This gigantic, magnificent, old-as-time and – some would say – upside-down tree is known as the baobab. A symbol of endurance, strength and conservation. While you are likely to be taken aback by its presence and history, it also gives an exciting feeling of freedom and inspires a desire to explore, as many generations before have done.

In honour of Earth Day – scheduled this year for Sunday April 22 – and our focus this month on ecotourism, we’re thinking about our planet. We’re thinking about the human activities that have the most harmful impact on it, especially the one we love most – travel. We’re compelled to ask: What is tourism in its worst form, environmentally? Even in its best form, can the cost to the earth of tourism ever really be offset?

For centuries, high-minded travellers, wise men and ladies alike, have sought out the world’s mountains, revelling in the challenge of the climb and capturing in photographs and ink the terrific views and exaltation that come at the end of long and strenuous hikes. Ridge-rambling adventurers are, if anything, more numerous today than ever before. Fortunately, mountain treks abound, gauged to hikers of all abilities.

Laos was once majestically known as Lane Xang – Land of a Million Elephants. Today, however, the outlook for the Asian elephant population in Laos is bleak. Only 1,000 remain and their numbers are steadily decreasing. An estimated 560 still work in logging, the industry that is primarily responsible for their slow demise. Fortunately, tourism is offering one positive solution.

I look around at the motorcycles, the well-dressed children and the minimalist huts and find myself wondering if it’s all an act. Do they head back down the mountain after we’re all asleep? Is this just a well-produced illusion for tourists? Then I notice a woman hanging up laundry and I pass what looks like a bare-bones general store. This definitely is a lived-in – and by all appearances happy – village.

Today, Tayrona proudly displays its true nature as a safe environment for tourists. Since its elevation in status to a national park in 1969, this biodiversity area covering 12,000 hectares of land and 3,000 of sea has been growing in popularity. Within its territory are sandy beaches, dazzling blue/azure ocean waters, tropical dry jungle and a rainforest up to 900 metres in the Sierra Nevada mountain range.