The Ethical Travel Guide: Australasia

AUSTRALIA

There's more than surfing dudes and outback Aboriginals to this continent, including snowy mountains, ancient rainforests, the largest coral reef in the world and spectacular geological phenomena. Combine this with a laid-back city life, and you have, possibly, the perfect destination. From expensive tropical island hideaways to backpackers' lodges in bohemian seaside towns, there is something for every budget.

Aboriginal Australia is an increasingly popular holiday experience. In Queensland's Daintree rainforest - the oldest rainforest in the world - you can take a tour with clans that have been the traditional owners for millennia. At Uluru, an interpretive centre explains the religious significance of the world's largest monolith. And even in Sydney's harbourside botanical gardens, there are guided walks explaining traditional medicinal uses of the plantlife.

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ABORIGINAL CULTURAL TOURS

Aboriginal Cultural Tours will take you to rarely seen areas of Adjahdura Land (Yorke Peninsula). This is an opportunity to walk the country with direct descendants of the traditional owners, to live with, talk with and experience at first hand their rich culture. Tours vary from one to five days.

Tel 00 61 429 367 121

E-mail info@diversetravel.com.au

Web www.diversetravel.com.au, www.aboriginalaustraliatravel.com

ANANGU TOURS

An Aboriginal-owned tour company based in Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park in the Northern Territory. Anangu Tours offers daily tours to Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Uluru Cultural Centre. There are also self-drive tours, and the opportunity to experience inma, traditional song and dance. All tours are guided by Aboriginals with an interpreter.

Tel 00 61 8 8956 2123

E-mail reservations@anangutours.com.au, administration@anangutours.com.au

Web www.anangutours.com.au

AYERS ROCK RESORT - CAVE HILL SAFARIS

Visitors are taken to Cave Hill from Uluru, the heart of the Red Centre. The Yankunytjatjara custodians then explain the significance of the surrounding landscape and how it relates to tjukurpa, their system of values. The art at Cave Hill portraying their adventures is considered to be among the most spectacular in the region. Training, education and direct financial benefits are essential outcomes for the partners.

Tel 00 61 282 968 010

E-mail travel@voyages.com.au, info@deserttracks.com.au

Web www.ayersrockresort.com.au/bookings

VALLEY OF THE GIANTS TREE-TOP WALK

Based in Western Australia, the Tree-Top Walk is an ambitiously designed elevated walkway that lifts visitors 40 metres above the forest floor through the forest canopy. Designed to preserve the forest of 400-year-old giant red tingle trees, which were under threat from the pressure of visitors, this award-winning project gives visitors a unique perspective as they watch birds fly below them. The project has full community involvement and is wheelchair accessible.

E-mail ttw@calm.wa.gov.au

Web www.naturebase.net/tourism

FIJI

Fijians are some of the friendliest people on the planet. When you see their heavenly country, you understand why. This South Pacific nation consists of several hundred volcanic and coral land masses scattered across turquoise seas. From tiny sandy atolls to jagged, jungle-covered mountains, there's more than enough to do for a month. If it's the tropical island experience you want, then head for the Mamanuca or Yasawa island groups, or, if you have more time, to the outlying, flat atolls of the Bau group. On the main island of Viti Levu, you can hike to the top of Mount Batilamu in Koroyanitu National Park or go white-water rafting. On Taveuni - "the garden island" - you can hike into the rainforest to search for one of the world's rarest flowers - the tagimaucia.

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FIJIIBURE.COM/FIJIAN VILLAGE HOME-STAYS

Visitors can experience a truly traditional village home-stay. When they arrive they are adopted into the community and can participate in traditional village life. This may include ceremonies, daily activities and sharing traditional Fijian foods caught by the villagers. A large percentage of the income is placed in a village fund, which has resulted in the development of community halls and building of guesthouses.

