Project Description
During these times of Covid-pandemic, people are increasingly seeking out local wildlife experiences to cope with concerns, reconnect with the environment and bring harmony into their lives. The purpose of this thesis was to explore what roles transformation and mindfulness play in local experiences with wildlife. In order to answer to the research question, in-field data has been gathered by means of conducting semi-structured interviews with 10 participants. Using thematic analysis, 5 themes have emerged: present awareness, sense of beauty and wonder, sense of time, well-being and sense of restoration, and adoption of positive attitudes, dispositions, values or behaviour. The results of this thesis have shown that mindfulness in wildlife experiences in local nature areas has a similar role to the role it plays in foreign wildlife tourism: local wildlife settings have the potential to spark mindfulness. Fascination experienced in observing local wildlife was the driver for mindful local wildlife experiences. Although important elements of the transformation process were found in local wildlife experiences of the research participants, a transformative experience, as is defined in the literature, did not occur.
Author: S. Tak (2021)
