| SUSTAINABLE TOURISM |
Fundacion Etnika / Angel Conservation
are well aware that the aforementioned models and programs
need to work within a sustainable tourism framework that
empowers the Pemón and provides them with economic
and environmental benefits. In order to achieve these
elements one has to adopt a support mechanism for education
– both for the Kamarakotos and the general public.
The sustainable tourism program has two primary educational
objectives:
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| a. |
Education of the Kamarakotos,
to prepare them for the forthcoming collaboration
they will soon have with the wider world, including,
in a sense, their entry into the ‘responsible
tourism industry’.
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| b. |
Outreach, directed
to the greater public, which is often not familiar
with indigenous cultures generally and the Pemón in
particular. Outreach objectives are described as follows: |
| |
| i. |
To raise awareness
about indigenous cultures and peoples and
efforts underway across the world to protect
and sustain indigenous cultural heritage and
life. |
| ii. |
To assist in making the
program sustainable by attracting financial
support from foundations and others through
the creation of a visible presence as a forum
for education about the region. |
| iii. |
To prepare those members
of the public who will visit the area to recognize
they are visiting a fragile ecology and help
them understand the impact outsiders will
have. |
| iv. |
To reach those who are
most interested in learning about and possibly
traveling to the region: museum -goers, academics,
anthropologists, etc. |
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| PROGRAMS TO REACH SUSTAINABLE
TOURISM OBJECTIVES |
There are two Pemón lodges
/ communities that have worked for some time with tourism
in the region that we will be working with – Kavak
and Uruyén, as well as Santa Marta (a local village
in close proximity). They are for the most part empty
and not receiving tourists on a regular, let alone regulated,
basis. Their guiding skills knowledge of their surroundings
and cultural heritage, are limited. They have virtually
no access to communication tools to be able to connect
with the outside world, and their location is in one of
the most pristine environments on the globe and must be
protected from mass tourism. |
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| The following programs have been designed
to correct the present conditions by means of education at two levels: |
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| 1. LOCAL |
| The approach is to operate from a model
of collaboration and community centered participation continually
seeking to develop community leadership as the future caretakers
of their own cultural needs and prosperity. The programs
will include: |
| a. |
The cultural identity
programs that cross over into sustainable tourism. |
| |
See Cultural Identity section
previously. |
| b. |
Interpretation
Project |
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Already in phase two of its implementation.
Through collaboration with Angel-Eco Tours, Inc.
(specialists in ecotourism to the region) a Professor
of Biology from Chicago, Anthony Ippolito, spent
a week with the Pemón in Uruyén and
Kavak before leading an educational tour to Angel
Falls. Two of the “student” guides he
spent time with accompanied the seven-day tour.
The goal is to educate the local indigenous communities
on the unique ecology and geology of the region
and finer points that relate to tourism –
this is a very broad description of a very involved
project. Although intimate with their surroundings
and familiar with the importance of the ecosystems
around them, the Pemón lack the depth of
education and interpretive skills needed to deliver
an emotional and intellectual experience to visitors
to the area. A structured format and training
from professionals of various disciplines is needed
to integrate the local Pemón’s knowledge
into a broader context and understanding of the
area. This will incorporate many of the initiatives
mentioned in Stage 1 above, such as the setting
up and promotion of craft workshops and relating
the original / authentic tribal dances as told
by the elders, very different to those practiced
in the present day.
National and international experts on interpretation
and trail development will spend time with prospective
Pemón tour guides and other stakeholders
in the communities to educate them on the local
ecology, history and intricacies that appeal to
a broad spectrum of visitors to the national park
area. This will of course feature the workshops
at the proposed Cultural Centre / Community Centre
as well as information regarding early explorers
to the region. |
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| 2. OUTREACH |
| Two Outreach Objectives are described below: |
| c. |
Web Communications: |
| |
| i. |
Angel Conservation
/ Fundacion Etnika in collaboration with Angel-Eco
Tours, Inc and NaTour Communications plans
to create an international multi-lingual e-newsletter
distributed throughout the ecotourism industry
and other related outlets using their established
database. |
| ii. |
The creation of multi-lingual
web sites that will feature the progress of
the Project – an interactive educational
tool. |
| iii. |
We will create literature,
which is both, available in print and also
web enabled (available over the internet)
which will be distributed to visitors prior
to arrival to the destination. |
|
| d. |
Curriculum
Development: |
| |
Tours of noted places are often
prepared as an afterthought, designed chiefly
to build attendance in numbers. In the unique
instance of an indigenous institution, in the
midst of the living culture being described, what
visitors see and hear should be based upon a well-thought
out curriculum, balancing the visitor’s
interest in learning about the past with the community’s
interest in preserving its heritage. The development
of such a curriculum, unquestionably a give-and-take
process, would proceed as part of the feasibility
study and building culturally sound and sustainable
eco-tourism interpretation that protects and supports
the interests of the indigenous community. |
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© 2006 Angel Conservation