Nature Trails and Mixed Routes - Tourism and Trails: Cultural, Ecological and Management Issues - page 82

closely to the political border trails discussed in the last chapter. The former
East-West divide between the two Germanies came down in 1989-1990 with
the dissolution of European communism and the reunification of Germany.
The inner-German border, which was heavily fortified and represented the
meeting point of communism and capitalism, now has considerable potential
for nature conservation as a linear greenbelt. The border zone, which
was 5 km wide in some places, was seen for many years as a militarized
'no-man's land', although it was completely within the borders of the German
Democratic Republic. With the exception of East German soldiers and the
frontier-related infrastructure, the 1400 km extent of the divide remained
almost untouched for near 50 years. As such, the inner-German border pro-
vided suitable conditions for plant and animal life to flourish. Today, much
of the former border is still visible in the cultural landscape of Germany,
often appearing as a green strip of trees, shrubs and tall natural grasses.
To maintain the former border as a greenbelt, the German Green Belt
Project was established immediately following the border's demise, to turn
the 1400 km German portion of the former Iron Curtain into a biosphere
reserve (Paulick, 2005). One of the country's largest environmental groups
spearheaded the project in 1989. Hundreds of acres of land have been acquired
for the Green Belt Project to provide a home for many endangered species
that have settled there over the years.
A similar situation exists at the border of North and South Korea. Much
like the German border, the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is a 4 km
space separating the two states. North and South patrols exist only at certain
locations in the DMZ, so most of it has remained untouched since the Korean
War ceasefire was signed in 1953. The 98,000 hectare area has overgrown
with vegetation and is now home to hundreds of mammal and bird species
(Westing, 2001). Several observers have suggested that when the two Koreas
eventually reunite, the DMZ will become a significant ecotourism zone
and game preserve with important political heritage implications as well
(Brady, 2008; Timothy et al. , 2004).
Self-drive scenic byways
Drive tourism has long been an important part of traveler mobility for
several generations (de Kok, 1989; Prideaux & Carson, 2003a). With the
advent of the automobile at the close of the 19th century and the populariza-
tion of car ownership early in the 20th century, drive tourism became firmly
embedded in the global travel arena as day trips and longer vacation experi-
ences (Getz, 1999; Ioannides & Timothy, 2010; Prideaux & Carson, 2011;
Taplin & Qiu, 1997).
Road trips are a well-recognized part of the tourism scene in nearly every
corner of the globe (Prideaux & Carson, 2011). The widespread use of auto-
mobiles during the 1920s, the emergence of national parks in the west in the