The expectation was that one or two of the pousada owners would be willing to go on camera and talk about the TDB. As a complete surprise, every local entrepreneur approached about the video wanted to express their interest in the innovative new payment mechanism. The following is the video that WHL Consulting has loaded into their entry for the G-20 SME Competition.

(English captions available on video)

This video was originally published on the GeoSavvy Development web site.

tui tuesdays. the best of days / photo by Ben Keene

The tribe I met this month…

Super yacht engineer Paul and medic Becca met on Vorovoro during the first week of the the project in 2006. They returned this month as if they’d never left, slept in a hammock by the high tide, and took part in village duties and fixed Poasa’s wind turbine.

Home cinema installer Ian was on his round the world ticket when Vorovoro got in the way. He stopped for a week, then two, became a chief, and helped the tribe & Tui Mali fix their antenna’s.

US study abroad students Jason, Amy & Ashley were taking a couple of weeks away from their studies in Australia when they came to the island. Ashley laughed a lot, Amy fell in the pig pen and Jason told everyone Vorovoro was his new favourite place in the world.

Qualified diving instructor, Dan and TEFL teacher, Steff plan to return and use their skills to volunteer in the nearby village of Ligau Levu soon.

Fred was a peace corp volunteer in Fiji in 1981 – when he married a local Indian lady. He returns every decade to explore a different part of the country. After spending time on Vorovoro he plans to settle permanently with his extended family in Fiji.

Mirel, when explaining to Tui Mali that he was from Israel, was asked by the chief if he flew helicopters. ‘No, logistics’ was the answer – followed by huge laughter all round the grog matt. Must be something in the water…

School-leaver Jade’s two weeks on Vorovoro turned into two months during which time she would draw crowds from the local villages as she sang ‘Isa Lewa’ in perfect harmony with island voices.

Camilla a software marketeer from Norway, Stacey an admin manager from the UK, Simon who talked a lot of rugby with the boys & Kim who mended the hammocks and Jim a Save the Children worker and his son Joe from Australia were some of the other tribe members I was fortunate to meet on this visit. Like many of them, I didn’t want to leave.

all the island ladies... / Photo by Ben Keene

The tribe I re-connected with…

More permanently you might recall – Poasa, Francis and extended family, boat captains Api & Jone, Kitchen queens Kini, Wati, & Skipper, & the team Fiji core – Nemani (who managed to collect over 100 plastic bottles spewed up by Labasa river in 45 minutes for an eco-scavanger hunt), Liavi (talanoa teller and garden nurturer with love for sale), a chap we call Pupu Epeli who lead brilliant workshops on island medicines and coconut jewelry making, & our current ‘wavu’ Ropate charging the four peaks and forever setting up and packing down grog sessions on the beach, in the bure, or under the stars…

Tui Mali – Vorovoro’s father figure, landowner, host extraordinaire and chief was as good as form as I’ve seen him in the last few years; the band from Ligau Levu village always seemed to turn up when the tanoa was full; the recent cup winning Mali Sharks who if you close your eyes sound more like a gaggle of teenage girls than a rugby team helped clear Tanoa Park; the women’s groups of Mali who make crafts for the visiting tribe members; the primary school who we were able to donate $600 this month from Kaz’s ongoing Zaishu project; and our friends from Govinda’s internet in Labasa who delivered the ultimate indian take out to the beach last Sunday.

Perhaps the biggest shock of the month for me was seeing a man getting off the boat at sunset on sevusevu day in the shape of Ratu Tevita. Having travelled from Nadi especially to see us all it was fantastic to welcome Te back with a large bilo of grog and a meke he had taught us.

Then there is the Cahill clan from Indiana who have been with us for a year now and lead the project so brilliantly: Mama Jenny’s good omens, Papa Jimmy’s ‘dam truth‘, Lucas’s beach pad, Bethany’s bright island fashion & little Ollie’s dominant fishing are some of the reasons that make this blond-haired-five-some an all round inspiration to many that meet them.

