It is no secret that tourism and general human intervention has had an overall negative impact on the environment. Putting aside the macro level long term permanent deterioration of ecosystems, difficult as it is, we cannot ignore the micro level environmental effects that people have on the environment that is visible to anyone who is looking. And although it may seem insensitive to think of it, there is always some good out of every tragedy, even one as universally devastating as the Covid -19 pandemic, however ,seemingly insignificant it may be. Due to the general sentiment of staying home that people have developed due to the lockdowns, the environment has at least begun to recover somewhat and some are beginning to notice it .
Greenxplorer is a travel blog run by Dilshan Gamlath, a photographer, adventure seeker and nature lover, who uses his blog to showcase Sri Lanka’s natural beauty. Though an up and comer with a relatively small following on social media, he stands out from the crowd of model bloggers by putting the focus on nature before himself. Starting out as a byproduct of his need to travel, Dilshan turned his hobby into a blog/vlog brand with travel stories, vlogs, videos and photos, all of an extremely high production quality that provides travel fans, both local and foreign, a look into a little more than the most popular hotspots. By reaching out to him, prospective travellers can also seek out advice on the where and how and what to look out for on trips taken off the beaten track.
In a quick interview with Dilshan, he let us know how, before travel blogging, he was already a passionate traveller and nature lover with a talent for photography that which, through the encouragement of his travel buddies and fellow members of the travel blog community, evolved into Greenxplorer.
Research into the existing, vibrant travel blogging community of Sri Lanka helped forge his own blog’s identity while still standing out. Speaking on his travel buddies, fellow creators like Chiranthana Arsakulasuriya of the popular Binario 12 blog and photographer Ishan Alahakoon, would join in and generally helped Dilshan on his excursions though mostly on a personal level than as a brand collaboration.
On the current pandemic, Dilshan commented on how it has affected his blog, in that he and most of his travel buddies has had to cancel every planned excursion under lockdown, not even having any new content on his social media during the worst of it. He mentioned that though the empty period wasn’t too devastating to him, as Greenxplorer was more a hobby for him, he noted that many creators who have made travel blogging a major part of their career have been suffering much worse. As he says, Covid has left a permanent mark on travel blogging and travelling as whole for the foreseeable future, for some more than others.
Dilshan commented on how, once the lockdown had lifted and he began travelling again, the differences were clear. There were fewer people travelling now and all the trash and other marks and damages that people carelessly leave behind were missing. Nature was beginning to recover, however little that may be, before people started travelling again and though that was about to happen sooner rather than later, the recent possibility of a second wave has scared both him and other travelers into staying home.
Traveling, hiking, camping, all those adventurous ventures call out to most people quite commonly, but Dilshan warns them not to do so casually. Traveling, especially off the beaten track can be arduous and dangerous.
Dilshan, even as an experienced traveller makes certain to plan trips with other experienced travel partners. Those approaching it casually is sure to be discouraged into never trying again, as rewarding an experience as it may be.