Dealing with loud, disruptive hikers. Did I do it…
0 reactions
Dealing with loud, disruptive hikers. Did I do it correctly?
Context: In my country it's common for people to hike with groups on Instagram, Facebook etc, where you pay the organisers a certain amount and they handle transport, food, local guides etc. You end up with a group of 10-20 people, who mostly do not each other with the occasional groups of friends who booked the hike together.
Incident: I was in such a group this weekend (15 people total). It was a one night camping trip to a cliff-edge cave on top of a mountain. This was located in a protected wildlife reserve, with elephants, leopards, sloth bears and many other wildlife. The hike was around 8km through the dry zone and we camped inside the cave that night. There was a group of friends about 7-8 people, so they made the majority of the group. I want to reiterate here that this was a PUBLIC group, not the rest of us joining their private hike. Everyone paid the same amount.
Around 7pm this group starts playing loud music on a bluetooth speaker. Several of us asked the tour organiser to let them know they should turn it off as it was disturbing the wildlife, and other campers. I should also mention here that the cave was a nesting site for an endemic species of swallows, and several nests were present with young birds inside. They turned it off for a while but later in the night around 8pm started it again and also started playing cards shouting and laughing out loud. The organiser asked them to keep it down again, but he was ignored. (I don't blame the poor guy at this point, because he too was exhausted and I understand the risk of confronting a loud and obnoxious group of people on a cliff edge)
This continued until 11pm when I finally lost it and shouted at them from inside my tent to shut it off. They turned off the speaker, but continued to complain loudly how they are the original hikers of the group, and how they've hiked with the group more than 20 times and that should entitle them to do as they like. They also complained loudly that people who don't know how to "enjoy themselves" should not come on hikes. I did not want to confront them and put myself at risk so I just ignored them and went to sleep. I think they stayed up late playing cards, because in the morning they were complaining the others were making too much noise when they got up and didn't let them sleep. We weren't. Nobody played music and it was only just people talking. Also, we got up on time for the sunrise, which was an official part of the itinerary.
On the way back they continued to play loud music inside the bus. At this point it was clear they were tying to annoy me and get a reaction. Again I just messaged the organiser without confronting them directly, and he put a message in the group chat not to play loud music & use headsets. This was followed with more loud complaining, but no direct confrontation.
The following morning I called the organiser and voiced my concerns clearly, and let him know that I would not be joining any more hikes that this particular group would attend. i also asked him to put in the event description clearly if it was a quiet hike or for people who want to be loud, so people can avoid whichever option they did not like.
I took a video of them making noise in the night, and emailed it to the wildlife authorities anonymously along with a description of what happened, and the instagram profiles of two of the people from that group (who ironically present themselves as travel content creators). I hope they take action. I know even though it was anonymous they will immediately know it was me who did it, but they can't prove it and I don't care.
Do you think I handled the situation correctly? Is there something I could've done differently? What would you have done in the situation? And how should I better handle it if I was ever unfortunate to encounter a similar situation again?
#hiking #activity
source
Context: In my country it's common for people to hike with groups on Instagram, Facebook etc, where you pay the organisers a certain amount and they handle transport, food, local guides etc. You end up with a group of 10-20 people, who mostly do not each other with the occasional groups of friends who booked the hike together.
Incident: I was in such a group this weekend (15 people total). It was a one night camping trip to a cliff-edge cave on top of a mountain. This was located in a protected wildlife reserve, with elephants, leopards, sloth bears and many other wildlife. The hike was around 8km through the dry zone and we camped inside the cave that night. There was a group of friends about 7-8 people, so they made the majority of the group. I want to reiterate here that this was a PUBLIC group, not the rest of us joining their private hike. Everyone paid the same amount.
Around 7pm this group starts playing loud music on a bluetooth speaker. Several of us asked the tour organiser to let them know they should turn it off as it was disturbing the wildlife, and other campers. I should also mention here that the cave was a nesting site for an endemic species of swallows, and several nests were present with young birds inside. They turned it off for a while but later in the night around 8pm started it again and also started playing cards shouting and laughing out loud. The organiser asked them to keep it down again, but he was ignored. (I don't blame the poor guy at this point, because he too was exhausted and I understand the risk of confronting a loud and obnoxious group of people on a cliff edge)
This continued until 11pm when I finally lost it and shouted at them from inside my tent to shut it off. They turned off the speaker, but continued to complain loudly how they are the original hikers of the group, and how they've hiked with the group more than 20 times and that should entitle them to do as they like. They also complained loudly that people who don't know how to "enjoy themselves" should not come on hikes. I did not want to confront them and put myself at risk so I just ignored them and went to sleep. I think they stayed up late playing cards, because in the morning they were complaining the others were making too much noise when they got up and didn't let them sleep. We weren't. Nobody played music and it was only just people talking. Also, we got up on time for the sunrise, which was an official part of the itinerary.
On the way back they continued to play loud music inside the bus. At this point it was clear they were tying to annoy me and get a reaction. Again I just messaged the organiser without confronting them directly, and he put a message in the group chat not to play loud music & use headsets. This was followed with more loud complaining, but no direct confrontation.
The following morning I called the organiser and voiced my concerns clearly, and let him know that I would not be joining any more hikes that this particular group would attend. i also asked him to put in the event description clearly if it was a quiet hike or for people who want to be loud, so people can avoid whichever option they did not like.
I took a video of them making noise in the night, and emailed it to the wildlife authorities anonymously along with a description of what happened, and the instagram profiles of two of the people from that group (who ironically present themselves as travel content creators). I hope they take action. I know even though it was anonymous they will immediately know it was me who did it, but they can't prove it and I don't care.
Do you think I handled the situation correctly? Is there something I could've done differently? What would you have done in the situation? And how should I better handle it if I was ever unfortunate to encounter a similar situation again?
#hiking #activity
source
| 0 mlx | |
| 1 | |
| 0 |