The tribe I need now…

For this life and community, our ‘bul’oqo’ – it’s positive local and global impact as well as the laughter and adventure – to continue and grow in Fiji we need support and new partnerships. Economically it’s been a tough year. So we are now looking to you more than ever to send yourselves, your friends, families, student groups, social networks and companies to our shared island home in the sunshine for adventure, inspiration and changemaking. Do it!

And for the first time there is now also the opportunity to play an even bigger part in the project. Ulai and I have some exciting options to become partners in Tribewanted Fiji for the next 10 years. So if the idea of Vorovoro connects with you – contact me today.

Vina’a va’alevu. Talo!

pics from island time in June

“A major sporting event creates a large influx of tourism to the host destination. What are the implications and benefits of that influx of travellers to a destination like South Africa?”

The two runners-up will both see their articles published in various places online and second place will also receive offer of an internship with WHL Consulting.  The winner will also receive these two prizes but will also be given 7-nights at one of two lodges in South Africa – the choice is yours.

Lodge 1 – Seaforth Country Lodge

Located in the beautiful Drakensberg area of South Africa, a few of hours from Durban.  Can you see yourself eating breakfast here before an afternoon of spa treatments?  The famous Sani Pass is only minutes away, making a day trip into Lesotho a must.  The region is well known for its incredible scenery, nature and walking trails. Win a stay at Seaforth Country Lodge.

Seaforth Country Lodge Breakfast Table / Photo by Jan Vrsinsky

Lodge 2 – Chestnut Country Lodge

Located near Hazyview, 30-minutes drive from the gates of Kruger National Park.  Can you see yourself eating dinner here after a long day spent spotting game in one of the world’s best known safari parks.  Win a stay here at Chestnut Country Lodge.

Chestnut Country Lodge Dinner Table / Photo by Jan Vrsinsky

For more information on the competition visit The Backdoor page, and to submit your entry use our online form to either copy and paste your article or upload a file (.doc, .docx, .pdf, .txt, .pages).  The judges for this competition will be announced shortly.

Further information:

• Destination Focus page
• Why have we added accommodation to the site?

Photo by Andy Carver

They’ve already been out and about on our roads in preparation. In May the car made a couple of laps around the M25, on a single charge – a distance of 400km – and still had 14% left in the tank. The team are meeting at 10am today at the London Eye to drive the car across to Paris, again on just one charge.

“Electric vehicles have the potential to realise a sustainable transport future, without depleting valuable resources for future generations. The RGE project aims to demonstrate this while pushing the boundaries of EV technology.”

Well known cameraman, Claudio Von Planta, who filmed much of the BBC Long Way Down and By Any Means Series is documenting the project. The mission is to get people interested in electric vehicles and engage a new generation of scientists and engineers through their outreach program.

The team designed, integrated and installed the different components into the electric super car, which can accelerate from zero to 100 km in seven seconds, reaching a top speed of 200 km per hour. The car has an average running cost of one penny per mile and a range of approximately 400 kilometres before the battery needs recharging. Charging the battery takes approximately six hours.

Source: This article was first published on GeoSavvy Development

Permaculture way of life

Aerial view of Strawberry Fields / photo by Alex McCausland

With the first working demonstration site in Ethiopia, Strawberry Fields Eco Lodge prides itself in its capabilities to teach guests how to plant their own fruits and veggies, take care of the land and live a natural life. Permaculture is an approach to designing a village and agriculture system that simulates the relationships found in natural ecologies¹.  All the fruits and veggies harvested at the permaculture garden are used in Strawberry Fields’ on-site organic restaurant. What started  in 2007 as a 2.2Ha plot of land known to the locals as a “lokollota”, or dead soil, this site is now an oasis to not only strawberries, but also a cultivating ground for visitors to grow papaya, mulberry, wanza, mango, beans, chick pea and sweet potato, just to name a few.

