Tartaruga Imbricata community-based tourism project, Brazil / Guyana

In November 2009 I participated, for nine days, in a project called "The Community Based Tourism experimentation Tartaruga Imbricata project", a trip affiliated with the Cabo Orange National Park in Brazil and the French Guiana. This trip was the first piece of field work for my thesis in Geography and Environmental Management (thesis in progress). A group of French managers also participated in this project, that contained a seminar called "Finding ourselves in uncharted territories". The participants were given the opportunity to live a few days in rudimentary material conditions in inhospitable nature, and with local communities. The experience included: catraias (little motor boats) crossings, passages in inflatable boats, truck trips on dangerous highways, and the best: long stretches of river aboard the Peixe-boi boat, that would become our hotel, transportation, cafeteria and the stage of the intense "se decouvrir en Terres Inconnues" seminar. In general, the trial showed positive results. I concluded that community-based tourism, as it was held in Cabo Orange National Park, has two main effects: the unique experience of living with coastal communities and the deepening of relations between the national park and its surroundings. I have attached excerpts from interviews with residents of riverside communities surrounding the national park and also a rare document encountered on this trip: a socio-cultural community survey, conducted by history teachers and students of the elementary school of Vila Velha do Cassipore.