CONVERSATION
CONVERSATION
CONVERSATION
HUMAN TRACES:
ETHIOPIA
HUMAN TRACES:
ETHIOPIA
THE BALANCE OF FACTS
THE BALANCE OF FACTS
THE BALANCE OF FACTS
THE BALANCE OF FACTS
DESTINATIONS
DESTINATIONS
The Dreamtime, or the Dreaming, portrays the Aboriginal beliefs in spiritual existence. According to the tribes that first settled down in the continent, the Dreaming's roots date all the way back to the very begging of the creation of the world. The meaning and ideology of the term is generally not so well-understood by non-indigenous people as it is referred to as part of the culture of one of the early nations, which differs from modern perceptions.
The Spirits were the creators of everything. They made the land and the seas, the rocks and the plants, the sky and the earth. They were the higher power and the Australian Aborigines spent their lifetimes honoring this power, which guided their path and shaped their way of thinking. Not only creators of everything, which could be seen as well as felt, the Spirits also gave the Aborigines the Dreaming.
The time when everything started existing according to the initial Australians, was called the Dreaming. This is the foundation of the continent's culture. The origin of the Dreaming goes way back - 65 000 years back in time to be exact. The Ancestors of the nation shaped the land, forming some parts of it as sacred. The Aborigines were very careful and overprotective of those places, strongly believing in their significance.
The Australian Aborigines are known to have believed that the world didn't have any shape and was therefore empty. Darkness dominated, and life was simply asleep, but this changed when the creation began happening. After the Dreaming and the influence of the Spirits, objects began taking shapes and came to be. They created the four elements: water, earth, air and fire, as well as all the planets, the Sun and the Moon. The Dreaming therefore is a continuous process, which never ended. It is a small cosmos on its own, unifying the past, present and the future into one.
The Australian Aborigines' home riches so many vivid areas of the continent, including Fraser Island, Tasmania, Palm Island, Groote Eylandt and Mornington Island. The Aborigines had very strong believes in relation to the powers of the land, claiming that they never owned it - it rather owned them. The only reason they were able to call it their home is because they were looking after it and the land was taking care of the people in return.
Equally important to the Dreaming was the tribes' understandings of the disappearance of the Spirits. There came a time, when the creators of everything vanished from sight. Some of them were thought to have started living in sacred places, which is why the Aborigines perceived their homeland to be so sacred. The ancestors of today's Australians used to believe that the creators started living in rocks, in water holes and some went up to the sky to guide the people from above and keep them safe. Others transformed completely, taking the forms of the rain, the lightnings and the thunderstorms so they could be part of peoples' life.
Among the hundred's different Aboriginal languages, there isn't a word to describe 'time', because to them this simply doesn't exist. Dreaming and Dreamtime are used to replace it and summarize the ideologies of the Aborigines about everything they knew, everything they could see, feel and experience. This is why the Dreaming has such a vivid, and overwhelming meaning and has survived the obstacles of time. For the past couple thousand years, the Dreaming has built a rich cultural heritage that can identify a whole nation.
Read more about the Land, its connection to people and the way it has been perceived from different generations in the very first print issue of ORIGIN. The Land Issue covers varied topics, most of which remain related to cultural aspects of the land and its importance.
A lot of people travel to explore places and learn about them which is the message that ORIGIN wants to spread. With traveling, however, comes certain responsibilities that we should all be aware of. Elephants riding has become a popular way to explore locations by land. People have been doing this as part of their trips, mostly to places such as Thailand, Nepal, Cambodia and other parts of Asia. It is a common thing to see in certain places in Africa as well. We investigated the activity to explain why it is wrong and riding elephants should be banned everywhere.
Our first print issue studies culture and traveling represented through the land. We explored various location around the globe and learned what makes the land so valuable, which nations cherish it and how it helps us establish an identity. Traveling is important to us but traveling responsibly and making an impact is what we feel proud to stand behind. This is why riding elephants as a way of amusement should be reconsidered.
Let’s talk about the details. Elephants are very caring and extremely intelligent animals. It is a well-known fact that they never forget anything. When kept in captivity instead of spending their life in the wild, elephants die younger. Unlike in other species, this is common for the gentle giants and is often a result for stress.
Many African cultures respect elephants, believing they symbolize strength, loyalty and power. However, power can be a very tender concept. Elephant used as a tourism tool suffer from great pain daily. Elephants can be hurt very severely from the weight of carrying people and a trainer on their backs. The reason for this is the design of their spines. They have sharp protrusions, extending upwards from their spine instead of having round spinal disks. The protrusions and the tissue that serves to protect them can be harmed easily from weight pressure. Once a damage to their spine has been made, there is no going back and sometimes the harm can be irreversible. While this can’t be physically seen, the harm that the chairs can do to the elephants’ skin is. It is often the case that the chairs and the weight on their back can damage the animal’s skin and cause pain to their body. The chair, called Howdah, that gets attached to their backs, rubs on their skin and can cause blisters, which can sometimes get infected.
