The wonderful Samantha Knights KC invited me to speak at the Shute Festival in Lyme Regis. She’s the one standing with me under the full beam of the slide projector at the end of my speech.
I wasn’t just speaking about rainforests, I was talking about my recent trip to Guyana and what a unique experience it had been. And it wasn’t without it’s controversy as the audience engaged in the debate about whether the benefits of eco-tourism can outweigh the impacts of flying. What do you think? See what I’ve written below.
Samantha’s testimonial! “Thank you so very much for such an engaging and conversation sparking talk last night. It was excellent and really good to see the audience fired up with questions! Have had lots of lovely comments from those who came who enjoyed it very much.“
I’m not someone who buries their head in the sand—or in this case, the trees—but I can’t stand to hear about the world’s forests being obliterated. Especially the rainforests. They are beautiful, wild, untamed, brimming with life in a way that no human creation could ever be. And yet, we treat them like an infinite resource —something to plunder, fuel our economies and tear apart in the name of ‘progress.’ Why is it so hard to grasp that these forests are worth infinitely more alive than they are as smouldering stumps?
My first encounter with the rainforest was in western Brazil. It changed me forever. That moment—standing in a place that felt ancient, boundless, and alive—set me on the path to becoming a life-long environmentalist. But I can’t bear to return. Too much has been destroyed. The lush world I stepped into back then has been hacked, bulldozed, burned and drained.
Eco-tourism could be a lifeline in the Guyanas…
Now I’ve just come back from the Guyanas—British Guiana (as it was), Suriname, and French Guiana—where the forests still stand. 83.5%, 93%, 98% intact. They are teetering on the edge. Oil has been discovered. A boon or a bane? Logging, mining, and burning are widespread. And a looming threat —Guyana is being touted as the future ‘breadbasket of the Caribbean,’ a grand plan that could see vast tracts of rainforest cleared for industrial-scale agriculture. Meanwhile, a flood of Venezuelan refugees brings even more pressure to lands already at risk.
And yet—there is hope. I believe tourism, real eco-tourism, could be the lifeline. People worry about the impact of air travel, but what if the real danger is not going? What if failing to visit, failing to value these places, is what ultimately dooms them? In the Guyanas, tourism is in its infancy—we were often the only guests. At times, that felt magical. Other times, it felt like a warning. Because if no one sees these places, if no one invests in them, if the locals don’t get any value from them, how long before they, too, are gone?
Wilderness Explorers organised a wonderful trip for us…
Wilderness Explorers promises to promote ecologically sensitive tourism through a responsible and concerned attitude towards the environment. We will provide the maximum benefit to the local communities by operating in an honest, thoughtful and concerned manner towards their customs and involving the communities so as to afford them the greatest financial benefit possible. At the same time we will offer professional tourism services of an international standard to our clientele.