Currently, Strawberry Fields Eco Lodge is working with three schools to maintain their own permaculture farm. Mr. Tichafa Makovere from Zimbabwe was once a leading activist for initiatives like ReSCOPE (The Regional Schools and Colleges Permaculture Programme). Now, Mr. Makovere is the lead trainer and consultant for the project led by Strawberry Fields.

Organic restaurant

Permaculture farm entrance / photo by Alex McCausland

Once you’re tuckered out from planting your tazmir (Mexican apple) for the day, regain your energy at the organic restaurant. Better yet, you’ll enjoy foods coming straight from the permaculture farm itself. From fresh soups, salads, or just your ol’ burger and chips, the on-site organic restaurant is there to please you. You can even pick your own veggies going into your dish!

Don’t forget about the local dancing either. For a small fee, Strawberry Fields can arrange your very own Konso Cultural Dancing and Music night. With no limit on the size of a group, take the entire family!

Eco Lodge

Strawberry Fields lives up to its expectations for being an eco-lodge. With solar powered buildings, solar showers and composting toilets, your

responsible travels go a long way. Live like a local king or queen in a “tikka”, a thickly thatched wooden circular hut. The walls are clay, perfect for insulation from the daytime heat. Neatly furnished with a bed, bedside table, chairs and washbasin, each furnished aspect has been built by the hands of local people, adding a touch only obtainable by the traditions set forth in Ethiopia.

Trek Ethiopia for up to 12 days

The eco trails supported by Strawberry Fields is with the full intention of supporting the local economy and community. Along the way you will encounter true Konso culture whilst interacting with the community. Itineraries range from 3-day excursions to up to 12-day adventures, each day experiencing a different aspect and sight of Ethiopia.

Getting There

Want to feel prepared before you go to a land unknown? The website for Strawberry Fields Eco-lodge has taken great time to provide you with enough local knowledge to be a guide yourself.

The fee for a short stay volunteer is $50 USD per week, while for longer stay volunteers the stay is only $30 USD per week. The only extra cost to you is your transport! Arrive by plane to Arbaminch, about 85km from Konso. From there, Strawberry Fields can arrange your transportation to the lodge.

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture

For a long time selling or marketing accommodation through this site was not something of interest to us.  It’s an area that is already extremely crowded, and one that is extremely difficult to be successful in, especially if you’re only seeking to promote the more ethically run establishments. Determining exactly how you benchmark those properties and what criteria you use to assess them creates all manner of problems, and then there’s the consideration that it might not actually have any influence on a consumer’s decision to purchase.

We were introduced to WHL Group last year

We were fortunate to be introduced to the WHL Group early last year, who have spent a great deal time working with the International Centre for Responsible Tourism trying to crack some of these issues,  and in a nutshell the challenges have been significant.  Generating widespread understanding amongst accommodation owners of exactly what is interesting and relevant to potential customers in this space has been one of the biggest ones.  There’s a common belief amongst accommodation owners that allowing guests to reuse bath towels shows a sustainability commitment worthy of note.  Vicky Baker’s recent article ‘Hotels just wash the towels and spare us the green rinse‘ explains quite nicely how this is not the case.

Enabling small accommodations gain access to the online world

So for listing businesses on Make Travel Fair we’ve taken a slightly different tact and teamed up with Project: Exposure.  A social enterprise that works in conjunction with whl.travel and is designed to enable small accommodation owners to gain greater access to consumers by equipping them with everything they need to get online and start selling to guests through the internet.

The barrier to entry for the little guys is often cost.  Cost to get digital photos taken, marketing copy created, a website designed and then most importantly get all this distributed and understand how it works.  Project: Exposure works in the destinations and enables even the smallest accommodation businesses to purchase all of these necessities using their empty room nights instead of cash.  The initiative also retains a long term relationship with the businesses to continue offering support, training and further services where required.

