Page 11 - aruba-today-20220715

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local Friday 15 July 2022
Shanon Croes:
“When doing an activity to enjoy nature, do it with awareness”

Aruba is a beautiful island with the Mangrove Tunnel
with a nature that must be The idea for eco-friendly Tour, finishing in mangel
preserved. The environ- adventures on Aruba start- Halto; another one is called
ment is a system formed by ed many years ago, ac- the Mangel Halto Reef
natural and artificual ele- cording to Croes. He loves Tour, starting also at Man-
ments which relate to each kayak from a long time, gel Halto, going by the Bal-
other, and they are modi- and he bought a couple of ashi bridge where they go
fied by human actions. This kayaks in order to do cer- on the reef for a while, and
is something that sadly not tain activities with the locals then finish back at Mangel
a lot of people consider im- or tourists, which eventually Halto.
portant. ended up becoming his
business. Croes says that he Every once in a while they
Shanon Croes is someone tries to do the activities in do a long-distance tour,
who loves nature and dedi- the most sustainable way, for example starting at
cates his time to it, to eco- taking into consideration Mangel Halto and end-
friendly adventures with the the environment and eco- ing at Moomba Beach, a
goal of promoting different system of the area. “We try route which can take ap-
areas around the island, like to leave it as intact as pos- proximately six hours. These
beaches, mangroves, hik- sible, that is our idea.” usually involve around ten
ing tours, during which he participants with two or
combines nature with the One of the countries in the three guides. Participants in
history of the island’s first region which is focused on these tours must have long-
inhabitants, the Caquetio sustainable tourism is Costa distance kayaking experi-
indians, and the discovery Rica. Croes says he wanted ence. “Even though it’s not the year 1499, and after- ecosystem, the birds, all
of Aruba by Spain in 1499. to take their example, and that hard, but your physical wards, in 1636 the Dutch the animals, of our terrain.
went to visit this country condition must be to a cer- arrived. The original inhab- We come from a volcanic
During a special interview with 12 guests to do an- tain level, must know the itants of the region are island, that is our terrain.
with our reporter, Croes other tour abroad, to hike ocean, and how to row, the Caquetio indians who We must choose to do
said that these activities in the wilderness, on hills, etc.” came from Venezuela. more sustainable activities
are eco-sustaible, during and go on the ocean on a Heritage is one of the most to take care of our envi-
which they don’t work with kayak. “To do sustainable Although Croes is not the interesting hiking activities ronment. We have been
tools like motors or oil while activities in another coun- only person doing kayak that Croes does in order to depending on tourism for
doing the tour of the man- try, which also has beautiful activities, the difference show the history of our little a long time, and a lot of
groves or beaches on kay- scenery”, he said. is that he does long-dis- island. This starts at Rooi time we let tourists do what
ak. The participants have tance. “I try every time to Lamoenchi and finishes at they want. When you allow
to use their own strength, In 2018, Croes started work- do something different, like Boca Prins Fontein. them to do this with our na-
energy and power. If the ing with The Shack Aruba. combining hiking with kay- ture, that is not ideal”, he
tour includes snorkeling, a But his experience with kay- ak, where we start at Rod- For Croes, it is important said.
lot of time they include in ak goes back a lot earlier, gers Beach and finish at that ‘when a person or
this a ride on the kayak to with different routes which Nikky Beach”, he explains. group does an activity to If you’re curious about
reach the reef. can start from Santo Largo, They also restarted their enjoy nature, to do it with these tours, visit our Face-
tour of the caves in Colony, awareness, without pro- book page, https://www.
‘which is very interesting’, ducing waste. When we facebook.com/arubato-
after more than two years go into the wilderness we day, to watch our Ask Pilar
of Covid-19 pandemic. not only go for a walk, we video with The Shack Tour,
also give information about or scan the QR code.
Spain discovered Aruba in the flora and fauna in the