for me, I would have never appreciated the beauty of the environment if I never saw them.

I have seen what mankind has done. In the Sahara desert, tire tracks criss-cross the sand dunes as tourists entertain their Lawrence of Arabia fantasies. I know, since I contributed to it by riding a quad bike! People also leave behind water bottles, wine casks, and other rubbish in the desert.

The availability of cheap air travel will be one of the deathknells for the environment. I took a flight instead of a train from Venice to Rome because it was only slightly more expensive. I have crossed the world on a series of cheap flights. In two months, I flew Venice to Rome, Rome to London, London to Morocco return, London to New York, New York to Cancun. Air travel was dirt cheap. In the process, these airplanes I have taken have pumped out several more kilotons of carbon dioxide.

I honestly believe that people are understanding that we need to protect the environment. It is important to practice sustainable methods of tourism. But a lot of tour operators think for themselves – they feed the sharks and the monkeys, destroy the sand dunes with 4 wheel drives and so on.

However, the responsibility is on both sides, on tour operators and tourists. Our duty as tourists should be to enquire about the practices of the tours and to understand the environmental impact, instead of shopping around for the best deal. It is time that we make a stand, as tourists. Because it is our earth too! If it damages the environment, we should seek a friendlier alternative or simply not do it.

The environment is extremely fragile, and it is necessary that we strike the right balance between showing off mother earth and preserving the environment. Hopefully, we do this before the monkeys take over*.

Hijo de la tierra (Son of the Earth),

Matt Ho.

*Or maybe they already have.