Jromerz
25-09-07, 05:54 PM
From today's frontpage:
Sea cave trip reveals Thailand's lost worlds - Stuff.co.nz, September 24, 2007
This is basically a brief summary of how ecologically sensitive sites are treated for the sake of tourist dollars...
Today, the only collisions are likely to be between competing tour company kayaks trying to squeeze in and out of the lagoons through sometimes claustrophobic cave tunnels.
Yes, overcrowding and fierce competition...
"They swim between the islands in Andaman (sea)," laughs our gleeful Thai guide Mike, as the first monkey plunges into the water towards us.
"They eat crab but also they like these food," adds the guide in the next canoe, waving a banana.
Of course, the monkey needs no further cue and gingerly pinches the banana from the tour guide's hands, while a third puts a piece of unpeeled banana on the end of his oar and leans out, offering it to yet another macaque that's swung by to check things out.
As well as disrupting the natural behaviour of animals...
The reptile looks for all the world like a rubber toy snake stuck there for the benefit of us tourists.
Indeed, one bloke in the next kayak suggests just that, prompting Mike to paddle up to the wall, teasing the python gently with his oar in the hope of provoking a response.
And of course annoy the animals for a happy tourist smile... :)
Sea cave trip reveals Thailand's lost worlds - Stuff.co.nz, September 24, 2007
This is basically a brief summary of how ecologically sensitive sites are treated for the sake of tourist dollars...
Today, the only collisions are likely to be between competing tour company kayaks trying to squeeze in and out of the lagoons through sometimes claustrophobic cave tunnels.
Yes, overcrowding and fierce competition...
"They swim between the islands in Andaman (sea)," laughs our gleeful Thai guide Mike, as the first monkey plunges into the water towards us.
"They eat crab but also they like these food," adds the guide in the next canoe, waving a banana.
Of course, the monkey needs no further cue and gingerly pinches the banana from the tour guide's hands, while a third puts a piece of unpeeled banana on the end of his oar and leans out, offering it to yet another macaque that's swung by to check things out.
As well as disrupting the natural behaviour of animals...
The reptile looks for all the world like a rubber toy snake stuck there for the benefit of us tourists.
Indeed, one bloke in the next kayak suggests just that, prompting Mike to paddle up to the wall, teasing the python gently with his oar in the hope of provoking a response.
And of course annoy the animals for a happy tourist smile... :)