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Who’d live on an island like this?

Back in Fiji. Back on Vorovoro. Back to a routine I know so well.  But who makes up this little island community these days and what have they been up to whilst the rest of the world has been watching football, tennis & oil spills?

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From Vorovoro to John Obey. How did that happen?

“So where next?” It was September 1st 2006. We’d just welcomed the ‘first footers’ onto Vorovoro’s golden sands and Tui Mali had accepted our offer of the tabua (whales tooth) as our social contract with his community. We had begun.

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The Project: Building a new kind of community in Sierra Leone

In October 2010, a new group of visitors will arrive on Sierra Leone’s John Obey Beach, 20 miles south of the capital, Freetown, and begin to build a new life alongside the local fishing community.

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Enter the geotourists…

are we geotourists? / Photo by Ben Keene

Jonathan Tourtellot is a classic product of this infamous society I’m sitting in: wise, whimsical and, despite a head cold, full of wonder for the world – he is the stereotypical adventurous professor leading an ambassadorial training session deep inside the arteries of natgeoHQ, Washington DC.

And the subject of his images of Norweigan fjords and Costa del Concrete? Geotourism. Coined and defined by Tourtellot as:

“tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of the place, such as its culture, environment, heritage, and the well-being of its residents.”

In other words, tourism that doesn’t have a negative impact on a destination, and beyond this adds value to the place and it’s people, making it pay to protect it.

But what about eco-tourism, sustainable-tourism, responsible-tourism, heritage-tourism, or even tribal-tourism I hear you cry?

Why another?

Why now?

Well, because the ‘geo’ – of place – includes all of the above and more. Geotourism is all inclusive. But unlike the packaged tourism of before – this new form specifically describes practise that does not degenerate a place or it’s people, and often in fact does the opposite.

So where is all this geotourism happening?

Well, in a lot of places already. The reason I attended this conference was because I was fortunate to be asked to help judge on last year’s geotourism changemakers competition. 611 entries from 81 countries. The top ten made it to Washington and three were voted for online as being outstanding.

The winners included ‘Nature Air’ , Costa Rica’s and the world first ‘carbon neutral airline’, reaffirming some of my lost faith int he benefits of carbon offsetting when it is local; ‘PEPY Ride’ in Cambodia giving people rural bike riding adventures whilst simultaneously engaging them about development in the country rather than throwing them unguarded to volunteer in orphanages that haven’t asked for their help; and ‘Wikiloc’ an online tool for anyone to log a trail or trek they know and love online – think wikipedia for trails. Very cool.

Tribewanted and Geotourism?

I took part in a panel session at the conference and was able to share some of the Tribewanted story. Amongst the audience there seemed to be a strong interest in our version of geotourism in Fiji and also how to develop a toolkit to turn each tourist/ tribe member into a changemaker on their return home.

We discussed that perhaps an exciting legacy for geotourism projects might be giving their visitors the opportunity to take their inspiring experience back into their lives. This is something we’ve always been keen to try and do on Vorovoro – connect island life with city life. I hope our new Tribewanted credits model which we’ll start testing soon will incentivise our members do this even more.

And you’ll be interested to hear that next year’s geotourism competition is focusing on: ‘Places on the edge – saving coastal destinations’

So when you next travel, take the geo-tourist test by simply asking:

“Are we sustaining or enhancing the character of this place?”

If the answer is yes, then maybe the future of travel just arrived.

Tribewanted: The Andina Diares – You Too Can Climb A Mountain

Just for the benefit of those who don’t listen to BBC Radio 1 breakfast show, Chris Moyles is the loud, arrogant, large and opinion dividing presenter (on whether he’s actually a nice bloke) of the show. Over the last few months he and some of his A-list celebrity mates have been preparing to climb Africa’s highest mountain (almost 6000m) as part of a fund raiser for comic relief. So last week along with such luminaries as Cheryl Cole, Ronan Keating and Garry Barlow he set off to climb it whilst sending regular reports back to the BBC so we could follow their progress.

Coming back down to earth

Listening to their reports this week really reminded me what I love about climbing. As Moyles reported back to the BBC over the week the tone of his voice noticeably changed as they got higher and life became harder. He started out as a typical swaggering, cocky loudmouth but by the end you could hear a real sense of humility and modesty in his voice. Climbing mountains is a real challenge both physically and mentally (much more so that people who have never done it often realise) and by the end of the week the enormity of what he’d set himself was very clear. It was incredible to hear him sounding so honest and humble for a change about how challenging it all was, it almost made him likeable.

