Activities in Whale Sanctuary of El Vizcaino
El Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve in Baja California, Mexico, is focusing on developing locally based ecotourism to address threats to the coastal lagoons, which shelter the gray whale, harbour seal, California sea lion, northern elephant seal and four species of endangered marine turtles. It is also an important cultural site inhabited by rancheros, with the ancient rock paintings of Sierra San Francisco.
Outcomes
- Twenty nature guides completed training, and most began working immediately as whale-watching guides.
- Preparations began for Ecotourism Promoters Training.
- The 20 newly certified nature guides, by all accounts, met or surpassed all the expected program goals - from English conversational skills and environmental interpretation to cultural and historical knowledge. The students gained substantial knowledge in the field of guiding, tourism businesses, and community leadership in conservation.
- Twenty nature guides from the training course in December, and the majority of them began working immediately as whale-watching guides.
- Preparations have begun for Ecotourism Promoters Training.
Our goal is to diversify and improve the quality of recreational activities in two distinct locations within the reserve: the coastal lagoons, where existing ecotourism activities focus on whale-watching, and the mountainous Sierra, a cultural site inhabited by rancheros where ancient cave paintings provide a tourism attraction that might be better linked to markets on the coast.
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