ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with widespread naturalising metaphor of 'boundless nature' that was used in transboundary protected area projects and literature. It suggests it was largely taken to be unproblematic by protected area managers. Despite the pervasive image of a borderless world, it is banal to say that boundaries continue to be drawn and to have concrete effects. Contrasting myths coexist and conflict. Instead of such an unrealistic, uniform situation, a variety of myths coexisted and was created discursively along the way by managers, often directly in contrast to each other, yet all part of the dynamic process of negotiating identity. There was an opposite dynamic to 'homogenous nature collapsing in the face of a heterogeneous reality': the rejection of homogenising transboundary nature in favour of national identity. When an attempt at transboundary zonation failed or stalled irredeemably, frustration inevitably appeared among those involved, colouring wider interactions.
