TRAVEL GEEKS


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HOW FAR SHOULD WE GO IN THE NAME OF TOURISM?


IN THE WAKE OF THE RECENT MURDER OF A US MISSIONARY BY INDIGENOUS PEOPLE ON A REMOTE ISLAND, WE LOOK AT THE ARGUMENTS SURROUNDING THE RISE OF ‘TRIBAL TOURSIM’. WORDS: JAMES DRAVEN


Last November, US missionary John Chau was killed by a group of indigenous hunter-gatherers on North Sentinel Island, an Indian territory in the Bay of Bengal, where he’d gone in the hope of spreading his Christian beliefs. Although his death was a tragedy, he should never have been there. Acting in defiance of laws preventing outsiders from visiting, he’d paid local fishermen to take him to meet tribespeople who’d previously made it clear — often violently so — that they’ve no wish to have any contact with the outside world. The rise of adventure tourism


has made it increasingly possible for travellers to explore remote lands and contact those who don’t wish to be contacted. Rom Whitaker, a National


Geographic filmmaker and founder of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Environmental Team, has been visiting the Andamans for the past 40 years, and is opposed to contact with remote tribes: “Two of the other three tribes in the Andamans have suffered near extermination thanks to ‘friendly contact’. Nobody should be allowed there.” On the other side of the ethical


fence, academics such as US professors Robert Walker and Kim Hil, claim “well-organised


Tribes at risk


NEW GUINEA More than 40 tribes have been identified living in West Papua. Uncontacted tribes here are threatened by diseases introduced by tourism, by brutal military repression, and from incursions by miners, plantation owners and loggers.


PERU There are an estimated 15 uncontacted tribes in Peru, where laws prohibit visitors from initiating contact in most instances. But they’re still at risk from tourists and violent attacks from illegal loggers and drug traffickers.


BRAZIL The Brazilian government has identified 107 isolated tribes. They face dangers similar to those of Peru’s tribes, including murder by illegal gold miners.


contact [with uncontacted tribes] is both humane and ethical”. Controversially, they believe isolated tribes won’t survive without Western intervention. But there are good reasons why we should leave these people in peace, and why they might defend their isolation so fiercely: their lives depend on it. The indigenous people of


North Sentinel are said to number between 50 and 150 and, having lived free of contact with the outside world for centuries, contact would expose them to common diseases to which they have no immunity — a cold could prove fatal. “When the Brazilian


government used to try to AND ANOTHER THING… NEW WILDLIFE EXPERIENCES


POLAR BEARS IN NORWAY Off the Map Travel’s summer trip takes travellers to Spitsbergen, where they can bed down in a luxe lodge at the foot of Nordenskiöld Glacier before polar bear- spotting on guided climbs and boat rides. offthemap.travel


ORCAS IN CANADA Kayak through the fjords and inlets of Vancouver Island in search of orcas, with courtesy of Rickshaw Travel. Camping close to Port McNeill, you may also catch sight of eagles, sea lions and otters. rickshawtravel.co.uk


PUMAS IN PATAGONIA Hike Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park in search of elusive pumas. The EcoCamp Patagonia experience is led by a professional tracker and accompanied by a wildlife photographer. ecocamp.travel


BROWN BEARS IN SLOVAKIA On Footloose Travel’s new tour to Slovakia’s Tatras Mountains visitors can observe bears in their natural habitat, assist with research and access remote areas usually only open to researchers. footloose.co.uk/slovakia


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contact tribes, they took medical teams with doctors, nurses and helicopters ready to evacuate the sick,” said Sophie Grig, senior research and advocacy officer at Survival International, an organisation that campaigns for the rights of indigenous tribal people. “Even with all that preparation and support they couldn’t prevent people dying, which is one of the key reasons they stopped.” Manu National Park in Peru is


a popular tourist destination and home to the Maschco-Piro tribe, members of which are sometimes fleetingly glimpsed on the banks of the Madre de Dios River, which borders the park. In 2014, local tour companies started offering


‘human safaris’ to tourists wishing to have their own ‘Indiana Jones’ experiences (the idea being they could photograph the Maschco- Piro people from boats as they passed). These visitors were reportedly leaving trinkets and clothing behind — potentially deadly, disease-carrying gifts. Even Benedict Allen — famously


reported missing in November 2017, having made first contact with two threatened tribes in New Guinea — who is seen as a poster boy for making contact with isolated tribes, has said: “The world is not a playground for our enjoyment. The idea that we can just head off and explore as we like is a sort of modern-day imperialism, an arrogance.”


IMAGE: GETTY


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