Project: Exposure has also teamed up with the fantastic 360Cities to bring all these great properties into the world of fully spherical panoramic photography, which we’re also able to utilise on Make Travel Fair.  Another point of note is that both our Managing Editor, Michelle Rodrigues and myself have been involved on recent excursions to see how Project: Exposure works in the field.

Substantial discounts on all accommodations

It’s for all these reasons that we are very excited about how and why we are listing the properties that we are.  We hope to install some booking functionality in the future because for all of the properties that you see on here we can offer substantial discounts (of up to 25%) for booking through Make Travel Fair.  In the mean time if anything takes your fancy drop us a line, or try entering our competition The Backdoor and win 7-nights at either Chestnut Country Lodge or Seaforth Country Lodge in South Africa.

Get inside some of London’s plushest properties

onefinestay is the brain child of Greg Marsh, a well-respected member of the onefinestay venture capital community now pursuing his passion for local travel and great service. onefinestay aims to make more of high-end properties sitting unused in central London while owners are out of town. The onefinestay team work with owners to offer up their stunning homes as short-term holiday lets, complete with full servicing and fluffy towels. But, says Greg, this is about so much more than just holiday lets. This is the evolution of the unhotel.

Onefinestay - Faroe Road, Holland Park, London

Marsh says an ‘unhotel’ brings all the luxury a good hotel can offer, but without the other guests. What’s more, by staying in a real home you get to the heart of the place and feel like a local. Plans are to incorporate all sorts of ‘local travel’ offerings so guests really can enjoy a new place from the inside.

Use your smartphone on barcode links to podcasts in onefinestay properties

One particularly brilliant offering from onefinestay is an iPhone application that reads small, hidden bar codes around the property and gives you podcasted information about that object. Items range from posh paintings to interesting pieces of furniture. No iPhone? Not to worry, onefinestay will give you one on arrival with your keys. It seems they really have thought of everything.

The Balancing Barn / Image from living-architecture.co.uk

Living Architecture

The newly established Living Architecture project in the UK signifies a marriage of this growing trend with another one – holidays at home. Living Architecture is a not-for-profit organisation set-up to revolutionise both architecture and the UK holiday home rental business. They have asked a series of great architects to design houses around Britain and are then making them available to rent for holidays all year round.  The project has already secured a Conde Nast Design Award.

“Living Architecture offers you a chance to rent houses for a holiday designed by some of the most talented architects at work today, and set in some of the most stunning locations in Britain. We have commissioned houses by Peter Zumthor, Michael & Patty Hopkins, NORD, Jarmund/Vigsnæs Architects & MVRDV.“

There are currently 5 different houses listed on the website of which 3 are already taking bookings for later in the year.  The aim of the project is first and foremost to act as an educational body, dedicated to enhancing the appreciation of architecture. If you’ve ever read any books by Alain de Botton – who is on board as the creative director of this project – you’ll understand exactly the philosophy driving it.

Available now to book

• The Balancing Barn (see above) that stands on the edge of a tranquil nature reserve a few miles inland from the Suffolk coast, near the historic towns of Walberswick and Aldeburgh.
• The Shingle House is sited on one of the most unusual and poetic landscapes in England, on the shingle beach of Dungeness near Romney Marsh.
• The Dune House lies just to the south of the picturesque village of Thorpeness in Suffolk, on an idyllic spot on the very edge of the sea, nestled among rolling dunes.

A typical day

Many blogs have spoken about a typical day here which involves waking up to a sea so blue that you think your imagination must be playing tricks on you. Typically after a breakfast of coffee and sometimes not-so-stale bread it’s off to dive the reefs and practice the skills we have been learning which involve benthic PITs – Point Intercept Transect, a method used to estimate benthic species cover on a coral reef – and fish belts. Absolutely starving we rush off to lunch and to well-deserved hammock time, followed by introductory lectures to science, the reefs, ecology and Vezo culture. The day ends with the hot sun meeting the sea in yet another legendary Madagascan sunset and a fresh fish grill.

