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O<\/span>ver the past decade, adventure travel has shifted from being less about adrenaline and more about learning and transformation.\u00a0Indigenous tourism<\/b>, also known as\u00a0ethnic<\/i>\u00a0or\u00a0tribal<\/i>\u00a0tourism, has been a particularly fast growing trend.<\/p>\n For travelers interested in a meaningful interaction with other cultures, these tours can be very rewarding.\u00a0However, with volumes of visitors increasing rapidly, issues have been raised about whether it\u2019s ethical to visit the tribes and what\u00a0consequences<\/b>\u00a0it bears for the preservation of the native lifestyles and traditions.<\/p>\n Indigenous tourism<\/a>\u00a0is\u00a0‘tourism activity in which indigenous people are directly involved either through control and\/or by having their culture serve as the essence of the attraction’. These days you don’t have to look far for crafty tour companies and travel agencies offering\u00a0tribal visits<\/b>\u00a0where busloads of foreigners are driven to visit native people in their reservations or villages.<\/p>\n Ideally, the villagers\u00a0should be able to assert some degree of control over their engagement with tourism and should secure clear economical benefits from this. Unfortunately, in practice often very little of the tourism dollars remain in the villages. There has been growing evidence that the tribes are being\u00a0exploited\u00a0<\/b>by those so-called tour operators looking for quick and easy profit.<\/p>\n The concerns arise also because in many cases Western visitors come hoping for the perfect photo opportunity rather than true cultural immersion and genuine engagement. Critics\u00a0describe some tribal village visits as\u00a0‘human zoos’<\/b>, where the subjects are essentially trapped in their villages, compelled to wear traditional clothing and smile for photos.\u00a0Their culture suffers and they don\u2019t have time for their traditional life and costumes. Their traditional dresses and products are on display for tourists but in reality their way of life is in a lot of cases long gone.<\/p>\n Such might be the case of the long-neck\u00a0Padaung (Karen)<\/b>\u00a0tribe near Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand, part of what’s known as Thai\u00a0Hill Tribes<\/i>. The increase in ethnic tourism has been enormous. So much so that\u00a0it\u2019s nearly impossible to meet \u201cauthentic\u201d Padaung people\u00a0who are adorning their necks with metal rings because their ancestors did so, not just because they know they\u2019ll profit from it. Moreover, while Padaung women and children in the village sell handicrafts and pose for the tourists all day long, the men in most cases don\u2019t work at all. Often they have even neglected their farming traditions and unemployment rates among them can be as high as 90%.<\/p>\n ‘Human zoos’, or\u00a0‘human safaris’<\/a>\u00a0as they are dubbed in more remote areas, are a growing concern in places such as\u00a0Peru, where\u00a0unscrupulous\u00a0tour operators are profiting from the exploitation of indigenous tribes in the Amazon jungle.\u00a0As tourism increases around the\u00a0Man\u00fa\u00a0Biosphere Reserve<\/b>\u00a0near Cuzco, so does the number of reported sightings of the\u00a0Mashco-Piro<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 one of around 15\u00a0uncontacted tribes<\/a>\u00a0in Peru, and one of only around 100 such tribes left in the world. This is particularly worrying as\u00a0any attempt to contact such tribe may have grave consequences – a simple cold (their immunity differs from ‘Western’) could put an entire tribe in danger.<\/p>\n South America is not alone in the struggle. Tour operators in India\u2019s\u00a0Andaman Islands<\/a>\u00a0are offering\u00a0‘human safaris’<\/b>\u00a0within the reserve of a recently-contacted\u00a0Jarawa<\/a>\u00a0tribe, despite\u00a0government promises<\/a>\u00a0to ban the practice.\u00a0Tourists to India\u2019s Andaman Islands are using an illegal road to enter the reserve of the\u00a0Jarawa tribe<\/b>\u00a0in the hope of \u2018spotting\u2019 members of the tribe \u2013 not unlike spotting wildlife in a safari park… Survival International has drafted an\u00a0e-mail<\/a>\u00a0to the Indian government\u00a0asking them to close the road and stop the \u2018human safaris\u2019, it’s easy to get involved.<\/p>\n On the other hand, some argue that\u00a0ethnic\u00a0tourism has helped\u00a0foster greater awareness<\/b>\u00a0of indigenous people, many of whom face oppression, forced land relocation, and challenges to social and economic integration.\u00a0The influx of tourists has also allowed for traditional\u00a0tribal arts and handicrafts<\/b>\u00a0to flourish, which often means an additional – or the only – source of income for the community. The intricate hand-made masks of Costa Rican\u00a0Boruca<\/a>\u00a0people, for example, have gained international fame and facilitated not only economic self-reliance of the village, but also the preservation of the craft.