Inspiring & relective

This sense of a man really pushing himself and the sense of perspective that he was gaining was amazing to follow. What continues to attract so many people to climbing is the unique sense of perspective that it gives you. Suddenly from being potentially quite an ‘important’ person in your own environment you’re taken completely outside that into this vast and mighty, uncontrollable expanse. You suddenly find yourself feeling very small and insignificant surrounded by this immense beautiful wilderness. And that is what is so refreshing about the experience. It’s almost impossible to come away from such an experience without some real and deep life reflections on where you are in the world and where you going.

To top it off, Moyles and his group raised a staggering £1.4 million for Comic Relief as a result. Regardless what you think of him, that is quite something and deserves genuine congratulations.

This summer we too will be taking to the mountains. Tribewanted has organised 3 separate expedition dates where we will be taking a small group through their paces in the stunning Ancash area of Northern Peru before attempting a double summit on Pisco (5752 m’s) and Yanapaccha (5400 m’s).

Further Information:

• Tribewanted: The Andina Diaries – Mountain Guide Profile
• Tribewanted: The Andina Diaries – Cooking in the Andes
• Tribewanted: The Andina Diaries – Pastoruri Glacier
• Tribewanted: Climbing In The Andes

Departure Dates:

• Sat 27th June to Thursday 16th July 2009
• Sat 18th July to Thursday 6th August 2009
• Sat 15th August to Thursday 3rd September 2009

As part of your payment to Tribewanted you will receive a years membership to Survival who campaign for indigenous tribal rights across the developing world. On top of this a small donation of this of the amount will go to the charity called Puentes which aims to provide the street children of Peru with a safe and happy childhood which was set up by a amazing friend of mine who’s life was tragically cut short in Ecuador last year.

If you would like any more information regarding Tribewanted Andina then please don’t hesitate to drop me a line at giles@tribewanted.com

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Banana Cake Recipe from Vorovoro, Fiji

Photo by Amy Briden

Bula! to all those fellow cake eaters out there. Time to get your chef hats on and your whisks whipping.

Banana Cake (China Keke)

Serves 20+.  This cake is perfect if you have a few squishy bananas and they need using up!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 4 table spoons butter
• 4 eggs
• 5 cups of self raising flour (If you only have plain flour, use that with 5 teaspoons of baking powder)
• 1 ½ cups of milk or coconut milk
• 4 bananas (Picked from your very own banana tree!)

Method:
Beat the sugar and butter together until soft. Then beat in the eggs, one at a time until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is fluffy. Next add the flour, little by little to make a very soft dough.
Mash the bananas and stir these into the mixture. Then add the milk and mix all together. Grease the cake tray and then pour in the goo…and of course, to make washing up easier, you must lick the bowl!
Pre-heat the oven to a moderate heat. Bake for 45 minutes…and to bring more essence to the cake, add tasty icing for that mouth watering bite!

Easy Icing

Ingredients:

• 7 tablespoons of Icing Sugar
• 3 tablespoons Butter

Method:

Mix together!  When the cake is baked and smelling delicious, leave to cool. Then spread the icing sugar thickly (very important) all over the cake! Scrummy!

“Myself, I decorate with hundreds and thousands and to make it colourful, I decorate with flowers and banana leaves, you know the ones. Yes, it’s like that!”

- Head Chef, Vale ni Kuro

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Tribewanted: Climbing In The Andes

Take to the mountains / Photo by Giles Dawnay

Trips to Peru are often associated with plans to trek the Inca Trail from nearby Cuzco, climaxing with sunrise over the ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu.  Since the Peruvian Government sensibly imposed restrictions in 2005 on the number of walkers, the trail has been limited to 500-a-day including porters. As a result the route has become increasingly difficult to experience without long-term planning, and predictably a range of alternative routes have had to deal with the overflow, many of which now require similar restrictions.

It is no great surprise that Tribewanted takes its responsibilities to nature and local communities seriously once again as it has on Vorovoro in Fiji by using its influence to lead an ever expanding online ‘tribe’ on a journey into the quieter northern reaches of Peru, far from the Cuzco stampede.

The first of the Tribewanted Challenges will be a 20-day program of rock and ice climbing ending in a double summit attempt of Pisco (5752m) and Yanapaccha (5460m).

“In the summer of 2009 Tribewanted will be offering you the chance to visit the majestic Cordillera Blanca in Northern Peru and challenge and engage yourself with it’s stunning snow-capped scenery and its fascinating indigenous Q’echua culture.”

The expeditions will be led by Tribewanted: Vorovoro Project Director Giles Dawnay (Jale) who worked in the region with Madventurer between 2003 to 2005. During his time there Jale developed his passion for the mountains and used his spare time to develop ice climbing skills and make various attempts on some of the 6000m+ mountains. The trip will be based in Huaraz 420km north of Lima.

