{"id":7950,"date":"2022-08-12T09:17:26","date_gmt":"2022-08-12T01:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/?p=7950"},"modified":"2022-08-12T09:17:28","modified_gmt":"2022-08-12T01:17:28","slug":"loggers-become-river-tour-guides-in-samar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/loggers-become-river-tour-guides-in-samar\/","title":{"rendered":"Loggers become river tour guides in Samar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We\u2019re shooting through a wild, wild washing machine: paddling, cursing, laughing and getting absolutely drenched inside a torpedo-shaped canoe.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re in the Ulot River, a 92-kilometer waterway which snakes east to west across Samar. The third largest island in the Philippines, Samar is rough country, hewn from limestone which over millennia formed some of the most dramatic rock formations and cave systems in the Philippines, such as the Langun-Gobingob Complex<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revenge Tourism<\/em>\u00a0is a social phenomenon where people who have been stuck at home, often for months at a time, rush to tourist sites to appease their lockdown fatigue. With easing lockdown and flight restrictions, more and more tourist destinations are experiencing waves of visitors out to re-experience paradise \u2013 but what about the people who guide them? The people who themselves work in paradise?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI used to help cut and transport logs illegally,\u201d reveals\u00a0Epifanio \u2018Panying\u2019 Obidos<\/strong>, our boat guide. \u201cFor generations, we used traditional torpedo shaped canoes called\u00a0balugo\u00a0<\/em>to transport timber. We would get orders to cut down hardwood trees like\u00a0banuyo<\/em>,\u00a0narra<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0kamagong<\/em>. One\u00a0balugo<\/em>\u00a0can transport over 100 board feet of wood.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samar is among the poorest provinces in the country. In 2015, the Philippine Statistics Authority revealed that 45% or nearly half of all families in Samar lived below the poverty line. \u201cThe hardest part was that even when we\u2019d risk run-ins with the law by transporting illegally-cut timber, we\u2019d still have barely enough cash to survive. Often we\u2019d borrow money from financiers to buy gas and other provisions to transport the logs they ordered. Even after getting paid, we\u2019d still be in debt,\u201d recalls Panying.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Things have steadily improved. Samar\u2019s poverty incidence dropped to 30% by 2018, mostly because of small businesses, one of which is the Ulot River Torpedo Extreme Boat Adventure, where boats go bow-to-bow with raging rapids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn 2008, to veer away from illegal activities, we started using our torpedo-shaped\u00a0balugo<\/em>\u00a0for tourism to showcase the natural beauty of Samar. We mostly employed locals who formerly worked as illegal loggers or log haulers,\u201d explains Panying. \u201cBack then we only had 12 people and a few old boats \u2013 but traversing rivers was a way of life for us, since we\u2019ve been using it for transportation long before Samar\u2019s road network was developed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each torpedo boat has a three-man crew, comprised of a boat operator, tour guide and a point man, who sits at the bow or front of a boat, deftly using a paddle or pole to keep rocks at bay.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow our once-small operation has over 20 boats and employs 70 local people,\u201d beams Panying. In 2018, their group, Tour Guides and Boat Operators for River Protection and Environmental Development Organization (TORPEDO), was recognized by the Department of Tourism for its responsible, community-based operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ulot River is part of the Samar Island Natural Park (SINP), the country\u2019s largest land-based Protected Area (PA). \u201cThe Philippines hosts 247 PAs and practically all of them give locals employment,\u201d explains Department of Environment and Natural Resources Biodiversity Management Bureau (DENR-BMB) director\u00a0Natividad Bernardino<\/strong>. The stories of many of these PAs are similar to Panying\u2019s \u2013 of\u00a0loggers turned into tour guides, hunters turned into rangers, blast fishers transformed into dive guides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor all this to continue, there must be a steady stream of clients,\u201d notes SINP superintendent Eires Mate<\/strong>. \u201cThe COVID-19 lockdowns hit the world\u2019s PAs hard, generating all-time visitor revenue lows. Many people were laid off and operations were drastically scaled-down. With our parks again open for business, we invite adventurers to visit the Ulot River and our country\u2019s other beautiful PAs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Launched in May of 2022, the Year of the Protected Areas or YOPA\u00a0aims not just to educate people on the need to conserve PAs, but to encourage them to visit the sites themselves. YOPA hopes to generate funds from tourists to ensure continued management for areas hard-hit by COVID-19 budget cuts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Declaring natural sites as PAs is among the best ways to protect natural capital. \u201cThe jobs generated by sustainable and ethical tourism activities act as economic and social safety nets for locals who might otherwise turn to illegal means to support their families,\u201d says United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) resident representative Selva Ramachandran<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* * *<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in the Ulot River, the going is wet and wild. Our\u00a0balugo<\/em>, which traveled easily downstream, is now battling against the current in what locals jokingly call the \u2018Salmon Run\u2019 \u2013 akin to the epic upriver journeys undertaken by salmon in colder climes. Chilly geysers of water splash into the boat as our engines go full-throttle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as soon as we\u2019re sopping wet, the river calms down, the ride turning tranquil. Like the turbulent COVID-19 era, raging waters and rough times too, shall pass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I glance ahead and notice what\u2019s written on one of the guides\u2019 shirts: #MAYFORRIVER<\/em>, a play on #MayForever<\/em>, the hope that some things really can endure the test of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With illegal activities, nothing is certain \u2013 but with legal, safe and sustainable tourism, then there truly might be forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou know, if not for ecotourism, I would most probably be dead,\u201d reflects Panying as we quietly glide back to shore. \u201cThe authorities would have definitely caught me, like they caught others. I might have starved to death, been shot by the cops or been hauled off to jail.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He looks up, just a bit teary-eyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn a very real way, ecotourism saved my life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Revenge Tourism is a social phenomenon where people who have been stuck at home, often for months at a time, rush to tourist sites to appease their lockdown fatigue. With easing lockdown and flight restrictions, more and more tourist destinations are experiencing waves of visitors out to re-experience paradise \u2013 but what about the people who guide them? The people who themselves work in paradise? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7951,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,7],"tags":[110,1742,1077,1599,845,1909,1564],"class_list":["post-7950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-destinations","category-travel","tag-travel-2","tag-travel-adventure","tag-travel-destination","tag-travel-goods","tag-travel-philippines","tag-travel-time","tag-travel-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7950"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7954,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7950\/revisions\/7954"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}