Tag: tourists

For years tourists have ridden boats through this sacred Australian natural wonder. A new ban will stop them in their tracks


The Horizontal Falls are one of Australia’s strangest natural attractions, a unique blend of coastal geography and powerful tidal forces that visitors pay big money to see up close.

But all that is about to change.

Located at Talbot Bay, a remote spot on the country’s northwestern coastline, the falls are created when surges of seawater pour between two narrow cliff gaps, creating a swell of up to four meters that resembles a waterfall.

For decades, tours have pierced these gaps on powerful boats, much to the dismay of the area’s Indigenous Traditional Owners, who say the site is sacred.

It’s not the only reason the boat tours are controversial. In May 2022 one boat hit the rocks resulting in passenger injuries and triggering a major rescue operation. The incident led to calls to halt the tours for safety reasons.

Although the boat trips have continued, the concerns of the Indigenous Traditional Owners have now been heeded, with Western Australia, the state in which the falls are situated, saying they will be banned in 2028 out of respect.

Close-up views still permitted

Tourists on a speedboat race across the Horizontal Waterfalls in Talbot Bay, Western Australia. - Jeff Mauritzen/Design Pics Editorial/Getty Images

Tourists on a speedboat race across the Horizontal Waterfalls in Talbot Bay, Western Australia. – Jeff Mauritzen/Design Pics Editorial/Getty Images

Not everyone is happy with the move. The WA Tourism Council, which represents tourism businesses in the state, has warned it will deter visitors and cause major job losses.

But it’s been welcomed by the Dambeemangaddee people, who’ve inhabited this area for 56,000 years and believe boats desecrate the falls.

Located in the Kimberley Region, 1,900 kilometers (1,180 miles) north of the state capital Perth, the Horizontal Falls are within Maiyalam, one of three protected marine parks created in 2022 that were co-designed, and now co-managed, by Traditional Owners and the WA Government.

The move by the Western Australian government comes amid criticism over its commitment to protecting Indigenous sites in a state that relies heavily on mining.

Talbot Bay’s main boat tour operator, Horizontal Falls Seaplane Adventures, will cease traversing the falls in March 2028, with all other operators to stop by the end of 2026.

After the ban takes effect, boats will still be allowed to cruise Talbot Bay, offering visitors a close-up view of the cascading spectacle that British naturalist David Attenborough has called “Australia’s most unusual natural attraction.”

“This decision reflects the government’s dual responsibilities to respect the cultural views of Traditional Owners and the need to protect and support WA’s tourism industry,” said WA Environment Minister Reece Whitby in a statement.

“We want people to experience Indigenous culture as an essential, vibrant part of visiting jointly managed national and marine parks across Western Australia.”

The Dambeemangaddee are among dozens of Indigenous peoples who inhabited WA for more than 50,000 years before Australia was violently colonized by the British in the 1780s. Countless parcels of Indigenous-controlled land were then seized or defiled.

‘Respect the power of this place’

After the ban takes effect, boats will still be allowed to cruise Talbot Bay, offering visitors a close-up view of the attraction. - Jeff Mauritzen/Design Pics Editorial/Getty Images

After the ban takes effect, boats will still be allowed to cruise Talbot Bay, offering visitors a close-up view of the attraction. – Jeff Mauritzen/Design Pics Editorial/Getty Images

The Horizontal Falls ban aims to restore the sanctity of this site. According to local Indigenous beliefs, boats that pierce these gaps disturb Woongudd, the mystical serpent who created this wonder.

Woongudd’s story features in the Dreamtime, an ancient collection of tales and principles that have defined Australian Aboriginal culture. The rushing tide at the falls is said to be caused by Woongudd gliding between the cliffs.

Since the 1990s, Traditional Owners have expressed concerns that boat tours are damaging this “powerful, sacred place,” the Dambeemangaddee said in a group statement, responding to the ban.

“This has been an emotionally trying journey for many of us,” they wrote. “With this decision, we finally feel we have been heard. Our ancestors lived there all year round, and we still feel their presence. It is a quiet, calm place. But it can be dangerous. Culturally, Traditional Owners would only travel through the (cliff) gaps for a specific purpose and always at the right time.”

