Confessions of a traveler: reflections on wildlife observation from autoethnography

Abstract

Through autoethnography, I aim to address the sociocultural aspects involved in wildlife-watching travels. Academic articles written in the first person and based on the author’s lived experiences remain uncommon. Such texts often face criticism, including accusations of egocentrism. However, the reflections offered by autoethnographic writing allow us tounderstand not only the author’s life choices but also broader cultural, historical, and affective transformations in society. This approach also sheds light on the multispecies entanglements we experience—often unnoticed. The invisibility of the affectation provoked by the other causes us, whether during travels or in daily life, does not negate the individual and collective behavioral and ethical transformations that result. In this text, filled with inquiries, I attempt to demonstrate the complexity of therelationship between human and non-human animals—relationships forged through wildlife tourism, a practice central to most of my own journeys.