I generally use this blog as a forum to say what I like, usually spontaneous blabbering about how I love to travel and about the great sights I’ve seen. I usually mention some experience that was particularly meaningful to me (like a stop at an ancient pub somewhere), but likely unimportant to the world at large. I’ll also occasionally touch upon a subject that I think is important, but usually that soap-box stuff is quite a bit less compelling than I think it is. Thankfully, very few people read this blog.

Today, on the other hand, I am going to go a little deeper than usual as I write about an exceedingly beautiful country, one that I am committed to investing in via ecotourism, and one that is home to some of the most captivating creatures in the history of our planet—the majestic mountain gorilla. That country is Uganda, and I am pissed off about it.

You see, Uganda is one of my favorite spots in the world. With pristine rainforests, vast savannas filled with wildlife, and wonderfully welcoming people, Uganda is stunning in so many ways. I can safely say that any traveler would do well to visit Uganda, virtually assuring them that they will return with memories of a lifetime.

Paradoxically, it is also an oppressive place that perpetuates hatred in the form of criminalization of homosexuality. Shockingly, if you are gay in Uganda you may soon face either the death penalty or life in prison. I am not writing today to debate the morals of homosexuality, but its criminalization and the outrageous penalties under consideration seem a clear violation of human rights, and in that regard I believe it is incumbent upon me to make our travelers aware of the other side of this otherwise extraordinarily attractive country.

So here’s my dilemma: If Uganda’s government is unjust and oppressive, why does Natural Habitat Adventures continue to run trips there? Well, the answer is simple: I have spent my working life promoting tourism as a means for positive change, to help build understanding among cultures and to promote conservation.

Rather than encouraging a negative approach, I believe that a more constructive method of change would be one where people from different cultures meet each other and exchange ideas (and dollars), encouraging Ugandans to understand the majority of the western world’s feelings about their government’s proposed legislation. Further, if we boycotted tourism to every place that committed injustices to humans or wildlife, we’d never travel anywhere! For example, the Chinese have oppressed Tibetans’ rights for years, and in Alaska they hunt wolves from helicopters. Injustices are everywhere.

In the end, I cannot tell you what to do. But as a concerned tour operator, it is incumbent upon me to inform you of the issue. If you have considered a trip to Uganda and this is an issue that is important to you, then you’ll have a decision to make: do you go to Uganda, or boycott tourism there? You already know my opinion.

I hope to see you out there!

Ben

P.S. If you feel I have used this forum inappropriately, or if you want to add your thoughts, please feel free to make comments below or send me an email at info@nathab.com.

I just finished Thanksgiving dinner with my family – a free-range turkey supplemented with two types of potatoes, three squashes and several carefully-prepared bean and vegetable items I’d never seen or heard of before. Add a choice of fine wines and a table full of freshly baked deserts (for just five of us!) and today I lived like a king.

But I met a king last week who didn’t live much like this at all. Truthfully he was a Masai chief, or an elder, but the point is that in his small Tanzania boma (an enclosed area where families build their homes) filled with cows and children and dung huts, he and his people wouldn’t dream of a meal so lavish.

But they did have a “Thanksgiving dinner” of sorts.

We were the second tourist visitors ever to this particular boma (or so we were told) so the chief called in all the children from the nearby grazing areas (the Masai are cattle people) and all the men within shouting distance and they hurriedly created a celebration of their own, with dancing, chanting, story-telling and a delicacy most Americans would probably avoid at all costs—a blood, milk and urine mixture stirred with a stick.

Kindly, the cows provided this item right in front of us, not by their choice.

The milk and urine were poured into a hollowed gourd and carried by a colorfully-dressed older woman while three men held the small cow (all Masai cows are small compared to the ones we’re used to) by the head while two others tied a leather strap around the cow’s neck to encourage a vein to pop out. Then other men took turns trying to shoot an arrow into the cow’s neck to get the blood to spurt out. And here’s the weird part: it took them 23 tries on two different cows to hit one in the neck…from one foot away. I was thinking, ‘I’m no warrior but I bet I could accomplish that with a toy bow and arrow from my basement in one or two attempts. Or maybe just use a knife.’ But so it was, they have their ways and who am I to question.

Anyway, in terms of a delicacy when the blood finally spurted out they mixed it into the gourd and stirred for five minutes until the woman pulled the stick out and, somehow, the mixture turned into a wad of gooey pink mush. Two young boys clamored and fought for the stick, just like my brother and I did when my mom baked a cake.

Once again, I am humbled by what I see on my travels, thankful for what I have, but also thankful that I have the opportunity to regularly witness the world.

Thanks for listening,

Ben
Founder & Director

Natural Habitat Adventures

Someone once commented to Neil Young that his songs all seemed to sound the same. He replied that “It’s all one song.”

Well, if Neil Young can admit that his music (and perhaps his life) is “all one song,” I think it’s acceptable for me to say that ours is all one planet, one ecosystem, even one back yard. Where Mr. Young’s knee bone is connected to his elbow bone, which is connected to his picking finger, which is connected to his lyrics, then, similarly, the Arctic ice floes are connected to the African savannahs, which are connected to the Patagonia Glaciers which are connected to the Panamanian Rainforest. (And all of that is connected to my knee bone.)

