Proof, in pictures, that travel can heal a place.

The critically endangered banteng has roughly doubled over two decades inside Thailand's Huai Kha Khaeng sanctuary, now the largest population in Southeast Asia. In 2021 the community of Rabam turned banteng-watching into an ecotourism livelihood: 320 residents across 19 villages now guide tours, run boats and share their culture — and a species became the reason the forest pays its way.

At Tingana in Peru's Alto Mayo, residents protect 4,000 hectares of rare wetland forest by braiding together ecotourism, science and participatory management — even running community camera-trap surveys that feed both research and the visitor experience. The World Tourism Organization named it a standout venture in the Americas.

Twenty years ago these waters were dynamite-fished. One resort and the local villages drew a line around 121,400 hectares — Indonesia's largest no-take zone — and put 18 rangers on 1,000 patrols a year. Fish biomass climbed 248%; sharks 190%.

Every gorilla-trekking permit funds the rangers, vets and monitoring teams that kept mountain gorillas from vanishing — with a 10% share flowing straight to the villages at the park edge. African Parks runs this model across the continent.