Do not be one of these tourists!

Touron (adj.): a tourist who goes on vacation and leaves their common sense at home.

I learned this descriptor last summer from a rafting guide in the Tetons while on a trip with my dad on the way to Yellowstone. He had lots of silly stories of tourists doing and saying ridiculous things while on rafting trips or just vacationing in the area. Working in Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks, I can safely say that when people are on vacation, they can tend to do things they might not do otherwise. I think this word is perfect to describe the other tourists on my shuttle into Denali National Park yesterday.

On the bus, visitors are allowed to open our windows in order to get better photos, but part of the deal is that they are supposed to be very quiet and only whisper so that the animals do not get accustomed to human voices. Our human voice is actually a means of protecting ourselves in the backcountry, because the animals are unfamiliar with it and see it as a sign of something potentially dangerous that they do not want to encounter. If animals like wolves and bears get used to hearing the sound of human voices from people on the shuttle bus, and no longer associate it with something to fear or avoid, people in the backcountry who vocalize to let animals know of their presence could actually endanger themselves.

The bus drivers give a lengthy explanation of this at the beginning of each trip, so I found it extremely disrespectful and selfish of the people on the bus to be talking loudly and even calling at the bears and wolves we saw to come closer so they could get better photos. The drivers are supposed to leave immediately if people act that way, and our driver didn't so he was also at fault. If people are going to have the privilege of entering parks with wild animals, they need to treat those animals respectfully and think of the repercussions of their actions.

Too many people think of the national parks as zoos for their own personal enjoyment. I saw that kind of behavior all the time at Yellowstone last summer. Posing for photos way too close to wild animals like elk, bison, and bears, calling out to animals, and causing enormous jams along the roads were common occurrences. I am sure the tourists on the bus were totally clueless as to what they were doing, but all I could think of was that one bus multiplied by the dozens that go into the park each day and the cumulative damage they may be causing. The great thing about the parks is that they protect these animals in their natural habitat. But it is up to visitors to keep these animals wild, and that means educating themselves about animal safety and treating these animals with the respect they deserve.

Anyway, I did get some nice photos of the park, and the bears and wolves I saw. And I quietly took photos of them (see yesterday's post).