Fernando Garcia, Rare manager, ecotourism promoter, explores the connection between the super grand slam in sport fishing and the ecotourism enterprise Community Tours Sian Ka’an.
For the saltwater sport fishing hobbyists, the super grand slam means that a person catches four species of fish in a single day: for instance, a tarpon, snook, permit, and bonefish. It is very difficult to have a super grand slam because each one of the species demands a lot of knowledge, skills, and luck, so it is rare and unique. That is why it is easier to be good with one or two species, but it is more difficult to achieve three or four at the same day. However, the hobbyist pursues a grand slam, no matter how much effort is needed. At each shot trying for a super grand slam, the sport fisher can be nervous, bouncy, bored, frustrated, anxious, or happy. Finally, a super grand slam provides a lot of fun and pride to those that achieve one in his or her life.
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Fly-fishing in Sian Ka’an
Rare enterprise Community Tours Sian Ka’an (CTSK), a locally owned ecotourism operation in the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve on the Yucatán Peninsula, is trying for its own super grand slam. But it’s pursuing not fishes, but other trophies: market, quality, capability, and conservation. These are some characteristics of those “prizes.”
Market: CTSK is achieving great success running its four tours: Fly-fishing, bird watching, the Muyil forest and float tour, and the Punta Allen eco-adventure. Every month the number of visitors is growing, and it is very common that CTSK simultaneously runs two different tours in the same day. Twice in the last month the four tours were served in the same day. Similarly, it is more and more common that visitors take two CTSK tours in their vacations in Sian Ka’an, and last week a family participated in all the four.
Quality: “This is the highlight of my visit to Mexico” is an expression repeated again and again at the end of the CTSK tours and shows one part of the CTSK mission. With the support of Rare, CTSK has been able to design tours, train local guides, and organize operations, putting together the pieces so the results are unforgettable experiences provided by knowledgeable local guides in a pristine environment. But quality is not a final result, it is an attitude and process. As Pastor Caamal, one of the leader guides, says, “For CTSK to do better, all our work is not an option, it is an obligation. And not only for one person, but for everyone that is involved in the tours: guides, cooks, drivers, and administrative staff.”
Capability: A normal working day is 16 hours or more for the three full-time employees at CTSK. Similarly, the board of directors at CTSK works extra hours in order to make sure that the cooperatives are ready to deliver meals and tours day after day in a very complicated environment. I have seen several times that the major concern for CTSK members is how to enhance CTSK capacity in front of the growing demand for new products and new clients. It’s not just the issue of hiring more staff, but to recruit or train the kind of person that is social and environment-aware to deliver an experience about modern Mayan culture and a unique set of ecosystems.
Conservation: Under the leadership of CTSK, three different initiatives started this month: the bird observation stations, the clean-up campaigns, and waste management. The goal is to focus on some of the environmental challenges at Sian Ka’an and involve more of its residents on specific actions to alleviate the challenges. CTSK will establish three stations where guides and trainees can monitor bird populations. It will create the stations in areas where there is pressure to transform forest, wetlands, and savanna into hotels or residential areas. The clean-up campaigns are focused on picking up all the garbage on the beaches or next to the trails in Sian Ka’an. Finally, the garbage management begins with composting the organic garbage that results from the tours and keeping plastic bottles and cans for further recycling.
As in fishing for a grand slam, there is no certainty that CTSK people will have success with all four strategy arenas. But again like the grand slam, any progress that CTSK makes provides more excitement and fun. That is the root of the social energy that hopefully will transform ecotourism in Sian Ka’an.
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