Ecotourism£ºA Different Way to Travel

Are you attracted to obscure places£¿Do you prefer to vacation away from other tourists£¿Are you careful to take only memories and to leave only footprints£¿If you answered yes to more than one of these questions£¬you just might be an ecotourist.

Ecotourists are people who want to experience the unspoiled natural world—and leave it that way when they return home.This trend started in the 1990s£¬and ecotourism is now growing three times faster than the tourism industry at large.The Kapawi Ecolodge in Ecuador’s remote Amazon Basin is contributing to that expansion£¬and it gives a snapshot of what ecotourism looks like.

At the Ecolodge£¬a small group of cabins sits in the middle of the Achuar people’s reserve and is only accessible by air.From here£¬visitors can explore parts of the Amazon rainforest seen by few outsiders.As they do£¬local Achuar guides explain how the forest is like their supermarket£¬where they find food£¬clothing£¬medicine and tools.As a result£¬tourists learn to appreciate the local culture as well as the natural environment.