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Unforgettable cultural experience
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009 by GetawayBC.com
Take a boat trip down the Douglas Channel and beyond and you will see spectacular scenery all along the way.
Quiet coves, beautiful bays and whispering waterfalls.
But what you cannot know is that you are also passing places of legend and cultural heritage.
Haisla Tourism intends to change all that, to let you see beyond the obvious and into the Haisla Nation’s proud history and traditions.
Its goal is simple: “to provide our guests with an unforgettable cultural experience.”
And in doing so it will fill a gap that has been aching to be filled.
The launch of Haisla Tourism this year ends several years of planning.
And the preparations included taking a group of travel and tourism experts on a boat tour early last October, a test run to get reaction to their plan.
One of those on the trip was George Clark, a local travel agent who is no stranger to putting together special packages that take people to far flung corners of the world.
So when he says the Haisla have a “world class asset”, you pay attention.
“The scenery there is just totally spectacular,” Clark said after the trip, adding, “The Kitlope, I think, really takes the cake.”
Describing the Kitlope (pictured above) as one of the most pristine places left in the entire province, Clark said, “In that sense I think it’s pretty unique and extremely precious.”
Marc-Andre de Launiere is the consultant hired by the Kitamaat Village Council to implement the Haisla Tourism Strategy.
“We are a customer-oriented business,” he says, referring to the flexibility of the company in providing different kinds of experiences.
Their offerings of course include a tour of the Kitlope Conservancy area, but you can also explore Foch-Giltoyees Park, “one of the most scenic and pristine sheltered bodies of water in Northwestern British Columbia.”
Or how about paddling a traditional ocean-going canoe on either a three-hour or all-day adventure?
You can enjoy hotsprings such as Bishop Bay and Shearwater, try fishing the traditional way, view wildlife including grizzlies and hike the trails of the rain forest.
And throughout you will learn about the meaning for the Haisla of the lands and waters you see while getting to