Ensuring the Amazon’s future through ecotourism
13 July 2021 (566 visits)The Amazon rainforest is a vast ecosystem filled with natural wonders, covering much of South America. Travelers come from all over the world to experience all that the Amazon has to offer. One of the best places to experience the Amazon is Tambopata. This area of protected primary forest is readily accessible from Cusco via scheduled flights. This means that travelers who visit Peru to see Machu Picchu or to hike the Inca Trail can include a jungle excursion as part of their Peru vacation.
Tragically, the Amazon has lost around 17 percent of its forest over the past 50 years, mostly due to agriculture and logging. Today, it is more important than ever for sustainable ecotourism initiatives like our own Tambopata Ecolodge Private Conservation Area and our State-owned Conservation Concessions to thrive, and to do so in a way that prioritizes the protection of the Amazon basin’s unique ecosystems.
Logging occurs when individuals and corporations move into areas of pristine rainforest and cut down trees for the lumber industry. Flouting laws introduced to impose restrictions on logging, companies find ways to continue to deforest the Amazon, and to market timber while circumventing international checks and controls. The results have been disastrous. Where logging occurs, it affects not only the forest itself but also the other flora of the forests and the species of fauna which are dependent upon the health of the ecosystems they inhabit. Loggers often target particularly valuable individual tree species, rather than felling large tracts of forest. But their activities lead to the establishing of roads, which serve as gateways for other human activities and for settlement, thereby accelerating deforestation and habitat loss.
At Tambopata Ecolodge, we have been working for the past thirty years to conserve our own corner of the Amazon basin. We believe that the best way to conserve forests is to show that they can be more valuable to the local economy if they are left to flourish. That is why we have pioneered our own ecotourism-based conservation model, with the aim of ensuring the forests will be around for future generations to appreciate. Our goal is to show that responsible ecotourism can form the basis of a sustainable conservation initiative.
For the past three decades, our conservation model has been based on the purchase of land in the Amazon forests of southeastern Peru and the setting up of government protected Private Conservation Areas, to ensure the forests are left to flourish, or –wherever necessary- to recover from past human activities. As part of our work in State-owned Conservation Concessions, we have taken on the responsibility of monitoring and protecting these areas from poaching, logging, gold mining, and other damaging activities.
And our model works! Growing populations of rainforest fauna, including jaguars, serve as clear indicators of the health of the forests we are working to protect. Our own camera trap studies have revealed the scope of our many successes, as a host of fauna thrives in the forests we conserve, and the delicate balance of rainforest life is reestablished.
By visiting us and enjoying our ecotourism activities, travelers are contributing to the conservation of endangered species and threatened ecosystems. And experiencing the many marvels of rainforest life does not mean travelers have to rough it! At the heart of our own Private Conservation Area, and adjacent to the world-renowned Tambopata National Reserve, we offer full board, hotel-standard accommodation in our picturesque eco-lodge, in spacious cabins surrounded by lush rainforest gardens. From the lodge, our experienced naturalist guides take our guests on full-day and half-day excursions into the forests. And for those who want to get even closer to nature, we offer exclusive, fully-escorted camping trips into the remote forests of the National Reserve!