The Dambeemangaddee emphasized they hope tourists continue to visit the Horizontal Falls. They believe tourists can be dazzled by its tidal forces while maintaining a polite distance.

“Respect the power of this place, and our cultural obligations to care for Country and keep you safe,” they asked of visitors, referring to their ancient role as custodians of Australia’s landscape.

In preparation for the Horizontal Falls ban, the Dambeemangaddee stated they have begun creating new videos and brochures that will explain their culture and spiritual connection to Talbot Bay. They also are creating fresh tours, welcome ceremonies, and a visitor management plan for the location.

Critics fear ban will reduce visitor numbers

Other attractions in the Kimberley region include the Bungle Bungles, a UNESCO-listed site. - Tourism Australia

Other attractions in the Kimberley region include the Bungle Bungles, a UNESCO-listed site. – Tourism Australia

Horizontal Falls Seaplane Adventures said in a statement it will transition to a “culturally appropriate program that will allow visitors to experience the spectacular natural wonder of the Horizontal Falls in a respectful context”.

The falls boat ban was criticized by Tourism Council WA CEO Evan Hall, who said this activity had long attracted visitors to the Kimberley. He added that banning it would impact 15 tourism operators, and cause the estimated loss of 58 full-time jobs in the region.

“By traversing the falls, visitors experience the awesome nature of this unique environment,” Hall said in a statement earlier this month.

“It’s not something that can be experienced from the sideline. National Parks are public land and waters that belong to everyone. The legislative objective of National Parks includes promoting and facilitating nature-based tourism and public recreation – this is not achieved by restricting visitor access.”

However, the ban was supported by Kimberley Day Cruise CEO Sally Shaw, who told CNN the company’s Horizontal Falls tours only venture near, not between these cliff gaps. She says piercing the falls is both dangerous and disrespectful to its Traditional Owners.

“We do not traverse the falls because of safety and cultural reasons and have never done this on our tour,” Shaw said.

“Most people who do these tours have cultural understanding and recognize the future is a sustainable national treasure we can all appreciate in safety.”

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Crammed with tourists, Alaska’s capital wonders what will happen as its magnificent glacier recedes


JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Thousands of tourists spill onto a boardwalk in Alaska’s capital city every day from cruise ships towering over downtown. Vendors hawk shoreside trips and rows of buses stand ready to whisk visitors away, with many headed for the area’s crown jewel: the Mendenhall Glacier.

A craggy expanse of gray, white and blue, the glacier gets swarmed by sightseeing helicopters and attracts visitors by kayak, canoe and foot. So many come to see the glacier and Juneau’s other wonders that the city’s immediate concern is how to manage them all as a record number are expected this year. Some residents flee to quieter places during the summer, and a deal between the city and cruise industry will limit how many ships arrive next year.

But climate change is melting the Mendenhall Glacier. It is receding so quickly that by 2050, it might no longer be visible from the visitor center it once loomed outside.

That’s prompted another question Juneau is only now starting to contemplate: What happens then?

“We need to be thinking about our glaciers and the ability to view glaciers as they recede,” said Alexandra Pierce, the city’s tourism manager. There also needs to be a focus on reducing environmental impacts, she said. “People come to Alaska to see what they consider to be a pristine environment and it’s our responsibility to preserve that for residents and visitors.”

The glacier pours from rocky terrain between mountains into a lake dotted by stray icebergs. Its face retreated eight football fields between 2007 and 2021, according to estimates from University of Alaska Southeast researchers. Trail markers memorialize the glacier’s backward march, showing where the ice once stood. Thickets of vegetation have grown in its wake.

While massive chunks have broken off, most ice loss has come from the thinning due to warming temperatures, said Eran Hood, a University of Alaska Southeast professor of environmental science. The Mendenhall has now largely receded from the lake that bears its name.

Scientists are trying to understand what the changes might mean for the ecosystem, including salmon habitat.

There are uncertainties for tourism, too.

Most people enjoy the glacier from trails across Mendenhall Lake near the visitor center. Caves of dizzying blues that drew crowds several years ago have collapsed and pools of water now stand where one could once step from the rocks onto the ice.

Manoj Pillai, a cruise ship worker from India, took pictures from a popular overlook on a recent day off.