The training that elephants are required to go through when in captivity sometimes adopts a traditional Thai ‘phajaan’ or ‘crush’ technique. Explaining the technique would compare it to the animals’ spirits constantly and continuously being broken by the means of torture and social isolation. This is done in order to tame them. Elephants are wild animals, this is their nature as they are born in such conditions. Making them safe and obedient around people requires them to go through such training. As horrible as it sounds, in some places young elephants are taken away from their mothers to be abused with nails, bull hooks and bamboo sticks to make them obey rules, given by people. The animals often lack sleep and are starved to become submissive.
Actions from such nature are cruel and harmful as the technique is used to crash the animals’ spirit. Once wild and free, elephants become a source of tourism and entertainment. Nobody, who cared about sustainable tourism should ever ride an elephant.
In a sense, elephants have a human soul. They socialise and feel everything – pain, happiness, grief, sadness etc. They spend their life building families and finding friends. The largest land animals are a gift from nature and it is our responsibility to take special care of them and make sure they live according to their nature. Many animals, who are kept in captivity, are forced to live in isolation and carry heavy loads all day long, which is a wrong way to treat them. Their strength and power shouldn’t be abused but treated gently and celebrated by people. Elephants require minimal care to stay happy and healthy, which comes from giving them freedom to behave naturally and socialise. It is our responsibility to be culturally aware while traveling and make sure to spread awareness about the problem.
You can read the rest of the article as published in the LAND issue.
TRAVEL SUSTAINABLY
There are many simple ways to travel with a low environmental impact, so long as we remember that our holiday spot is someone else’s home
Words: Aleksandra Georgieva
Photography: Thomas Young
?? March 2020
What does it actually mean to travel sustainably? Does it end with limiting your carbon footprint or does it start far back while you are still planning your next trip? To keep this short there is a simple mind set to follow whenever you travel in sustainable manner. Just remember to stay mindful.
Respecting the fact that your holiday destination is actually someone’s home is key to a vacation with a positive environmental impact. There are a few hacks to help you explore better and eco-friendlier. Perhaps the best advice any traveller has ever received is to keep it local. You might simply be passing through these remote snow-covered mountain villages or exotic tropical islands, but the dominant population in any location is likely to be of local citizens.
There are more than one ways to contribute to the local economy and the livelihood of residents when you are on vacation. The simplest way is to shop locally. Be conscious of where you spend your money and try to avoid big chains. Not only would this benefit the local residents, but it will also give you a way more authentic experience of the way people in the destination you visit dine, how they like to cook and overall how they live.
Another important aspect to sustainable travelling is getting to know the local economy. If you are going to a place where water is in short supply, for an example, make sure to waste as little of the resource as possible. Attempt to consume less energy and electricity in general. Turn the lights off when you leave the room like you would do at home and be aware of the footprint you would be leaving on the area once you are gone.
Another helpful tip is to consider bringing as many reusable items as possible. Bring your own beach towels for example. If you go hiking, take along your own plates and so on, making sure that you leave as little trash behind as possible. A reusable water bottle is a great step towards limiting your environmental footprint on any holiday and during your everyday life as well.
Seek sustainable accommodation. Depending on your choice of destination, research accommodations with a sustainable approach. More and more people seem to have noticed that good for the environment also means better profit as travellers become more aware of the effect their holidays create on nature. There are plenty hotels that use renewable energy sources and strive for limiting their plastic consumption. Some guest houses power up by solar panels, while chains make the promise of planting more trees and so on. Choose the most sustainable option if possible and know that every little effort helps as long as you remain mindful.
Try to avoid peak times and tourist seasons. This might sound impractical since the peak seasons are usually the best time to visit destination but we advise you to consider the matter from a different perspective. Off-peak hours and in general non-popular tourist times of the year will ensure that you will see the same monuments, museums or natural wonders without the hassle of crowds and selfie sticks. You will be able to enjoy the same dream destinations in more private and calm surroundings than most travellers do.
While avoiding plain travels might not always be possible, you can always remain mindful of the airlines with lowest emissions per passenger mile. Always fly economy since first class often has double the emissions and fly direct were possible. Instead of changing flights, consider converting part of your travelling by rail or road. Not only would you have a less harmful impact on nature, but you will also get the chance to explore more destinations and get to know the culture of more nations along the way.
Finally, be respectful of the local means of entertainment. While in some regions posing next to exotic animals such as elephants, can be a popular practise, it is often accompanied by unimaginable cruelty. Research before you visit. If the tourist temptations put profit above sustainability, avoid participating. Modern-day travellers have sparked a wave of tourist attractions that harm nature in the process, but the power to reverse the trend lays in the hands of everyone, who continues to travel.
Our choices create the demand that locals have to meet in order to secure their livelihood, so it is important to remain mindful. As long as travellers are respectful of the local culture and economy, sustainable travelling becomes just as easy and enjoyable as any other spontaneous or luxury vacation. Just remember, you are vacating in somebody else’s homeland – respect that and you will be one step closer to becoming a sustainable traveller.
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NOMADSofORIGIN is an independent annual publication with a focus on sustainable travelling and global cultural values. Each issue features interviews, engaging articles and photo guides, which take our nomadic readers through different destinations and introduce them to local people's perspectives.
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