Sam Gray Boulder - An Ecotourism Project

Sam Gray Boulder - An Ecotourism Project Sam Gray of Boulder is involved in an ecotourism project in the Dominican Republic, as part of his work as a Peace Corps volunteer. The project is called Kayak Limon, and it is operated on a remote lagoon that even many Dominicans have never heard of called Laguna Limón.

Kayak Limon was started by local fishermen who work on the Scientific Reserve of Laguna Limon, not far from the town of Los Guineos. It is a pristine and undeveloped area that is home to a lot of unique wildlife. The fishermen who started the tours have been trained by the Dominican Republic Department of the Environment in how to be a guide and to provide tourists with interpretations of the Laguna Limon environment. They operate tours that last four to five hours, and snake their way through the dense lagoon where tourists learn not just about the area’s flora and fauna, but something about the lifestyles of the traditional fishermen who are leading the expeditions.

The Kayak Limon tours were developed in part with the Peace Corps, as Sam Gray Boulder knows. As an eco-tour, it is aimed at providing tourists with a rare look inside a remote area, while at the same time preserving the area’s unspoiled environment and integrity. Determined tourists are able to reach these areas without the benefit of a formal ecotourism project, of course. But true ecotourism is committed to preserving the natural areas in which they operate with conscientious, low-impact behavior, sensitivity toward any local cultures and biodiversity, a support for local conservation efforts, the active participation by the local community in decisions that impact their homes, and featuring an educational element.

As Sam Gray of Boulder knows, an increase of tourism to remote natural areas that does not have an ecotourism element has a strong chance of impacting those areas for the worse. The land itself may sustain significant environmental degradation, while local communities and indigenous cultures may also be harmed in many unforeseen ways.

Sam Gray of Boulder says that the Kayak Limon is a viable ecotourism project that is structured in a way that should sustain the natural environment and prevent any negative impact. Laguna Limon is located on the northeast coast of the Dominican Republic and is part of a network of lagoons on the area’s coastal plains. It gained Scientific Natural Reserve status in 1983, became a Natural Reserve in 1995, and a Wildlife Refuge in 2004.

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