It was in the nearby Cordillera Huayhuash that events detailed in the book Touching the Void by Joe Simpson took place in 1985.

Price for Tribewanted: Andina is £1500
Group size: 8 spaces
Initial Deposit: £250

Departure Dates:

• Sat 27th June to Thursday 16th July 2009
• Sat 18th July to Thursday 6th August 2009
• Sat 15th August to Thursday 3rd September 2009

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Tribewanted: Vorovoro to Vegas

Home to Tribewanted - Vorovoro island, Fiji

It felt weird, wrong almost, as the taxi swung down the freeway and  onto the fabled strip in the desert.

A different kind of social experiment has been built here, on the back of the dream of a giant, larger than life, playground. And in amongst the fake plastic trees, cascading casino’s, Roman edifices and Elton John shops I wondered how I had come to this place? How would the story of a community on a Fijian island fit in here?

I was here because a ‘cyberinfluence’ conference for the federal government of the United States of America wanted to know about the tribe. They wanted to hear our story. And I thought this would be a good way to share it. So I went, to tell of a group of people connected by a place, a place where we build with our hands, and eat from the sea, and where the currency is a kava root.

They smiled, laughed, clapped and questioned. Endless questions. How did the on-line and on-island communities relate? Did I believe in the prophecy Tevita made to Tui Mali about the world coming to Vorovoro? How could I live on an island with no electricity?

Next up at the podium was a lecture on ‘law on the internet’, followed by ‘gaming: where next?’ I wandered out onto the shiny streets, won at black jack, gasped at cirque de soleil, and watched the energetic spending of millions of dollars. I found a small piece of grass, laid down, closed my eyes, and imagined I was back on Vorovoro.

Vorovoro gives us perspective on the world we’ve left behind. Vegas gave me perspective on the life I’d left on Vorovoro. I know where I’d rather be.

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Tribewanted: Humble Beginnings

Kava Ceremony on Vorovoro

I woke up early and got in the smallest plane ever, to fly to Labasa.

This little 8 seater was a really cool ride and the scenery was amazing. I was met at the airport by Dan (the island Activities Manager) and a girl called Lucy who had just spent a month on Vorovoro and seemed really upset to leave. We bought some provisions in town and set out on a boat for the remote island of Vorovoro. In fact it wasn’t that remote, but it also wasn’t on any maps that I checked. The boat ride took about 45 minutes, and I was getting more and more excited all the way. When we pulled into the village beach it looked awesome – I wasn’t really sure what to expect but was very impressed with what had been achieved in just 2 months. In fact I was impressed overall with the whole setup. I’d originally thought it would just be a bunch of backpackers building a couple of crappy huts, but the guys have poured a lot of money into building well engineered structures. All of the building work was carried out using local craftsmen to make sure that all money generated by the project stays in the local community. I thought it would just be foreigners on the island, but in reality there is a small local village next to the one being built. It was very refreshing, and with only a few other people on the island when I got there it felt like I was joining a small family for a week. Everyone seemed cool, not the hippies I had been fearing, just like minded travellers looking for something different.

As my week progressed I got more into the lifestyle, visiting local villages and meeting real Fijians. We attended a few “grog” sessions as well, where a root called cava is pounded with water to make a drink, supposedly if you drink enough it can give you a mild high but I couldn’t handle sitting around cross legged long enough for the effects to take place. I did tons of work around the place, myself and Kimbo (a helper on the island) spent ages hacking a path through the island with machetes to a proposed jetty site, and the whole island helped to build a large chicken coup (or pen). Thursday involved running through the forest at high speeds trying to catch wild chickens which proved to be amusing. We went to the local school which was cool, the kids were incredibly eager to learn about us and our culture, remaining so optimistic despite the obvious poverty they were surrrounded with. I also went on a run around the island, and for an early morning fish where I caught a 4kg Barracuda for dinner.

I had such an amazing time on Vorovoro that I decided to skip the west coast of America which was next on my itinerary, and do another week on the island. Basically I figured that LA and San Francisco will be around forever, this opportunity might not. Also there was a film crew on the island making a documentary for BBC2 so it gave me a better chance of getting my 10 seconds of fame…so that’s that. I would really recommend for any of you guys to head out.

My second week of Tribewanted was just as good as the first, and I have to admit it was quite sad leaving. We went back to the school where I showed some of the kids a few more rugby skills, did tons more work, had a really good night on the bounty rum, and drank gallons of kava. In the end I made some solid friends who I’m definately going to keep in touch with, and the send off I received on the morning I left was quite special. I don’t want to sound too emotional so I’ll leave it at that.