‘‘The Pristine Nature Reserve’ is meant to be a sliver of untouched nature, disturbed only at its edges and, even then, only by highly qualified scientists and researchers, each wondering what the world would do without humans around.
They are, perhaps, the only ones that don’t bribe the guards to enter.’
I slip a twenty dollar bill to the first guard I see and it’s as easy as that. Cheaper than I’d expect, with the state of the economy and the state’s low minimum wage. The guard seems neither excited or disappointed. He hardly looks at me.
Once inside, I spend half an hour trying to find a place to be alone. There are other people there, taking pictures and struggling to picnic on an unmaintained forest floor. One woman tries to sell me a beaded necklace. Another, drugs.
Some say this is a decoy site, and that the actual ‘Pristine Nature Reserve’ is somewhere else entirely, that all that grant money goes to keeping people quiet. I don’t buy that anybody has that much cash to fork out for nature, though. I definitely buy that something nice has been spoiled by tourists.
When I do finally break away from the other visitors I find the hard truth: that untamed nature can be pretty sucky to navigate. A lot of poison ivy. A lot of thorns. Not a whole lot going on.
I buy the woman’s necklace on the way out, decline the drugs again.
Then I’m off.
-traveler
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