<\/p>\n Similarly, the\u00a0Chorotega potters<\/b>\u00a0of\u00a0Costa Rica’s\u00a0village of\u00a0Guaitil<\/a>\u00a0continue creating their distinctive pre-Columbian oven baked art pottery. Some of these Indian pottery pieces are re-creations of their ancestors\u2019 archaeological objects – the government provides them with photographs of the original artifacts from the national museum collections.\u00a0Workshops and organizations which maintain this rich legacy, passed down from generation to generation, are only possible thanks to the numerous travelers who visit the village to experience this journey back in time through art. Sales of the Guaitil’s pottery have become the economic base for supporting the entire community.<\/p>\n The debate doesn’t just apply to foreign visitors on ‘exotic’ holidays – native culture advocacy in places such as\u00a0Canada<\/a>\u00a0and the US is much needed at the level of\u00a0domestic tourism<\/b>, too. In Australia, for example, indigenous tourism is a way for non-indigenous Aussies to hear about\u00a0Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander<\/b>\u00a0ways of life. As\u00a0native peoples comprise only about 3% of the country\u2019s total population, non-indigenous Australians can unintentionally\u00a0have very little cultural awareness, not to mention interaction. Experiences that form a nation-wide\u00a0reconciliation<\/a>\u00a0program include sharing history and traditions through tours, promoting native foods, arts, music and dance.<\/p>\n Despite the efforts, the culture divide between Aboriginal peoples and non-Indigenous Australians is not easy to bridge. One of the major tourist attractions in the country –\u00a0Uluru<\/b>, or Ayers Rock, in\u00a0Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park<\/a>, is a case in point. A sacred site to the natives,\u00a0climbing the rock of Uluru violates their culture and spiritual beliefs.<\/p>\n Remarkably, the climb is not prohibited. Instead, the local authorities have decided to merely\u00a0educate the visitors on the risks, according to the ancestral teachings of\u00a0Tjukurpa<\/a>, so that they can make the decision\u00a0not to climb<\/a>\u00a0themselves<\/i>.\u00a0Fortunately the approach has been successful and the number of people climbing Uluru has been steadily declining.<\/p>\n It’s a well known traveler\u2019s dilemma<\/b>: participate in ethnic tourism and visit the tribes because they directly rely on it to sustain themselves, or not visiting in order to avoid further exploitation. Indeed, in many cases the alternative for locals to earn a living is typically labor-intensive agriculture or relying on the government or NGOs. Clearly, the debate is a complex one.<\/p>\n As usual,\u00a0‘doing the right thing’<\/i>\u00a0is a matter of doing enough\u00a0research<\/b>\u00a0and asking enough questions<\/b>.\u00a0Travelers who wish to participate in some form of tribal tourism (other than involving uncontacted tribes – that’s invariably highly discouraged<\/u>) need to inform themselves on the tribe they wish to visit and make sure that any payments go directly to benefiting the indigenous people. On the institutional level – governments need to act to protect indigenous communities with legislation; NGOs with awareness raising campaigns; tour operators need to follow a strict code of conduct.<\/p>\n Ethical and\u00a0responsible tour companies<\/b>\u00a0do exist. In general,\u00a0the best tours\u00a0are the ones where small groups or individuals go with the intention to stay in village overnight, as it generates the most sustainable income. These\u00a0homestays<\/i>\u00a0are a true\u00a0cultural immersion<\/b>\u00a0and quite likely an experience of a lifetime.<\/p>\n Next Step Thailand, which offers ethnic tourism within the northern\u00a0Hill Tribes territory, offers such homestays and more. Their\u00a0Share the Dream<\/a>\u00a0initiative is designed to help local villagers lead better lives.\u00a0Through the project, they raise funds for local school children and for basic medical equipment, as well as recruit volunteers to teach English in the remote villages and to help rebuild local schools. Thus by going on a tour with them, you automatically help local tribal communities. They aim to help them stay independent and maintain their uniqueness all while making it possible for tourists to experience and understand their culture. Similarly a meaningful encounter with the\u00a0Karen<\/b>\u00a0people can be arranged with the help of\u00a0Rickshaw Travel.<\/a><\/p>\n In Australia’s Northern Territory, indigenous operator\u00a0Wuddi Cultural Tours<\/a>\u00a0aims to keep the local Aboriginal culture alive,\u00a0and to pass on knowledge to the next generation through custom built tours to experience the local area and connect the sites and artefacts to the stories of their people.<\/p>\n![\"To](\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/paduang-448117_640.jpg\")
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