Wildlife tourism has been growing at a very fast pace in India. Millions of Indian and foreign tourists throng popular wildlife national parks and sanctuaries every year barring monsoon season.
As responsible wildlife tourist we have responsibilities towards conservation of animals, forest land and the local communities living around it.
An aware and compassionate traveler would not knowingly contribute to wildlife abuse. One small effort here could be avoiding participation in the activities that exploit wild animals.
Elephant ride is a popular tourist activity across many wildlife reserves and sanctuaries. Wildlife researchers time and again have highlighted that naturally, elephants are not designed to carry people on their back which causes serious spinal injuries in the long run. They are often deprived of food and sleep in order to be controlled by humans and being submissive.
Elephant safari in the jungle
We humans at times forget that wild animals also have families. They also feel pain, sadness and happiness. One can definitely do their bit by being a little less intrusive during wildlife trips.
Watching and photographing animals in their natural habitat is fun, which every wildlife tourist looks forward to. But avoiding proximity to wild animals during animal sightings are of utmost priority as many a time this has provoked the animals to attack safaris.
Safari halt point in a national park
All of this doesn’t mean pulling back from natural wildlife experiences out of fear of abusing wild animals, but being a little more aware and responsible makes us better wildlife traveler.
Tourism generates funds for carrying all sorts of good work including conservation in and around such reserves and sanctuaries. Many local communities living in the villages near the boundaries of the park earn their livelihood from tourism.
Responsible wildlife tourism has a positive effect on the protection of wildlife and the enhancement of conservation efforts for nature and animals.
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