Snap out of it, ‘Insta’ fools
Freedom camping – or, more particularly, freedom campers who play fast and loose with the rules of common decency by not caring where they leave their litter or human waste – has been a growing problem for years.
But there’s another issue that has become just as much as a challenge for the authorities – Instagram.
Until recently I was only vaguely aware of the purpose (if you can call it that) of Instagram, or IG as it’s known to its devotees. Put simply it’s an American photo and video-sharing social networking service – a picture version of Facebook, if you like. Participants post photos and videos online for the benefit of family, friends and, it would appear, total strangers. Unsurprisingly, Instagram is in fact owned by Facebook.
It all sounds innocent enough until you realise the risks and sometimes downright stupid actions that some camera-happy tourists (and they are usually tourists) get up to to get a snap or footage that will impress their followers on IG.
As I write this a bloke by the name of Vitaly Zdorovetskiy has just been freed after spending five days in an Egyptian jail for climbing one of the Pyramids of Giza.
Zdorovetskiy, who apparently has 3.1 million followers (yes, you read that correctly), is described as ‘‘an Instagram influencer’’ – interpretation: an idiot with a following of an awfully big flock of sheep. He apparently climbed the pyramid so he could share with his followers a photo of himself at the top.
In mitigation, Zdorovetskiy did later post a video about his experience in an Egyptian prison and coupled it with an appeal for viewers to donate to the Australian bushfire fund. But that belated gesture didn’t take away from the cultural offence he caused by illegally climbing the pyramid.
But Instagram madness isn’t just an overseas problem, it’s also prevalent in New Zealand. Department of Conservation staff in Dunedin must be wondering what else they can do to stop tourists taking insane risks on the sheer cliffs above Tunnel Beach.
DOC has installed 10 warning signs along a 22-metre barrier but none of these deters the seemingly scores of visitors who nevertheless wander to the cliff edge to pose for selfies, sometimes doing yoga poses and even handstands to create a more dramatic shot.
In 2018, a German backpacker broke her leg at the cliff edge and narrowly avoided a 20m fall. It took a dozen firefighters to rescue her.
Not all Instagram users are quite so foolhardy but there are many who are nevertheless causing problems for local communities around New Zealand.
There’s no doubt a lone tree growing out of the water in Lake Wanaka has the makings of a great photo, framed as it is by the Southern Alps. But ever since a photo of the tree appeared on Instagram hundreds of people have been flocking to the area to replicate the picture.
When the level of the lake is low it’s possible to walk out to the tree. Inevitably some people feel the need to photograph themselves in the tree and this has resulted in branches being broken.
It got to the point that the local tourism board put up signs in English and Mandarin urging visitors not to climb the beautiful willow because it’s threatening the tree’s existence.
Lonely Planet has even published an online story about the tree’s plight and urged readers visiting the region to keep to the shoreline.
There would seem to be another message to the more reckless Instagram users: snap out of it.