Vacation Packages

[I:http://www.wystravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/VictorCKrumm2.jpg]

Like many of life’s greatest achievements, it began by accident. It started with one unique man on a desolate but beautiful mountain. The man was Teddy Roosevelt; the Matterhorn was the mountain where an idea that changed our world germinated. Today, we call it “eco tourism” and every year it leads thousands of people to a tiny gem that Christopher Columbus named ‘Costa Rica’ five centuries ago.

Two decades before he was to become one of America’s greatest presidents, Roosevelt traveled to Switzerland. He was one of the earth’s most famous adventurers who loved nature. So it was that he made the decision to ascend the renowned Mount Matterhorn. When he did so, however, he was distressed by what he found out on the mountain or, more precisely, what precisely he did not.

The mountain was almost silent. Where once there had been many, there were no bears, wolves, goats, mountain sheep, or other wilderness creatures. Only ghosts of the past richness. But only fading memories.

Even though “eco tourism” did not get into the language lexicon for practically 100 more years, Theodore Roosevelt was the world’s very first eco tourist and, I should point out, the man responsible for today’s ecotourism.

Roosevelt recognized that unless vast tracts of land were set aside, relentless exploitation would ultimately lead to calamity. So, when he was elected President, he did something no one before him had considered. He reserved an extraordinary 230 million as wilderness and parks over massive objections from vested interests, gold miners, timber companies, and robber barons.

Roosevelt’s vivid prescience led to an extraordinary discovery: the public would gladly pay money to enjoy nature. Continual use of land through eco tourism brought with it important economic consequences, often much more valuable in comparison with exploitation in many cases—in the United States.

However, that had been America’s experience. How about Costa Rica, a little place in Latin America that in 1519 its Spanish Governor referred to as “the poorest and most miserable Spanish colony in all Americas”? By the middle part of the 20th century, most of its forests were cut or lost to create farm land and the country was primarily reliant upon the foreign trade of bananas, coffee, and other agricultural products for its economic well being. Its future looked bleak, even more so when the world coffee market crashed in the early 1970s.

Certainly, nothing on earth is preordained and from the economic uncertainty arose Costa Rica eco tourism. Crisis always brings with it opportunity and, from a seemingly improbable alliance, conservationists and business interests argued that sustainable development should be given a chance in lieu of simply continuing to make use of the nation’s fast declining resources. The government joined forces with conservationists and businesses and embarked on an ambitious experiment, ultimately setting in reserve almost 25% of the land for parks and preserves over the following decades.

By just about any measure, and in the course of just three decades (about as long as The Simpsons have been on television!), the gains have been dazzling. At the same time so many other countries were slashing, clearing, and burning their forests, Costa Rica chose to bring back its forests. Today, you will find 20% more forested acres than only 25 years ago. Jaguars, peccaries, and other wildlife are going back to places where they have not been spotted for more than a generation. The populace has enthusiastically embraced sustained development, refusing to approve off shore drilling for oil and, in lieu, have chosen to concentrate their efforts on renewable power resources. Impressively, 99% of the nation’s electrical power today comes from hydro-electric plants—and it is starting to install wind turbines ,too. Columbia and Yale researchers now categorize Costa Rica within the top five of all environmentally sensitive countries on earth.

It has ended up a stunning reversal in fortune. The country has vaulted into the top position on the Happiest Place in the World Index even as Costa Rica tourism has soared. Sustainable tourism has lifted the economy even while conserving its wonders. As it turns out, Columbus was exactly right when he named this place “the rich coast” or “Costa Rica.” The Spanish governor was dead wrong when he labeled Costa Rica as “the poorest and most miserable Spanish colony in Americas.” Perhaps that is why no one remembers the his name.

To close, we must end with the Swiss Matterhorn, the impetus behind Roosevelt’s imaginative and prescient vision that parks and preserves were essential to protecting God’s gifts to earth and Costa Rica’s courageous extension of that concept leading to today’s extremely successful Costa Rica eco tourism. Consider the irony here. Costa Rica has been described as the “Switzerland” of the tropics but it learned from Swiss failures. Ironically, Switzerland has much to learn from Costa Rica. Costa Rica’s mountains are today replete with wild life and eco tourism helps fuel the nation’s economy. One of every twenty species of plants and animals on earth are found in this little country the size of West Virginia. Theodore Roosevelt, the world’s first ecotourist, would certainly smile in delight if he were still with us. Unfortunately, the magnificent Matterhorn remains silent because its life was exploited and destroyed, not valued and maintained.

Author Victor Krumm posts from his home in Costa Rica. Visit his authoritative, lovely website about Costa Rica Vacations and be sure to check out the spectacular Seven Wonders of Costa Rica