Andavadoaka sunset / Photo by Blue Ventures

This typical day in the life of a Blue Ventures volunteer however does not nearly convey the experience of being here. The feelings, the meanings, the taste, the smell is lost in the description of a schedule. What is Andavadoaka about?  Andavadoaka is the sea and the sun. A warm, perfect sea of blue that no camera seems able to capture. A sea that leaves a salty algae taste on your lips, and a brush of sand on your hips. And a sun so hot you feel like you are melting away at times.

Andavadoaka is…

Andavadoaka is its people, the Vezo. A people connected to the sea like a tree to its roots. The Vezo are sculpted by the sea and the sand. They are the fish that dance, the fish who hunt, the fish who survive. They are filled with colour and pride like the butterflyfish, angelfish, parrotfish and wrasse. The Vezo are the laughter of a wave breaking on the shore, living for the moment without worry of the next.

Andavadoaka is its wind that blows relief to hot skin, and carries the salty smells of baking sand and braziers of frying fish, sakay samosas and bok bok. A wind that kisses a perfect sky and clears away the promise of clouds to reveal the breathtaking milkyway which floods the sky each night.

Andavadoaka is its hope, for a people so poor who battle to survive off a sea no longer able to provide what it once gave. A place that would not be without its people and a people which would not be without their place. My heart cries to see their hold on their land slipping as rich French and Italian foreigners buy up all the beautiful beaches and islands slowly pulling out the roots of the Vezo and pushing them into the spiny forests to flap aimlessly like fish out of water.

The John Obey Community / Photo by Ben Keene

I’m not sure who had asked the question but it stuck in the back of my mind.

Finding Vorovoro has changed a lot of things. And I know I’m not the only one who feels that.

But finding another Vorovoro wasn’t a priority on that perfect day in September. Our job was to build Vorovoro and we committed ourselves to a minimum of three years.

It worked. Not easily, but it did work.  The project is ongoing and, although some months are slower – even in Fiji – than others, it’s a way of life now. Hopefully for a long time yet.  Claire’s recent Vorovoro Blog sums up why it was worth it.

But how did I go from an island in Fiji to a beach in Sierra Leone?

As we celebrated our three year birthday on Vorovoro last year I finally started to look seriously where we might go next. It wasn’t for lack of offers.

I’ve kept a special file in my inbox marked Tribewanted II. It’s where I procrastinate.

People still find it difficult to describe what Tribewanted is. I do too. Here’s where I think we’re at: “Our mission is to build and sustain cross-cultural communities in beautiful places that benefit locals and visitors; inspiring positive change within and far beyond the village.”

So with this clearly in mind I clicked through the ‘Tribewanted II’ file …Sierra Leone wasn’t there. But soon I was.

Last year a good friend invited me to visit his football academy and school in Ghana. There he told me about a similar project he was managing in Sierra Leone. I made the short journey with him to Freetown and quickly fell for this chaotic, charming, beautiful country.

Later in the year I was introduced to an Italian living in New York who worked in Sierra Leone. I know, I know. But this is how these things work. Filippo Bozotti made a film called Bling – blood diamonds and hip-hop – and had been fundraising and supporting mircrofinance, education and computer literacy through the Shine on Sierra Leone foundation. Filippo was keen to bring a new kind of tourist to Sierra Leone and was looking for the right model.

A natural partnership formed and in Janaury this year Filippo, myself and a local partner – Dr.Michel Sho Sawyer – met in Freetown to see what might be possible.

Three months later we had secured a long-term agreement for a few acres of land at my favourite beach – John Obey – on the awesome Freetown peninsula and a burgeoning relationship with the local community.

Right now – as we share this opportunity for the first time with our members and beyond – I’m as excited as I was when we first found Vorovoro.

Four years later, ‘where we went next’ has finally arrived.