The Skywalk
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The ultimate gazebo
Of all the interesting attractions that are offered by the Reservation, the most popular one is Grand Canyon Skywalk, a transparent-floor bridge that reaches seventy feet from the edge of the Canyon. The Skywalk was opened by the Hualapai in 2007. Through the floor, tourists can stare down into the 3,500 feet deep canyon with the river at its bottom. This spectacular building can be viewed at this magazine's front page.
Controversy
The Skywalk attracts 370,000 visitors a year making it the most popular spot among tourists in the whole western area of the Grand Canyon. The flip side of this is that some tribal members opposed its construction as they saw the desecration of holy grounds in it. Nevertheless, there is a great income from such attractions, and the tribe needed this money in order to survive the hard times.
Artistic image of the Skywalk
The reason of the opposers
Opposing tourism can be understood if we take a look at the Hualapai legend about the tribe's origins. As it was mentioned earlier, the Hualapai believe that their ancestors were sent to this world in order to protect nature and their lands from outer harm, and this harm can, sadly, take the form of tourists sometimes as they do not always respect the environment. For anyone who loves nature, tourists can sometimes be seen as intruders of Mother Nature, and if we take a look at the situation from this point of view, we can easily agree with those Hualapai who were against the construction of such a building.