World News

56409 readers

1884 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Rule 1: posts have the following requirements:
- Post news articles only
- Video links are NOT articles and will be removed.
- Title must match the article headline
- Not United States Internal News
- Recent (Past 30 Days)
- Screenshots/links to other social media sites (Twitter/X/Facebook/Youtube/reddit, etc.) are explicitly forbidden, as are link shorteners.
Rule 2: Do not copy the entire article into your post. The key points in 1-2 paragraphs is allowed (even encouraged!), but large segments of articles posted in the body will result in the post being removed. If you have to stop and think "Is this fair use?", it probably isn't. Archive links, especially the ones created on link submission, are absolutely allowed but those that avoid paywalls are not.
Rule 3: Opinions articles, or Articles based on misinformation/propaganda may be removed.
Rule 4: Posts or comments that are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, anti-religious, or ableist will be removed. “Ironic” prejudice is just prejudiced.
Posts and comments must abide by the lemmy.world terms of service UPDATED AS OF OCTOBER 19 2025
Rule 5: Keep it civil. It's OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It's NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

Rule 6: Memes, spam, other low effort posting, reposts, misinformation, advocating violence, off-topic, trolling, offensive, regarding the moderators or meta in content may be removed at any time.
Rule 7: We didn't USED to need a rule about how many posts one could make in a day, then someone posted NINETEEN articles in a single day. Not comments, FULL ARTICLES. If you're posting more than say, 10 or so, consider going outside and touching grass. We reserve the right to limit over-posting so a single user does not dominate the front page.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world

Recommendations

How to spot Misinformation and Propaganda

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

Consider including the article’s mediabiasfactcheck.com/ link

founded 3 years ago

MODERATORS

NewsAutoMod@lemmy.world

Tenthrow@lemmy.world

little_cow@lemmy.world

lemmyAtom@lemmy.world

jordanlund@lemmy.world

112

No selfies, no phones: Why wildlife destinations are starting to say 'no' to tourists (www.bbc.com)

submitted 1 month ago by HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works to c/world@lemmy.world

12 comments fedilink hide all child comments

You're riding in a Jeep through a sun-dappled forest in India, when right before your eyes, a majestic tiger appears from the undergrowth. You immediately reach for your phone, angling it so you can capture your awestruck face and the majestic cat in the same frame. Success – you get the shot right before the predator slinks away.

Capturing such an image is the stuff of travel dreams. But thanks to a ruling from India's Supreme Court, it's a scene India's forests won't see for much longer. A supreme court ruling passed in November 2025 has led to the banning of mobile phones from the core tourism zones of some of the country's tiger reserves, deeming the devices – and the behaviour safari tourists exhibit when using them – too dangerous to humans and wildlife alike.

This February, a shocking viral video illustrated how bad things have got. In it, a wild tiger in Ranthambore National Park, Rajasthan is surrounded by multiple safari vehicles and is forced to pick its way around them to escape to the forest, while metres away, tourists snap photos and shout. The tiger appears cornered and stressed. In India, these kinds of overcrowded wildlife moments, termed "safari jams", are increasingly common.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] anon6789@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

"There was an incident where a child fell off a Jeep because the mother was taking a selfie and the child got jostled out of the way. The guide had to jump and pick up the child – the tiger was a few feet away."

Yeesh...

In Kenya, private safari guide Zarek Cockar thinks that the issue goes beyond mobile phones and individual behaviour to a recalibration of what we expect from a safari.

"Photographers with large lenses pushing to get onto the ground for a better angle can be far bigger offenders than someone quietly taking a photo on a phone," he said. "The deeper issue is often poor expectation setting from the outset. If guests arrive believing wildlife encounters are about getting ever closer or capturing a dramatic shot at any cost, the guide is then placed under enormous pressure to deliver."

My first thought was at least people with actual cameras can at least be annoying from further away, but this comment from the guide reminded me this is still a problem in a lot of areas with easy access everywhere. I've seen plenty of scenes where an animal will live in a readily accessible place and people just swarm the location. Just because they can take a photo further away still doesn't necessarily make it the photo they want. People will always want better.

Ecotourism can be great, but the focus needs to be on the animals, and the tourism needs to come second. Pretty much all of these animals are "rare" because people couldn't be bothered to leave them alone.

The new rules for Indian tiger safaris

• Visitors are now required to put their mobile phones in a box before entering a tiger reserve, or to put it on silent and keep it in their bag. Per the legal ruling, the use of mobile phones within tourism zones of core tiger habitats is not permitted.

• Roads in tiger reserves cannot be used between dusk and dawn except for emergency vehicles.

• Fringe areas around tiger reserves have restricted development plans.

These seem like basic, common sense rules. I see no problems here. It's a good start.