Tourism Keeping Peruvian Islands Afloat
By Rod Eime
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For the Uros tribe in
Peru, modern society
is a blessing & a curse
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For centuries, the reclusive Uros tribe of Peru have lived
in a real-life waterworld on Lake Titicaca in the Peruvian
Andes.
Building huge floating pontoons from the buoyant totora reeds,
the Uros Indians waterborne communities of Islas Flotantes
(floating islands) have afforded them protection from rival
tribes, the Inca and Collas.
Now, despite hundreds of years of isolation, the Uros way
of life is threatened by the encroaching land-based population
in nearby Puno, Perus major port town on the 8300 square kilometre
lake.
The plight of the Uros was highlighted in a feature story
on National Geographic Channel recently:
"The issues facing the people living on the floating
islands are multifold," says anthropologist Arrufo Alcantara
Hernandez, director of the faculty of social sciences at the
Universidad Nacional del Altiplano in Puno.
"The waters of the Uros have been overfished by commercial
fishermen, tourists are affecting their traditional culture
and sewage from Puno is causing environmental and health problems."
Paradoxically, the growth of tourism on the lake has been
something of a relief for the Uros, bringing them much-needed
cash. This has reduced their reliance on the dwindling fish
stocks and enabled them to purchase motorboats and medicines.
Speaking to National Geographic, Melchora, one of the elderly
Uros women selling handicrafts to the tourists, said the amount
of tourists grows every year. At first, only a few Uros chiefs
permitted tourists, now nearly all the islands take tourists.
Given their resilience, anthropologist Hernandez remains
confident that the Uros people and their culture will remain
intact. "They've successfully dealt with many serious
challenges over the last few centuries," he says.
"I think if the Uros people use foresight and care,
they'll be able to overcome their problems and balance their
traditional lifestyles with the modern world."
Pioneering adventure travel operator, Adventure Associates,
has organised tours to South America, including Peru and Lake
Titicaca, for 30 years.
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