Wednesday, 13 May 2009

• Ecotourism: Take a Trip, Save the World

  I spent the first week of my trip to Australia pulling weeds. Actually, more like taking a huge pair of clippers, hacking the weeds down, and smothering the remains with poison as to ensure that the buggers didn't grow back. Glamorous right?

  The second week of my trip to Australia I spent digging holes. Huge, six feet deep by two feet wide holes, in the hard ground, past the layers of flint rock. By night, I moonlighted as a beer wench at a rodeo in the outback of Australia, serving XXXX and VB to toothless cowboys.

  Not exactly how some might envision their vacation to a land down under, but I wouldn't have had it any other way. I was taking part in a new travel trend called ecotourism.

  In my sophomore year of college, I was sitting way in the back row of my (boring) Oceanography class when a saucy Aussie bloke came in raving about a program called International Student Volunteers, or ISV. He passed around a sheet and told us to write down our name and email to receive more information about the program. I did and thought nothing of it until I received an email a few weeks later inviting me to an information session on campus. Thinking this to be a great excuse to bail on Oceanography, I signed up. The info session told us all about the different opportunities ISV had to travel to countries all around the world, learn about their culture, and work directly with the locals on a conservation project. Knowing my grades were somewhat less than stellar and that I probably would not qualify to study abroad with my university, I signed up for their month long program in Australia. Six months later, I was Down Under bound.

  Ecotourism, and organizations like ISV, provide volunteering opportunities to students and adventure seekers alike. Trips typically involve travel to destinations where flora and fauna (cue weed pulling duties) and cultural heritage are the primary attractions. The holes I dug were to create a fence that would commemorate a mass grave site of the Aborigine people, which is where the cultural heritage aspect came into play in my experience. Ecotourism educates travels about the country students are visiting while also offering a glimpse into the culture and climate in a way that the average tourist can not access. The experiences I had while in Australia could not have happened without ISV. This type of tourism focuses on conserving the environment and improving the well-being of the people of the land. The person that benefited the most from my ecotourism excursion was me. The trip opened my eyes and my heart to the needs of the world around us. And also, it was fun. I really bonded with the people I volunteered with and appreciated the experience so much more.

  I am currently looking into an ecotourism excursion in Africa. Other popular ecotourism destinations include South America. Some organizations to look into for more information include ISV, Cross Cultural Solutions, and United Planet. Or, if you just type in ecotourism or volunteer trips to a search engine, you can find a trip that is right for you.

  Would you spend your vacation giving back? Where would you be most interested in volunteering?

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