Unfortunately, that means that the bad things that happen to one area of the planet immediately affect another area. It’s true: remove any element of an ecosystem and you can sit and watch other elements of that and other connecting ecosystems deteriorate and fall apart. A dammed river surely affects the river’s salmon. But the depletion of salmon affects the bears, which affects the berry bushes, which affects the bird life, and so on. It truly is endless and it makes you want to throw your hands in the air in defeat. My grandfather had two words for these sort of complicated and endlessly frustrating processes: “Oiy vay!”

And here’s the crazy part: It’s pretty much my fault.

As I sit here today in the unusually cold weather (3 degrees Fahrenheit here in Boulder, Colorado), I have my gas fireplace burning strong and my home heating turned up. I look around my house and I see three lights on. Come’on, Ben! Surely I can type with just one light, especially when I consider the well-being of the salmon and the bears and the birds, right? Well, I ain’t perfect (I did just get up and turn two lights off, lower the heat and put a jacket on) and I am a bit embarrassed about slacking off in my conservation efforts lately. In fact people like me – those who are ‘in the know’ — have a greater responsibility than those who are not yet aware of the problems our planet faces. Not only is it incumbent upon us to act more responsibly in regards to the environment (after all, we’re ‘in the know’), it is incumbent upon us to educate our family and friends and neighbors.

For better or for worse, I’m afraid that it is, in fact, all one song… and one planet. Yup, and there’s a lot of work to do.

Thanks for listening!

Ben Bressler
Founder & Director
Natural Habitat Adventures

This subject matter, of course, has nothing to do with nature travel… but, like many of you, I am a dog lover.

In Boulder, Colorado, as an “animal-loving nature guy” it’s pretty normal that I have a couple of dogs—a typically friendly but somewhat loud golden retriever and a caramel-colored, short-haired, snub-nosed chubby mutt with a turned up tail. Their names are Jo Jo and Lucy (Beatles references) and they ruin my life.

In truth, I love them. But there are many times I want to kill them.

I know I shouldn’t, and I am 99.99% sure I’ll not do it, but nights like last night, when they went off barking relentlessly at 3 a.m. at a raccoon or a bear or a bird or the garbage can in the driveway, or who knows what, can drive a man to actions beyond comprehension. And it does not happen occasionally—it is pretty much a nightly occurrence, making me wonder why I really need to have dogs (my children—two teenage boys—present a similar quandary at times, but that is another story and even mentioning relieving them of their final breath will have social workers knocking on my door within minutes). I know it’s wrong to kill your own dogs, but, my thinking sometimes goes, when I explain myself fully, any court in the land will exonerate me for my understandable actions.

Of course, this morning I am a new man… as I drink my coffee and eat my daily bran muffin, with Jo Jo lying on our once-expensive but now torn up couch, his big eyes begging for one small bite (and a small string of drool hanging from his droopy lips onto the upholstery), and with Lucy running circles around the living room in the excitement of her “brothers” getting ready for school, I realize that they, too, are part of my family and, no matter that they have prevented me from sleeping through the night since last spring, I really cannot murder them… as much as I may want to.

I hope to see you out there!

Ben
Founder & Director (and dog lover)
Natural Habitat Adventures

I like donuts… heck, pretty much everybody likes donuts. (Especially Canadians!) I like Boston creams and chocolate glazed the most. But I’ll eat any of them. Really, I will.

But as much as I like donuts…nay, “love” them might be more appropriate… I get this strange feeling that if I opened a donut shop today, I just may not love them so much just a short time down the road. Oh during year one I’d devour five a day! Then I’d let my commitment slide a bit and I’d dwindle down to two or three and, within a couple of years I’d lose my enthusiasm altogether and I’d occasionally grab a cinnamon stick and a cup of coffee. And even that would make me nauseas.

That’s probably true with a lot of things people are passionate about. Love beer? Then open a pub and I’ll betcha’ a buck that within a few years you’ll be a little tired of swilling that fine beverage. Probably true with tomatoes, fine shoes, antique cars and hobby trains. I often wonder how long I’d be dedicated to handmade cigars if I owned a handmade cigar shop. (Well, I guess I don’t “often” wonder about that as spending a good portion of my time thinking about that would surely be a little weird.)

I’d wager to say that there are very few “products” indeed that would allow me to retain my passion should I be faced with dealing with that product on a daily basis…day…after day…after day, year…after year…after year!

Travel is one of those products. Luckily, that is the industry I fell into. I can safely say that my passion for travel has not waned one iota since I started Natural Habitat Adventures in 1985. In fact, that passion grows every day as I peruse new destination possibilities and work with our staff on our old classics. Hey, I love to travel and working in this industry every single day for the past 25 years has only reinforced my dedication.

Man, I really am lucky I never opened that donut shop!

I hope to see you out there!

Ben
Founder & Director
Natural Habitat Adventures