There’s no universally
accepted definition of ecotourism, and there are considerable overlaps in the
meanings. It’s perhaps the most over-used and misused word in the tourism
industry - often deliberately misused for marketing purposes.
Hapeta say
"I’m a self-taught writer, not a journalist, or an ecologist. This is not
a scientific paper with lots of facts and figures, merely the musings about
green issues by a traveller who wants to walk as lightly as possible on
Earth"
She uses her
trips to Malaysian Borneo as a way of exploring the issues. She also says she is "Time-rich, I’m a
slow traveller, so stay longer in more places than most, trying to absorb the
culture and flavours, to sit and watch people. It also means that although I
don’t always sign up for an expensive eco-tour, I do try to practise the
principles of ecotourism."
This small
book starts with her surrounded by noisy, diesel-fumed boats, nudging each
other, racing their engines, drivers manoeuvring so their passengers get the
best view. It made her wonder "can
a travel writer, or any traveller, really be green - or is this just an
oxymoronic dream, given the air miles needed to get to destinations?"
In this
essay-cum-travel memoir she considers how green she was, or wasn’t, while
exploring this ‘seething hotspot of
bio-diversity’ of an island. (‘Quote from Planet Earth’ BBC TV).
She
obviously agrees with Malaysia's tourism tagline. ‘Malaysia - truly Asia’ and
this booklet is a good introduction to the island of Borneo and green travel
issues around the world.
Hapeta has two other book available on Amazon ( and other e-sellers) Naked in Budapest: travels with a passionate nomad; and, Surviving Suicide - a mother's story
She writes travel blogs on www.kiwitravelwriter.wordpress.com
Her FaceBook page is The Travelling Writer
Her FaceBook page is The Travelling Writer