“If the glacier is so beautiful now, how would it be, like, 10 or 20 years before? I just imagine that,” he said.

Officials with the Tongass National Forest, under which the Mendenhall Glacier Recreation Area falls, are bracing for more visitors over the next 30 years even as they contemplate a future when the glacier slips from casual view.

The agency is proposing new trails and parking areas, an additional visitor center and public use cabins at a lakeside campground. Researchers do not expect the glacier to disappear completely for at least a century.

“We did talk about, ‘Is it worth the investment in the facilities if the glacier does go out of sight?’” said Tristan Fluharty, the forest’s Juneau district ranger. “Would we still get the same amount of visitation?”

A thundering waterfall that is a popular place for selfies, salmon runs, black bears and trails could continue attracting tourists when the glacier is not visible from the visitor center, but “the glacier is the big draw,” he said.

Around 700,000 people are expected to visit this year, with about 1 million projected by 2050.

Other sites offer a cautionary tale. Annual visitation peaked in the 1990s at around 400,000 to the Begich, Boggs Visitor Center, southeast of Anchorage, with the Portage Glacier serving as a draw. But now, on clear days, a sliver of the glacier remains visible from the center, which was visited by about 30,000 people last year, said Brandon Raile, a spokesperson with the Chugach National Forest, which manages the site. Officials are discussing the center’s future, he said.

“Where do we go with the Begich, Boggs Visitor Center?” Raile said. “How do we keep it relevant as we go forward when the original reason for it being put there is not really relevant anymore?”

At the Mendenhall, rangers talk to visitors about climate change. They aim to “inspire wonder and awe but also to inspire hope and action,” said Laura Buchheit, the forest’s Juneau deputy district ranger.

After pandemic-stunted seasons, about 1.6 million cruise passengers are expected in Juneau this year, during a season stretching from April through October.

The city, nestled in a rainforest, is one stop on what are generally week-long cruises to Alaska beginning in Seattle or Vancouver, British Columbia. Tourists can leave the docks and move up the side of a mountain in minutes via a popular tram, see bald eagles perch on light posts and enjoy a vibrant Alaska Native arts community.

On the busiest days, about 20,000 people, equal to two-thirds of the city’s population, pour from the boats.

City leaders and major cruise lines agreed to a daily five-ship limit for next year. But critics worry that won’t ease congestion if the vessels keep getting bigger. Some residents would like one day a week without ships. As many as seven ships a day have arrived this year.

Juneau Tours and Whale Watch is one of about two dozen companies with permits for services like transportation or guiding at the glacier. Serene Hutchinson, the company’s general manager, said demand has been so high that she neared her allotment halfway through the season. Shuttle service to the glacier had to be suspended, but her business still offers limited tours that include the glacier, she said.

Other bus operators are reaching their limits, and tourism officials are encouraging visitors to see other sites or get to the glacier by different means.

Limits on visitation can benefit tour companies by improving the experience rather than having tourists “shoehorned” at the glacier, said Hutchinson, who doesn’t worry about Juneau losing its luster as the glacier recedes.

“Alaska does the work for us, right?” she said. “All we have to do is just kind of get out of the way and let people look around and smell and breathe.”

Pierce, Juneau’s tourism manager, said discussions are just beginning around what a sustainable southeast Alaska tourism industry should look like.

In Sitka, home to a slumbering volcano, the number of cruise passengers on a day earlier this summer exceeded the town’s population of 8,400, overwhelming businesses, dragging down internet speeds and prompting officials to question how much tourism is too much.

Juneau plans to conduct a survey that could guide future growth, such as building trails for tourism companies.

Kerry Kirkpatrick, a Juneau resident of nearly 30 years, recalls when the Mendenhall’s face was “long across the water and high above our heads.” She called the glacier a national treasure for its accessibility and noted an irony in carbon-emitting helicopters and cruise ships chasing a melting glacier. She worries the current level of tourism isn’t sustainable.

As the Mendenhall recedes, plants and animals will need time to adjust, she said.

So will humans.

“There’s too many people on the planet wanting to do the same things,” Kirkpatrick said. “You don’t want to be the person who closes the door and says, you know, ‘I’m the last one in and you can’t come in.’ But we do have to have the ability to say, ‘No, no more.’”



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