E-mail info@fijibure.com

Web www.fijibure.com

NEW ZEALAND

Ancient Maori myth places volcanoes at the very core of New Zealand's identity; they are as much a part of the country's way of life as they are a fiery force in its landscape. New Zealanders' innate sense of environmental sustainability and inner spirituality is manifested in the numerous towns making claim to zero waste and their pride in their "greenness" awards. But while it is easy to feel you are really at one with nature, for example, by experiencing the wilderness along the 130km Heaphy track in the South Island's north-west corner, tourist hot spots such as the South Island's glacial region have been ravaged by tourists. The constant whirring of helicopters and small planes giving visitors an aerial view of Fox Glacier provide a reminder of the damage.

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BUSH & BEYOND GUIDED WALKS

This is a conservation-based guided walking company working in the Kahurangi National Park. Bush and Beyond is determined to do nothing to compromise the park's wilderness qualities, which includes limiting its own growth as a business to what is sustainable. It supports a community conservation project, Friends of Flora Inc, that aims to eradicate non-native predators from the park to protect the bird population.

Tel 00 64 3 528 9054

E-mail bushandbeyond@xtra.co.nz

Web www.naturetreks.co.nz

CATLINS WILDLIFE TRACKERS

Two hours' drive from Dunedin in the South Island, Catlins offers in-depth eco-tours of the forests and south-east coast of the South Island. At the moment it can accommodate eight people at any one time plus another eight in self-catering. The latter costs £45-58 per night and the former £135 per person for a two-day/two-night experience all-inclusive.

Tel 00 64 3 4158 513

E-mail info@catlins-ecotours.co.nz

Web www.catlins-ecotours.co.nz

FRENCH PASS SEA SAFARIS & BEACHFRONT VILLAS

Located at the end of a spectacular two-hour drive from Nelson, this operation offers accommodation and tours of marine interest - watching (and maybe swimming with) dolphins, seals and whales. The owners have been working for years to bring back native bird life by eradicating alien pest predators and to establish marine reserves.

E-mail adventure@seasafaris.co.nz

Web www.seasafaris.co.nz

SOLOMON ISLANDS

The Solomon Islands were so named, because when the Spanish explorer, Mendana, "discovered" them, he thought the islands so beautiful that they must be the location of King Solomon's gold mines. Although they've since had to contend with mining and logging, the islands are still exquisite, with rainforest, mangroves, pristine reefs and volcanoes.

Outside the few urban areas, people lead a semi-subsistence lifestyle: fishing from dugout canoes and making their homes in palm-leaf and wood houses, sometimes built on stilts over the lagoons. Marovo lagoon is the longest in the world. Rennell Island has the South Pacific's largest lake, which has World Heritage listing.

Throughout the islands, the scuba diving is some of the best on the planet. The islands' culture is enormously varied: there are people who still wear "grass" skirts and worship sharks. Yet, due to a troubled history of tribal fighting, poor air links and infrastructure, tourism has never taken off. This is not somewhere to visit if you are in a rush or want everything to run smoothly. There are extremely basic guesthouses, some run by church and community groups and aimed mostly at visiting officials, and a few intended for resident expats and the rare tourist.

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ST DOMINIC'S RURAL TRAINING CENTRE - VANGA POINT

This operation is administered by the local Catholic diocese and run by the Marist brothers. The centre has about 120 students selected from the poorest and most neglected areas of the country. A wide range of skills is taught with the aim of sending people back to their villages equipped to help their communities, including the training required to establish home-stay village-based tourism organisations. Simple accommodation is available for up to eight people, who have the chance to observe this "school without classrooms" in action.

E-mail marist-vanga@pipolfastaem.gov.sb

Web www.siartc.org.sb/RTCS/dominic.html

TETEPARE ECOLODGE

Tetepare, the largest uninhabited island in the Solomons, has an eco-lodge founded and operated by members of the Tetepare Descendents' Association (TDA). The lodge provides most of the income for the TDA whose mission is to protect the island from the ravages of commercial logging. Village-stay accommodation is also possible. The TDA is active in education, health and sustainable livelihood facilitation for many Solomon Island communities in return for a commitment to conservation on their behalf. What's on offer on the island includes pristine forest, reefs, amazing marine life, turtles, and more.

E-mail: tetepare@solomon.com.sb/wwf@solomon.com.sb

Web www.tetepare.org

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